Five months ago, she hadn’t been concerned about anything other than the money she was stealing for her family. Now, the only thing on Ada’s mind was the little girl curled up in her lap, fast asleep and at ease for the first time since they’d left the beach.

While she might have been panicking inside as she’d rushed Soleil back to the truck and tucked her inside, Keanu hadn’t seemed out of sorts once he’d appeared minutes later, driving them back to the house. He’d told her to pack a bag for Soleil and herself before disappearing into his bedroom. She hadn’t questioned him, merely did what he asked and was mentally happy that everything she had could fit into the two cases she’d brought along.

She’d worked under a fog, though still aware of Soleil clinging to her, but she hadn’t minded at all. In those precious moments when she’d stared down the barrel of a gun, she would have gladly given her life to spare hers.

And she would gladly do it again if she needed to.

It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes after they’d arrived that they were back in this truck and driving away. This time, they didn’t go through a commercial airport, but rather a private airstrip in the opposite direction with more privacy and less cameras.

She wasn’t sure what to say, not now as they sat on the plane, or before during the drive to the hangar, especially seeing the way Keanu had shifted from the carefree man she’d grown to know, to a hardened mercenary ready to do murder. His fingers had tightened around the steering wheel until his knuckles blanched, and she was sure given time, the wheel would have snapped under his grip.

The sight of his barely restrained fury had only made her guilt grow. More than anything, she wanted to apologize.

This, all of it, was her fault, after all, and though he hadn’t said as much, he had to blame her. If he hadn’t been charged with protecting her—if he hadn’t brought her here to his home—Soleil would never have been in danger.

Once they’d boarded the jet and were in the air, he’d taken out his phone, speaking in low, curt sentences that she couldn’t hear to the person on the other line.

Even in the air and relatively out of danger, he still looked pensive and despite the occasional unconscious nod he gave to whatever he was hearing, she still didn’t think the conversation was going well given the expression on his face. She’d thought she’d seen him upset before, during their first couple of days together at the jungle house, but that was nothing compared to this.

She could feel the anger bleeding out of him, and she didn’t doubt that whoever had sent the man down to Hawaii to kill her, he was going to make them pay.

“Yeah, alright,” he spoke louder this time before unsnapping his seatbelt. “We’ll see you in an hour.”

Ending the call, he tossed the phone on the seat beside him before rubbing a hand over his beard. She’d grown used to seeing him relaxed and easy, but now he looked wired.

And angry.

After a moment, he crossed over to her side, dropping down into the seat beside her. “How’s it?”

“As good as can be expected,” she answered with a shrug. “Besides, it’s not really me I’m worried about.”

“You shouldn’t worry,” he pulling her into him, managing to get his heavy arm around her to rest on Soleil’s hair. “I’m taking care of it.”

“You shouldn’t have to.” She squeezed her eyes shut, considering her words. “This is my problem—one that you shouldn’t have to answer for.”

“Ada—”

“It’s true,” she said quickly.

“None of this was your fault. Say it after me. None of this is your fault.”

She mumbled the words in return even though there wasn’t much conviction behind them. Not even when she leaned against his chest, letting the calming beat of his heart comfort her, she knew this was far from over.

* * *

They arrived at another airstrip some time later.

Ada blinked, startled awake by the sharp landing. After they landed, she unbuckled herself and Soleil and started off the plane. Keanu finished with the pilot, clapping the man on the back as he handed over an envelope full of cash.

As they stepped off the plane, she noticed the woman standing some distance away, leaning against a gleaming Maserati, dressed all in black with a pair of military boots on her feet.

She turned as she spotted them, lifting her hand in a small wave. Ada paused where she stood, keeping Soleil beside her, but she realized it wasn’t another assassin here to kill here when Soleil took off across the parking lot with open arms.

“Auntie Luna, you’re here!” Soleil was fast, launching herself at the woman and practically tackle hugging her legs. “I’ve missed you.”

Her eyes might have been hidden behind a pair of opaque, reflected Aviators, but her smile was wide and friendly as she crouched and wrapped her arms around Soleil.

“I’ve missed you too, Sunshine.”

“Are we going to see Uncle Kit? He promised me a pony.”

“He did?” she asked in mock surprise. “Then we better make sure he has one by the time we get home, yeah?”

Even if she didn’t know who the woman was, Ada liked her already. All because she’d made Soleil smile.

No, anyone who was nice to children were good people in her book, that was it. It wasn’t because she was thinking of Soleil like she would her own and already cared so much about her. Not that.

The denial sounded like a lie even in her own thoughts.

“Cool! Have you met Ada yet? Daddy says she’s his special friend from work.”

Luna removed her sunglasses as she stood to her full height, her gaze assessing. “I haven’t yet.” She stuck out a hand. “Luna.”

“Ada,” she said with a smile. “Are you married to the King—”

Clamping her mouth shut, her gaze shifted to Soleil, wondering if she’d already said too much, but if she did, her expression didn’t reflect it.

“Uncle Kit is a king?”

Luna’s lips twitched with a suppressed smile.“Only in his mind, Sunshine.”

Luna was not at all what she’d been expecting.

She was beautiful, sure, but if Kit or Nix or whatever his name was, was anything like his brother, she hadn’t expected someone quite like her. The few wives of powerful men she’d met at the firm had all been over the top, arrogant, and ostentatious.

“A pleasure to meet you all the same.”

Luna smiled. “Skar has told me so much about you. None of it bad, I promise,” she said with a laugh, probably noticing the way Ada winced.

She could only hope so.

“We should get going,” Keanu said as he came over to them.

“Just as we were getting to the good parts?” Calavera asked with a wide smile. “Afraid I’m going to tell her about your rubber duck collection?”

“Is that code for something?” Ada asked, looking back at him.

He shook his head, looking amused. “She has a weird sense of humor. Are we good here?”

Luna nodded. “Don’t worry yourself, Skar. We’ll take good care of her.”

“Are you coming with us, Ada?” Soleil asked, a hint of pleading in her voice.

How could one simple question warm her heart the way that one did? A few weeks with her and she already wished she could keep the little girl forever.

It was easy, almost too easy, imagining a life where the biggest worry was having her venture out too far in turquoise waters, but it was ridiculous for her to even think that was a possibility.

She didn’t have the heart to tell her she probably would never see her again—that whatever this was with Keanu had only been temporary.

A dream she never wanted to wake up from.

“I’m sorry, darling, not this time.” Unable to help herself, she pulled her into a hug, emotion clogging her throat as Soleil’s arms wrapped back around her and squeezed. “Like Auntie Luna is making sure you’re safe, I’ll make sure your Daddy is safe as well, how’s that?”

She was quiet for a long time before she finally leaned back far enough to ask, “Then who’s making sure you’re safe?”

Tears threatened, but before a single one could fall, Keanu was suddenly there, pulling them both toward him.

He whispered words to Soleil she couldn’t hear, and whatever he said managed to get a nod out of her though her expression was still sad.

“But you’ll come back with Daddy, right Ada? You’ll come back?”

She didn’t know the future, or how this would all end, but even still, she said, “Always. I’ll always come back.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“We’ll take care of her,” Luna said again, but not to Keanu.

When Ada looked up through watery eyes, Luna was staring directly at her.

With a gentle, but coaxing hand on Soleil’s back, Luna offered Keanu a nod before leading her back toward her car and buckling her into the backseat.

Ada couldn’t bring herself to look away, staying rooted in place as she watched them drive away, then disappear down the road.

“Hey, look at me.” Keanu was suddenly cupping her face, drawing her gaze from the retreating car to him. “She’s in good hands.”

“I know,” she whispered. Keanu would have never let her leave if she wasn’t.

His expression was softer now. He knew, without saying a word, that she cared for Soleil.

“Let’s get this done.”

He led her over to the shiny blue Shelby Mustang. Unlike his truck in Hawaii, it looked like it belonged in a showroom.

“You never fail to surprise me.”

“It’s not a BMW,” he said with a smirk as he opened the passenger door, “but it’ll do.”

“Actually, that BMW was a gift from a client,” she explained as she slid into the car, inhaling the scent of leather. “He hoped it might convince me to go on a date with him.”

That quickly, he lost his smile as he glowered at her. “Hope you know you’re never driving it again.”

She couldn’t help but laugh.

After they pulled off, Ada grew quiet again, lost in her thoughts. The temporary smile Keanu’s words had brought dwindling as she thought of Soleil and what had happened at the beach.

Her life had become such a mess she wasn’t sure how it would ever be the same, even with Keanu’s help.

“Is she another one of the mercenaries?” Ada asked, needing to talk about anything to get out of her own head.

Keanu nodded, glancing over at her. “She’s married to Nix who you’ll probably meet at some point.”

“Nix?” Ada repeated, remembering the name. “Belladonna said something about him during our meeting. Who is he?”

“The Kingmaker’s brother.”

She couldn’t be sure if the expression on her face matched the surprise she felt. “So she’s—”

His grin said he understood exactly what she was about to say. “The Kingmaker’s sister-in-law? Yeah.”

“Wow.”

“Tell me about it.”

It wasn’t too much longer until they were turning down a road that looked deserted at first glance, but the further they drove, the larger the buildings in the distance became.

The black bag over her head had prevented her from seeing just how vast the mercenary compound really was. Beyond the massive gate that went on for miles, the compound itself was made up of several buildings, each with limited windows and a number of men patrolling them.

They parked alongside a long line of cars, ranging from luxury to a beat-up old Honda that had seen better days two decades ago.

“Is this where you trained?” she asked, climbing out of the car, remembering the stories he’d told her.

“It’s where we all train—any mercenary coming into the Den.”

Seeing it from that perspective was entirely different than imagining it—the reality was decidedly worse.

It also explained the screams she’d heard that first day.

They walked hand in hand into the building, venturing down a private hallway where an elevator seamlessly built into the wall sat.

“Sleeping quarters,” he explained once the doors opened and they stepped out into the hallway.

Doors lined the length of it, Keanu stopping at the first. “No one will bother you in here.”

“You’re leaving already?”

“The sooner I leave, the faster I get back to you.”

“But … don’t you need to prepare? Get a mask or something?” she asked, not ready to see him go.

“I don’t wear a mask, babe, and there’s nothing to prepare for. I have this under control.”

“But—”

“Ada.”

She cut off, long enough to take a breath, knowing that was what he would ask her to do.

“Do you trust me?” he asked.

“Of course.”

“Then trust me to take care of this, yeah?”

She nodded. “I trust you.”

He pressed a fast kiss to her lips. “I’ll be back before you know it. You’ll be safe here.”

She wanted to believe that, but she’d also thought she was safe in Hawaii and she’d been wrong.

With a heavy heart, she watched him walk out the door.

* * *

“Been a while, ain’t it?”

There were some voices of friends that inspired a smile, or at the very least, a feeling of camaraderie, but as Keanu glanced over his shoulder at Syn—who had his hands tucked into his pockets as he entered the room on the first floor of the compound—there was another feeling that twined around each of them. Unease.

They all liked to joke that there was never any indication the sort of mood Syn would be in if you were ever in his presence.

Some days he was at ease—or as at ease as a man who trusted no one in the world could be—but most days, he was a walking live wire.

One that you would never want to see combust.

How long had it been now since he’d personally walked the man through the halls of the compound into the Conditioning Room? Considering how volatile the man used to be, he’d been the only one willing to do it.

Most didn’t know that it was Keanu who oversaw the training, tucked away in a hidden room, watching the feeds from the embedded cameras in the walls. The only other time he’d watched was when Calavera had come in, fresh from her own introduction to the life by Nix.

She had been the first woman to officially claim a spot in the Den and he’d wondered if she’d be able to cut it. Despite everything thrown at her though, she’d made it to the end, stronger than before and ready to take on jobs from Uilleam.

Syn, on the other hand …

Then, even as he was one of the closest men to Uilleam, Keanu hadn’t known what parameters the man followed when he found his mercenaries. The only thing he’d known for sure was that he selected those that sought vengeance and wanted to right wrongs done to them.

If the man had a vendetta, the world was his target.

Grimm—one of their brothers in arms and currently missing in a black site somewhere in Eastern Europe—had seen potential in him though. Mentoring him even though he’d come out the training room seeking blood. The very first time, he’d needed to be sedated to keep from killing someone.

Maybe that was why Syn had been tasked with finding him—he owed him.

“I heard you were in town,” Keanu said as he focused back on the present. “Can’t say I’m not surprised.”

Syn shrugged, rubbing a hand over his clean shaven jaw. “Shit changes.”

Winter, he meant.

The girl he’d tasked himself with protecting—the girl who’d thought herself in love with him until she met the Romanian from the Wild Bunch.

But that wasn’t his business, and the last thing he was going to do was bring it up to a man who snapped at the slightest provocation.

“Where’s the missus?” Syn asked, looking around. “Figured you wouldn’t be letting her out of your sight.”

“In one of the rooms upstairs. Figured there wasn’t a safer place for her than here.”

Surrounded by highly trained, lethal mercenaries. Anyone that thought to come in here to take her was risking a suicide mission.

“You’ve decided you’re keeping her then?”

It wasn’t a discussion he’d had with anyone, not even himself, but then, it also didn’t feel as if he actually needed to voice it.

Things were simple between them, effortless in a way he didn’t want to ruin.

But it was too late for that now though, wasn’t it?

Soleil loved her already and wouldn’t want to see her go.

Whether it was a conversation he wanted to have or not, he needed to have it.

For now though …

“I have a meeting with Keiko Sakurai in half an hour,” he said changing the subject, remembering the name Ada had given him. “Could always use your skills.”

Keanu was more than capable of fixing his own problems, and the problems of others, and didn’t really need Syn’s help, but there was a reason the Brit had sought him out tonight of all nights.

Undoubtedly, he knew what Keanu had planned, and if there was one thing that could get Syn out of his own head, it was inflicting the pain he felt in his own head onto others.

As expected, a slow curl of his lips appeared as he nodded. “I’ll grab my good knife.”