Caid watched the last of the vehicles pull away. His arm hurt like hell, and now he got to deal with the fact that the woman he had risked his life for had lied to him since day one. Pax had reamed him for not calling for backup, and had promised the second Jameson was released from the hospital, she would place him in a cell until Caid had the chance to talk to him.

Fucking bastard. Apparently screwing Brittany hadn’t been enough; he’d had to step up his betrayal and go against the entire FBI. Caid would see to it that the fucker paid for what he’d done. And Wallace. Dammit, the man had only just started with the bureau. He was set to get married in six months.

“Argh!” Caid yelled and wished there was something close enough he could punch it. He looked back at the house and saw Jemma standing on the porch with her arms crossed. He supposed getting them out of the area was first on his to-do list, then they would deal with whatever else she was hiding from him.

“Let’s go,” he said and headed for the vehicle they brought for him to replace the one that had a bullet put through the windshield.

He watched as Jemma walked slowly down the steps and over to the car. She had changed out of her borrowed clothes and back into skintight black jeans, white T-shirt, and black leather jacket. Her boots laced up her shins, and he knew she was packing at least two weapons she had lifted from her assaulters as well as the one she’d had before. It really should piss him off, he thought. He should make her turn them over and simply follow protocol now, especially after what had happened to Wallace. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it, as pissed off as he was at her. He couldn’t say he blamed her for hiding it from him. Didn’t mean he wasn’t going to let her know he was mad though.

He climbed into the driver’s seat just as Jemma was getting into the passenger side. Then he sped out of the driveway and left the tiny house with his mother’s throw pillows behind.

Jemma took a deep breath. “Where are we going?”

“Another safe house.”

“No.”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Jemma? ‘No’? Where the hell do you suggest we go then?”

“I have a place.”

“Oh, you have a place? How about I am the FBI agent. Not you. In case you’ve forgotten, you are the daughter of a criminal.” He wanted to eat his words the second they came out. “Oh, isn’t this fucking perfect.” A black SUV was sitting at the end of the long driveway. “What, they want to grind it in? Make sure they don’t miss this time?”

“Caid.”

“What the fuck do they think is going to happen?”

“Caid.”

“I mean do they think I’m just going to hand you over? Like ‘here you go, dickhead, here’s your kid back.’?”

“Caid!”

He looked over at her now to see her eyes wide and all color gone from her skin. She pointed, and he followed her finger to the man standing cross-armed in front of the car.

“That’s Liam Charmont, my father.”

“Fuck.” Caid threw the car into reverse and took off just as two men with automatic rifles stepped out of the car and unleashed a spray of bullets. Caid and Jemma ducked down as far as they could and drove through a neighboring field and onto the on ramp.

“Son of a fucking bitch!” he yelled and pressed his hand to his arm, which was now bleeding. Again. “How many fucking times am I going to get shot today?”

“Drive Caid.” Jemma pulled the gun out of her waistband as they hit the interstate. The SUV was coming up behind them. “Call someone.”

“Which would be a great idea except I don’t have a phone. Mine is in my desk, and you broke the other one.” He began to move in and out of traffic, but Charmont’s vehicle followed smoothly.

Jemma kept her eye on the SUV as it surged closer, ready for a clean shot. But it continued to stay just out of reach. “I don’t understand, why aren’t they moving in on us?”

“Too many witnesses. Your father does a damn good job at keeping those minimal. And on the off chance they do get into an accident, he doesn’t want to be anywhere near it.”

“So then why follow us?”

“It’s a mind game. And I’m sure he’s hoping our car might just happen to break down.” Sirens rang out, and the SUV sped up to go around them. The windows were dark, but Jemma could feel her father’s eyes on her as they passed. A police cruiser blew past them, and Caid used the distraction to exit the freeway.

“We cannot go to another FBI safe house, Caid.”

“And just why not? We got Jameson.”

“If you think he’s the only mole in the FBI, you are sadly mistaken.” She crossed her arms.

“Okay, since you seem to be the one with all the fucking answers, how about you tell me what I’m supposed to do? Because my fucking arm hurts again, and I’m fairly certain this one is a bit more than a graze.” Blood poured down his arm, and he could feel it running down his chest.

“I have another apartment, I paid cash for it, and it’s listed under a seventy-year-old woman’s name. Trust me, it’s safe. I have a first aid kit.”

Caid searched her face for any sign of betrayal, but found none. He was going to bleed out if he didn’t get somewhere he could fix himself up. “Fine, let’s go.”

Jemma took her jacket off and tore a piece of her T-shirt to tie around Caid’s arm, then she directed him back into the city.

“Leave the car here,” she instructed, and he parked.

“How far is this place?” he asked as they started walking. The tourniquet had helped stop some of the blood, but his arm felt like it was on fire each time it moved, which meant the bullet did not go all the way through.

“I didn’t want to leave the car too close. Liam’s got a lot of people on his payroll. You never know who’s watching for him.

“Up here,” she said, and they began climbing stairs to a building Caid seriously doubted was occupied by anyone.

“If you’re bringing me here to kill me, let me save you the trouble. I’ll just lie here and bleed out now.”

She turned and glared at him. “I’m not working with Liam,” she said sternly, voicing his current, largest fear. “Shouldn’t the fact that my apartment was trashed and I followed you to the FBI have that cleared up?”

“Corruption is sometimes hard to spot. And let’s face it, you’ve done a damn fine job at keeping shit from me so far.” It could be because he’d been shot, or the fact that he was risking his neck for her, but he wasn’t going to let her get away with not telling him all the facts.

“Are we safe here?” he asked.

“Yes. I buried this pretty well. It was after I acquired my other apartment, so I had learned some things about staying hidden.”

Jemma lifted a decoration off the wall to reveal a keypad. She typed in a code, and the door opened. She turned on the lights as they stepped inside. The studio apartment was scarcely decorated, and Caid assumed the only interior door led to what was the bathroom. The layout was almost exactly the same as her other one.

A grey couch sat against a wall facing a small fireplace that hadn’t been lit in some time. The queen-sized bed was covered in a white blanket with only a single pillow. Each window had been boarded up, so no light escaped to the outside.

“What is this place?” he asked as he slowly made his way to the couch. His fucking shoulder was killing him.

“My backup plan.”

“So, what, you were going to just stay on the run forever? Even though with your testimony alone we could bring this fucker in?”

“It’s not safe for me.”

“Bullshit. You know, I figured you for a lot of things, but a coward was never one of them.”

“You have no fucking clue what I’ve been through, so stop acting like you know me.”

“I feel like I’ve got a pretty good idea. Daddy’s girl through and through till what, he took your favorite toy away? Didn’t buy you that fancy jewelry you wanted? Tell me, how was it growing up with him as a father?”

“Shut the fuck up before you say something that makes me want to let you bleed out on my floor,” she growled and disappeared into the bathroom. Moments later, she returned holding an impressive looking kit.

Caid removed his shirt for the second time that day, and Jemma pulled out a pair of sterile tweezers.

“This is going to hurt,” she said with a smile and dug into the flesh in his arm to dig the bullet out. With a ping she dropped it into a glass jar and cleaned and stitched up his second gunshot wound of the day. Luckily, it hadn’t been nearly as bad as she thought it was based on the amount of blood that stained his clothes and skin. It had been just through the muscle, and although it was going to ache like hell, it wouldn’t completely debilitate him.

He waited until she had cleaned up and put the kit away before he started back in on her. “So, you have a second apartment, why? What exactly was your plan?”

“I was going to run. You had it right -- he terrifies me. You once asked me what my panic attacks were about. Him. Every single damn time, it comes back around to the crippling fear I feel at even the mention of his name.”

“Why are they looking for you, Jemma? Is it just because you’re his kid?” Caid asked again and slammed the hand of his uninjured arm onto the wall.

“I’ve told you everything. I know the intimate details of his operation, I know names, dates, locations, and yes, also because I am his kid. He wants me back so he can force me to live the life he does, marry someone who is in the same business he is. I told you to let me handle it. Your best bet is to leave now and let me handle this on my own.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m knee-deep already.” He gestured to the two wounds in his arm.

Jemma closed her eyes. He got shot because of her. Twice. All because she had lied to him. She opened her eyes, and in them, Caid saw raw pain. “I hate him,” she growled as tears began to slip down her cheeks. “You have no clue what I went through living in that house. The nightmares I witnessed would make you sick. I grabbed the evidence I could, and I ran the second I was able.”

“The thumb drive was leverage. If he came after you, you would turn the information over to police.”

“Yes.”

“How long ago did you take it?”

“Three years.”

“So then why would he come after you now?”

Jemma took a deep breath. “Because someone saw me leave the gym with you that night. He must have had someone following me from day one. Probably a number of different people since I didn’t notice anything.”

“So, they assumed you were leaving with me to give me the information.”

“It’s the only explanation.”

Cade laughed, but it was empty.

“I don’t see what’s funny.” Jemma crossed her arms.

“Of course you don’t. You are literally the best and worst thing that has ever happened to me.”

Jemma opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. What was she supposed to say to that? He could very well die because of her. How is that the best thing?

“I am sorry for everything, Caid. I never wanted any of this. I just wanted a shot at a normal life. Is that so damn bad? It’s not my fault he screwed my mother, and it’s not my fault he is the person he is. That is on both of them.”

“Well, unfortunately, you keeping that from me caused a good man to die today, and who knows how many others are going to go down before this is over. What you did was wrong, Jemma. You should have fucking trusted me from the beginning.”

“Caid, I--”

“No.” He held his hand up. “You said we’re safe here, and since I can’t imagine you don’t want to die, I’m going to believe it. I’ll go and get us some food. You stay here.” He pulled his shirt and jacket back on.

“Wait--”

“Jemma.” His voice was laced with a warning. “Just do us both a favor and stay put. So help me, if you leave, I will give myself up to your father and let him kill me. I imagine that wouldn’t sit well with your conscience.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Neither is the fact that the only woman I’ve felt anything for in the last year is the daughter of the most wanted man in the United States. Oh yeah, and she fucking lied to me about it.” Caid walked out without another word.

“Shit.” Jemma took a seat on the couch and put her head in her hands. The only woman I’ve felt anything for in the last year. He cared for her, and she had betrayed him. Tears began to fall down her cheeks again. She felt the same way. Caid was the only man she had ever felt this connection with, and now she quite possibly had completely ruined it. How was she ever going to make him trust her again? And even if she could, how were they supposed to survive to see what could come of it?

* * *

His daughter. This had to be some kind of sick joke, Caid thought as he made his way to the gas station. His arm was burning, he was hungry, and he was really fucking angry. He knew he needed to call Pax, check in, and let her know he was good, but he was volatile and pretty sure talking to anyone who knew anything about his current situation was going to be a mistake.

He also really didn’t want to explain to anyone exactly who Jemma Saige really was. How had he missed the signals? Had he really been so wrapped up in how she made him feel that he completely missed the giant neon sign that said “she’s his daughter”?

He walked into a slightly run-down gas station and straight back to the food. He loaded up on chips, sandwiches, sodas, and even grabbed a six-pack of cheap beer before making his way back to the front of the store.

“You good man?” the cashier asked as Caid set the items on the counter. He nodded to the bullet hole in Caid’s jacket.

Caid smiled. “Yeah, I’m good. Pissed off some chick’s boyfriend a few months ago. Love the jacket too damn much to toss it, though.”

The man laughed and finished ringing up the items. “Yeah, man, I hear ya.”

Caid handed the man some cash. “Have a good night.”

“You too. Try not to get shot again.”

“I’ll do my best,” Caid said and stepped back out into the dark. He sure as hell hoped he didn’t get shot again. Twice in one day was about as much as he could take.