Ada could hear the ocean as soon as she stepped out of Keanu’s car. Waves crashing into the shore, salt in the air, the soft cry of a seagull—it felt like home.

The house itself was nestled amongst a line of them, all built with flooding waters in mind with steep stairs leading from the sandy beaches to the front doors.

Seeing him walking ahead of her, Ada was struck by the reminder that not even a few weeks ago, he’d always made sure she never stood at his back, but now he didn’t even turn around as she trailed behind him upstairs.

The thought made her smile because it meant, if only a little, he was starting to trust her.

Once he had the door open, Keanu turned off the alarm and without giving her a chance to take anything in, he led her through the foyer, across the living room, and into his bedroom.

Though the jungle house was his, she understood now why it had still been used as a safe house. Nothing personal was there, not even in his own room, but here, she could see the evidence of the life he led outside the Den of mercenaries.

Including the silver framed picture of him and Soleil. She couldn’t have been more than four years old, smiling happily as they sat on a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

“Give me ten,” he said before disappearing into the bathroom, the shower cutting on soon after.

As she settled on the bed, she wondered if he’d done anything to warrant his shower. She hadn’t seen any blood on him, but he had years of experience hiding it if he wanted to.

It would be so easy to ask him once he was back in front of her, but it wasn’t a question of whether he would tell her, but rather if she wanted to know.

She could just as easily leave it alone and not ask questions for her own peace of mind, but the idea of not knowing the danger he was in only seemed to make her worry more.

Steam wafted out of the bathroom as the door came open again. Keanu walked out with a towel wrapped around his waist, another in his hand as he rubbed it over his damp hair.

She didn’t think she would ever get used to the sight of him, as powerful and beautiful as he was.

He grinned at her as he came over, undoubtedly aware of the effect he had on her. It wasn’t a walk per se, or even a strut, he prowled.

The look he was sending her way made her acutely aware of what he had in mind, long before he got one knee on the bed and hooked his fingers around her ankles, dragging her down the bed to him.

“I thought you needed to concentrate,” she whispered, dragging her fingers along the stubble on his jaw.

“I’m multitasking.”

* * *

“Damn, I owe Syn a hundred bucks,” Winter said absently as she walked in behind her, her gaze bouncing from one thing to the next.

“Why?” Ada asked before she had another thought. “Did Keanu send you here to babysit me?”

Keanu had disappeared sometime in the wee hours of the morning, leaving her with explicit instructions to take it easy and not leave the house.

Her new normal.

For the last hour, she’d been upstairs passing the time when banging at the front door startled her to her feet. Figuring anyone that was trying to kill her wouldn’t bother with knocking, she’d quietly walked downstairs and checked the peephole—only seeing silver hair considering how short the girl was—and opened the door for Winter.

She’d hardly waited for an invitation before she was walking inside, seeming as curious about Keanu’s place as she’d been.

“Of course not, but even if he did, I’m an absolute joy to be around,” she finished on a mumble, opening a number of doors and peeking in. “I never took him for much of a decorator though.”

“Have you never been in his place before?”

“Skorpion is notoriously cagey about where he lives and his overall privacy. I mean, I hacked his video feeds once just to have a look around—don’t tell him about that, by the way—but I try to respect the mercenaries’ spaces and all that. Most of the time.”

She hadn’t considered that they weren’t all just one big family considering how close they’d seemed back at the compound.

“Is this what it’s always like?” Ada asked, not quite sure where the question had come from, but even still, she looked back, hoping Winter had an answer. “Do you just sit and wait?”

Winter was young, evidenced by her style and the personality that had yet to be tainted by years spent experiencing life, but in that moment, she looked older, wiser. “This is the hardest part—not so much the waiting. Trust me, I’ve hacked into plenty of government websites to hunt down data and believe me that takes patience, but this … this isn’t waiting. This is hoping. You wonder whether they’re going to come back—whether they’ll be okay if they do. But as quickly as that thought is there, you say fuck it and hope they come back at all, hurt or not.”

She sighed, glancing over at the door as if she couldn’t help herself. “I’d tell you it gets better—that you’ll stop worrying when he walks out the door—but I’ve worried about Syn for years and now Raz … it doesn’t get any easier. I still worry just as much then as I do now.” Her smile was a little sad and a lot wistful. “But that’s the life, isn’t it?”

Ada was speechless, not sure how to respond. And more than ever, she wished Winter was wrong.

Worse, she realized that because of her, he was back in it.

He’d been enjoying his life with Soleil, being a father to her. He hadn’t needed to worry about men trying to kill him in public restrooms, or making deals with criminals to get out of a hit being put on his life.

Now, he was right back in the thick of it.

Because of her. It wasn’t just him she’d dragged into danger, but Soleil too.

Somehow, she would make this right.

She just needed to figure out how.

“Wait, so you’re not with Syn?”

“Oh, no, he’s like a brother to me. A brother I kinda slept with, but brother all the same. Wow, that came out wrong.”

Despite herself, Ada laughed. “Is that why he’s … intense?”

“Not at all. He’s a few screws loose of a whole machine. Is that a saying? No? Anyway, once you get to know him, he doesn’t get better, exactly, but you learn to ignore his temperament.”

Ada wasn’t so sure about that, but Keanu seemed to like him just fine, so maybe he did grow on you … with time.

Multiple footsteps in the hallway had her drawing in an audible breath and just out the corner of her eye, she could see the way Winter’s shoulders relaxed.

Keanu was the first through the door, Syn not far behind. Her eyes quickly scanned over him from top to bottom, noting the small scratch on his arm, but otherwise, he was unharmed.

The relief she felt was almost too much. And before she realized she was doing it, she was on her feet and reached for him.

Confusion made his brows draw together, but the expression cleared quick enough as understanding dawned. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

She wished she could believe that.

She wished it was that easy, but she knew it would never be.

Not when you were a mercenary working for the Kingmaker.

“I’ll just be glad when this is all over,” she mumbled against his chest, not even sure if he’d heard her.

But he did—he always did. “Soon, but you have to answer a question for me first.”

She pulled away. “Ask me.”

“Who all knew about the theft?”

“No one … I never told a soul. Belladonna already knew. She came to me, as I’ve said.”

“And no one else?” He looked puzzled.

“No. Why are you asking?”

“You gave me seventeen account numbers.”

Something about the look on his face made her wary. “I did …”

“But as far as I can find, only sixteen have issued some kind of threat to you.

“Maybe the last hasn’t checked their account?” she suggested, though that didn’t sound right to her either.

If sixteen knew, they all had to know—the news would travel far and wide—and considering the amount she’d stolen from each of them, it was unlikely they would just write it off with no repercussions.

Examples always had to be made.

“Which begs the question—” Keanu started before she finished for him, “—whose the seventeenth client?”

* * *

Make yourself at home.

How could such a simple concept seem so terrifying?

Ada might have been living out of a suitcase for more than a month now, and it would have been nice to feel as if she was stable for the first time in a long while, but she couldn’t say how long that stability would last.

She was overthinking those four little words he’d offered her before disappearing back out the door and for the life of her, she wished she wasn’t. Not to mention, now was not even remotely appropriate to be thinking about futures and possible relationships when there were people quite literally hunting her down to kill her.

The last thing she needed to be thinking about was Keanu and the thing they shared.

To put it out of her mind, she hung a few things away and set her suitcase aside before taking the assortment of clothes she’d worn down in Hawaii to the washer and dryer stacked in the room next to the kitchen.

Once she had the first load in the washer, she ventured back into the living room and turned on the television just to have noise in the background as she tidied and found her way around by putting things away.

By the time she was finished and the room smelled of lemon and vanilla, Ada wasn’t thinking of anything other than relaxing on the couch and closing her eyes for a bit.

Until she heard a phone ringing.

She sat up with her eyes narrowed, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. It wasn’t a house phone, that she could see still sitting on the mantel of the fireplace undisturbed.

Jumping to her feet, she hurried in the direction of it, finding Keanu’s duffel bag near the back door. Had he forgotten his phone? She could have sworn she’d seen him using his before he left that morning.

She rooted through his clothes until she found a small bag—a bag that had her license, credit cards, and to her surprise, her phone sitting inside it.

More surprising, however, was the name displayed on the screen.

She remembered his rules about not using any electronic devices, and maybe later she would worry about whether he would be upset or not, but for the moment, she dug the phone out and answered the call.

“Marie?”

“Bloody hell it’s about time you answered. Are you here already or close by?”

Ada couldn’t hide her bafflement even if she tried. “I don’t understand. Am I where?”

“At the airport,” Marie answered with a light laugh. “My plane landed ten minutes ago. I thought you’d be here by now.”

Her heart felt like it dropped right out of her chest. “You’re at LAX?”

“Of course, silly. You told me to meet you, did you forget? I know you’re proper busy at the moment with all your working and getting everything settled with dad, but your text said it was urgent and you wanted me to fly in immediately. I did wonder why you messaged me from that other number, but figured you’d explain once I got here.”

Fear had Ada getting back to her feet, clutching the bag in her hand. Keanu wouldn’t have done this without telling her, and even if someone else had that he knew, he would have at least mentioned it.

The fact that he hadn’t meant this was someone else.

Someone targeting her and willing to use her sister to get to her—the very thing she’d been afraid of.

“Marie, I need you to find the nearest restroom and wait in there until I get to the airport.”

“Why the hell would I do that?”

“Because I’m asking you to, please. Just do it. I’m on my way now. If someone tries to talk to you that doesn’t work for the airport, run as far as you can, I’ll be there soon.”

“Jesus, Ada. What’s happening?”

She’d tried to keep the panic out of her voice, but she was too afraid of what this meant. Whoever had summoned her here already had a head start and there was a chance that they were already there waiting.

She needed to go.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Just stay hidden, okay?”

She hung up without waiting for her sister’s reply,

She didn’t care that she was dressed in pajamas and didn’t have any shoes on, she ran through the house, searching for keys—any keys—that she could find. A set hung from a hook in the kitchen, and as she ventured down into the garage, she found three cars lined up side by side.

She hit the key fob until the headlights of one flashed in the darkness. It was an older car whose engine growled once she shoved the key in and started it up.

It was a forty-five minute drive to the airport, less if she put her foot down and ignored every street sign until she got to the airport, but in the mean time, there was one other thing she needed to do.

Keanu had made her memorize his number in case she ever needed to contact him. Though she’d thought it was a bit silly at first, now she was grateful he had.

As she came to a red light, she dialed his number and put the phone on speaker, counting down the seconds as it rang and rang until finally, the call connected.

“Should I even ask how you found this?” he asked, sounding more amused than he did angry.

“Someone tricked my sister into coming here,” she said without preamble. “She’s at the airport now and I took your car, but I don’t know how long it’ll take me to get there. And—”

“Ada, you have to slow down, babe. Take a breath.”

She sucked in an audible one, resisting the ridiculous urge to cry. Tears wouldn’t help her now and she had no time for them. “Marie is here. Someone pretended to be me to lure her here and I have to get to her before they do.”

“Where are you now?”

“On the interstate,” she answered just as she merged to do just that.

“When you get her, go directly back home, you hear me? I’m on my way.”

He didn’t say if, he said when, and already that made her feel marginally better. “If something were to—”

“Nothing’s going to happen. Don’t even finish that thought. I’m too far away to get to you in time or else I would handle it. Breathe, okay?”

Ada nodded, though he couldn’t see her, furiously wiping away the tears starting to spill over.

It would be fine.

Marie would be fine.

Keanu stayed on the phone with her until she arrived at the airport, parking in the first available spot she could find, then taking off across the lot toward the front entrance. Despite her desperate need to run through the airport calling for her sister, she knew it wouldn’t do her any good if she was detained by security.

Instead, she called Marie again and tried to remain calm.

“Are you here yet?” Marie asked the second the call connected, just the sound of her voice enough to quell some of her panic.

“I’m at the front.”

“Alright, I’m coming that way now.”

Words couldn’t describe the worry and fear she felt each second that passed as she waited to see her sister in the faces of the crowd. She had never really been the praying sort, but now, her heart in her throat, she prayed to whoever was up there that her sister would be okay.

It couldn’t have been more than a minute, though it felt like hours, before Marie appeared, an Adidas hat covering her dark hair as she lifted her hand in a slight wave, though her expression was a mix of confusion and relief.

“What was all that about?” she asked once she was within reaching distance.

Ada didn’t answer, just pulled her into a quick hug, breathing out a sigh of relief before she gripped her hand and practically ran them out of there and back to the car.

Only once they were safely inside with the doors locked and driving off did she finally take a second to take a proper breath.

“Jesus, Ada,” Marie said as she snapped on her seatbelt. “Are you on the run or something?”

Her fingers tightened around the steering wheel. She knew she couldn’t withhold the truth anymore, that she had to tell her the truth if only so she knew to be cautious.

“I have a confession to make,” she whispered, though she knew Marie could hear her, “but you’re not going to like what I’m going to say.”

“Go on then.”

“You know I work as an accountant, right?”

“For rich arseholes. Yeah, I know. Mum told me.”

“That’s not quite the truth.”

And before she could talk herself out of it, Ada spilled everything.

Over the course of the drive, as she confessed to every detail of the last five years, Ada expected her sister to frown, tell her how much an idiot she’d been, or even ask questions at the very least, but Marie did none of the above.

She sat in silence until they pulled back up to the beach house where Keanu was already waiting, leaning against the Mustang with shiny blue paint. He, at the very least, was able to get a reaction out of her as she blinked twice

As she parked, Ada made no move to get out, nor did Marie.

“Say something, please.”

“Is he the … mercenary, did you say?”

“Keanu,” she said again, “and he is.”

“Just so I’m clear. You stole a bunch of money to pay for dad’s care and to keep us afloat for the last year, and your boyfriend is a mercenary that works for the man threatening you. Is that right?”

“In so many words, but Keanu isn’t my boyfriend.”

“No?”

Unfortunately. “No.”

“Then he must be getting paid an arse load of money to do all of this. I have to say, the story you just told me was wild from start to finish,” Marie said thoughtfully, unbuckling her seatbelt. “At least now I won’t get a lecture from you about smoking pot.”

Ada might have laughed if she wasn’t so relieved. “You’ve started smoking?”

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. There’s literally a mercenary standing over there with God knows what in the trunk of his car. If I wanted to do cocaine, you still couldn’t talk.”

And to think, she’d thought she wouldn’t respond well.

“But seriously,” Marie went on, her expression serious. “What do we do now?”

“Dad’s care is—”

“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about you. You said there are people out there trying to kill you and hurt me, at the very least, considering they brought me out here too.”

“Keanu is handling it.”

“Well, it’s about time I meet him, isn’t it?”

Marie was out of the car before she could respond, happily walking up the driveway to his side. Even from her vantage point, she could see the surprise in her little sister’s eyes as she realized just how massive he actually was. His face morphed into a smile as she got close before he was pulling her into a hug.

As Ada was walking up, she caught the end of Marie asking, “How many more of you are there?” before looking back at Ada and mouthing, ‘I’ll take seven.’

“We’re going to find you someone nice and boring.”

Marie pouted playfully as she started into the house behind Keanu. “Why do you get to have all the fun?”

Keanu showed her to one of the spare bedrooms before coming back to Ada, his presence enough to ease the rest of the anxiety she felt.

“It’s almost over,” he whispered before pressing a kiss to her lips.

“I wish I didn’t feel so helpless.” This was her mess to clean up, yet she was the only one that seemed to be staying out of harm’s way.

“You’re doing exactly what I need you to do,” he said as if he could read her thoughts. “As long as you’re safe, I can concentrate.”

“Okay.” She thought of what Marie had said in the car. “How much are you getting paid?”

“Hmm?”

“For me. For this. How much does the Kingmaker pay you to be my bodyguard and work out arrangements with the—”

“I’m not getting paid for that, babe.” His gaze darted over her face before his expression softened. “Why don’t you ask me what you really want to know?”

It was right there on the tip of her tongue—whether what they had meant to him what it meant to her—but before she had the chance to ask, his phone rang, ending the moment.

Seemingly reluctant, he glanced at his phone. “I have to take this. Stay—”

“In the house. I know the routine. Come back in one piece.”

With one last quick kiss, he was back out the door. Ada stood there for a long while looking after him, thinking of everything that had yet to be said before she sighed and went in search of her sister.