Jesse kicked his office door open. He didn’t even think about letting Phoebe down. He couldn’t risk it. He believed her that something was about to happen and it was going to be bad, but the last thing he was going to do was put her out in the hallway and lock the doors behind her. He wasn’t going to leave her out there like some sacrifice.

He wasn’t ready to give her up. He was supposed to have more time. He knew it couldn’t work, but he’d planned to get inside her and have that one memory. She would have let him do it, too. She’d been so hot when she’d spread her legs and let him bring her to orgasm. He’d felt her tighten around him and imagined it was his dick instead of his fingers, getting squeezed from all sides while she milked him dry.

Yeah, it had taken everything he had not to come then and there.

And then he’d been an asshole because he couldn’t say what he’d wanted to say. So he’d struck out and he’d hated the hurt look that had come over her face.

“Jesse, the party’s starting.” Li walked out of his office, holding Avery’s hand. Her hair was mussed and she had a glow about her that told Jesse something had been going on in that office. He guessed a couple with a kid took whatever time they could get. “Grace just called and said all the rug rats are happy and fed and she wants pictures before we start.”

Avery took a deep breath. “And I can smell the appetizers Sean cooked. I think he did that tenderloin bruschetta thing. I swear I gain a pound just walking into the man’s house. I’m so glad you took Phoebe out of bondage for the party. You can do the questioning thing after Eve opens the presents. Oh, and I happen to know Li here plans on spiking the punch. A little whiskey might make the whole interrogation easier.”

“Get the kids and take cover.” He didn’t have time for explanations.

Li went from relaxed to predatory in an instant. “Avery, get the women and the kids into the back room. Now, love.”

She took off running.

“How long do we have?” Li asked.

“Three minutes at most. They’re coming from the roof.” Jesse hurried after Li.

“What the fuck is going on? Erin!” Li jogged down the hall.

Erin’s office door opened. “What?” She frowned Phoebe’s way. “What the hell is she still doing here? Don’t we have a shallow grave for her or something? I thought she’d be fertilizing Big Tag’s trees by now.”

Phoebe ignored her. “You have to let me go. He won’t play around.”

“Who?” His arms tightened around her. “Tell me who the hell is about to burst in those doors, Phoebe.”

“You have to let me go.”

But he didn’t. He had zero intention of allowing her to go anywhere until he had his answers. He sure as fuck wasn’t giving her up to some Agency search and rescue that didn’t even have the damn authority to work on US soil. No way, no how.

“Erin, can you lock her in?” Erin’s office was the closest. He would prefer to tie her up, but it looked like their time was about to be up and he needed to be able to fight.

“Of course. Throw the princess in there. I promise she’ll have nowhere to go,” Erin said, opening the door wide.

“Don’t do this, Jesse. Please let me talk to him.” Phoebe was starting to struggle. He hated leaving her. It was obvious she needed rest and food, and the desire to provide for her was riding him hard, but he couldn’t do a damn thing if they took her away.

He set her down on the couch and walked away, locking the door behind him.

“What the fuck is going on?” Li asked.

“I think the Agency is about to attack the office,” Jesse explained.

Li’s jaw dropped. “The bloody Agency? Are you telling me that a Special Forces unit working for the CIA is about to walk into the office?”

“I’m afraid they aren’t going to walk in. I think they’re going to try to take Phoebe without giving themselves away, and I won’t let it happen.” He pulled his SIG from his holster.

Erin shook her head. “Dude, we can’t attack an American military unit.”

“I’m not attacking. I’m defending.” They didn’t get to walk into his home and take his shit. And yes, Phoebe would likely protest that she wasn’t his shit, but she didn’t get a say-so. Until he was satisfied and done with her, she belonged to him. Then the fucking Agency could do what they wanted to him.

“Get the doors locked,” he yelled. It might buy them some time.

Li started to move for the office doors just as someone kicked them open.

Damn it. They hadn’t even had time to lock the doors.

He caught a glimpse of a group of black clad men and then watched as a familiar looking cylinder rolled into the office.

“Bloody fucking hell!” Li yelled as the flashbang rolled in. He pivoted on his heels and leapt toward Erin.

Jesse turned as fast as he could as the world blasted with smoke. He protected his eyes before the flare flashed, but his ears rang.

In the distance, he could sense men moving in. He managed to stay on his feet, managed to keep moving. It wasn’t the first time he’d been hit with one of those fuckers.

He turned briefly and there was already fighting. Li was on the ground, having taken the full brunt of the flashbang by covering Erin’s body with his own. She was already on her feet, kicking out against a man who moved into the room.

He caught sight of eight men moving in, their guns at the ready. They moved in an easy formation that spoke of years and years of training. They were utterly silent, their faces covered by dark masks, but Jesse had learned to see through such trivial things. He remembered men by the way they walked, the way their shoulders set, and how their eyes moved.

He’d seen these men before. He’d watched them in battle. They might want to stay anonymous, but he wasn’t about to let that happen.

“Tennessee Smith!” He couldn’t really hear himself, but he was trying to shout.

One of the men stopped, but Jesse watched as his jaw squared. “Find her. We don’t leave without her. Get it done.”

Li tried to get up, but he had a gun pointed at his head.

Erin kicked out at her opponent and for a few seconds it didn’t look like the man knew what to do. She caught him squarely in the midsection and Jesse knew his ears were clearing because he heard an audible huff as the operative briefly lost the ability to breathe. He had to give the kid credit as he came right back up. He caught Erin and hauled her back against his body. She immediately brought her elbow up and back, easily getting away.

She didn’t get more than a few steps before the man tackled her. He tossed his full weight on top and wrestled her down to the floor.

Just like that Jesse knew Ten had given orders not to kill. There was no other explanation. No one was going to fire a shot. The guns were there to intimidate, but no one had told Big Tag that. Ten likely thought he could do a quick, get in, get out mission since it was the middle of the day. He possibly believed shock and awe would work, but what the stupid fucker hadn’t counted on was Charlotte Taggart throwing a baby shower and the office being full of women and kids.

Tag was going to kill someone. Maybe a whole lot of someones.

A big guy with an M4A1 carbine pointed it his way. “Get on your knees.”

No fucking way. He felt the pressure build. It always seemed to start low in his gut, though he knew it was all in his brain. Somehow the fear manifested itself in a physical way and it didn’t matter that it was a lovely day in Dallas and the air conditioning was set low because Charlotte always seemed warm these days. None of that mattered because his vision blurred and he could feel the heat of the Iraqi sun on his face, feel his skin. It was too tight. He’d woken up after the IED had blasted his Humvee and he’d been shoved out of the vehicle, reaching back for the new guy.

“I said get on your knees. In a minute or two this is all going to be over and you can go about your day,” the man said.

Jesse was caught between worlds. He was almost certain the man in front of him was Case Taggart, but about half the words that came from his mouth were said in Farsi.

He took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to go there. He needed to stay in the here and now. Dallas. He was in Dallas and Ten had come to reclaim his lover.

Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.

He punched Case right in the face, secure in the fact that the soldier had likely been told not to fire a shot.

“Shit!” Case yelled before returning with a punch of his own.

Jesse took it right on the jaw. The pain flared, but it also kept him in the here and now. He looked to his left and the operatives had scattered, though their numbers had diminished since it was taking two of the eight to hold down Li and Erin.

“They won’t shoot!” Jesse yelled.

“Like fuck we won’t,” the one pointing a gun at Li said.

Case pointed that gun at Jesse again. “Stand down. On your knees.”

Jesse wasn’t fooled again. Though the words the man used were a trigger for him, the actual trigger told the tale. “Your fucking safety’s on, asshole.”

He punched him again, hard across the bridge of his nose, and Case went down. Jesse looked up and Big Tag was moving into the room, his body protected by a large man in the same black uniform everyone else was wearing. He had his hands up and a tense look on his face as Tag forced him into the room, a SIG at the back of his head. There was no way Tag had the safety on that one.

“Let my people up or I will blow this motherfucker’s head off his shoulders. And I don’t want to do that. I don’t even have plastic down. My wife has a strict edict that when I blow some dude’s head off, I have the courtesy to put some plastic down. You’re going to get my wife pissed at me.”

“They have their safeties on,” Jesse said. “I think that’s Michael Malone you’ve got. Si would be sad if you offed him.”

“I can live with disappointment,” Simon said as he walked in from the break room. Unfortunately, he’d been caught. His hands were up, his eyes icy.

“Why don’t you let my guy go and we’ll talk about letting this one off the hook,” a man with a slow Southern accent said.

“Or I could blow your head off.” Charlotte Taggart placed a semiautomatic at the back of Simon’s captor’s head. “Ian, where is the plastic tarp? I told you, I don’t want blood on the carpet.”

Ian’s whole body went tense. “Oh, there’s going to be blood. I promise you that. You listen and you listen good whoever you are. That is my wife behind you. She’s pregnant. If you try a goddamn thing, I swear to god I will spend the rest of my life hunting you down and when I catch you, I will ensure that you live a long time in as much pain as your body can take.”

“Fuck.” The guy immediately dropped his weapon. “Taggart, no one said anything about pregnant women. I promise. Check my weapon. There’s no ordnance in it. None of us would ever hurt an innocent woman, much less a baby.”

The door to the break room opened again. “What the fuck is going on? There are babies back there. And I’m pretty sure one of them pooped. Is Ten playing a joke on us? Is this some sort of practical joke?”

Jake Dean rushed into the room. “I got one down when he tried to leave the back room. He walked in and stared for a minute before practically running out.”

“Shit. Did you kill Boomer?” Malone asked.

“He’s napping. What the fuck is going on?” Dean asked.

“I want to know where Phoebe Graham is.” Ten strode back into the room, but he wasn’t alone. He had Sean Taggart in his grip, a gun placed against his head. Ten had pulled his mask off, obviously realizing the game was up.

“Fuck me, Ian. I’m sorry. I had headphones on. I didn’t even know he was in the kitchen until he had me,” Sean said.

“Because you’re supposed to be safe here,” Ian said to his brother before his eyes shifted to Ten. “I will kill this man if you don’t let my brother go. Do you understand me? You have thirty seconds or I’ll do it.”

“And you have ten seconds to give me Phoebe,” Ten shot back. “I didn’t want to do it this way, but I’m not leaving here without her.”

Something was wrong with this scenario. Ten was willing to burn down a whole lot of houses for a single operative. “She’s alive.”

“Then bring her out here. You give me Phoebe and I’ll let Sean go, and then Tag and I never have to speak again,” Ten practically snarled. “Don’t you call me when you get in trouble, Ian. Do you understand me? I won’t answer it. You’re not the man I thought you were.”

“She’s safe, Ten. No one’s hurt her.” Jesse was watching Ten closely. Tennessee Smith was always in control. Always smooth and easygoing. Even when shit was going down, Ten was the kind of guy whose blood pressure never ticked up. He was a man who cultivated relationships and yet he was trashing an important one.

“Tag, I’m going to ask you not to kill my cousin,” Simon said calmly. “Let’s murder this one instead.” He had his hands on the one who had captured him.

“Or we can kill them all,” Tag promised. “I think that might be the best solution.”

“Is she your lover?” Jesse wasn’t so sure anyone had to die. Ten seemed more like a desperate man than a leader trying to get back a team member.

There was only the slightest movement of his eyes before he replied. “It’s none of your business, Murdoch. Just produce her or I’ll kill everyone you love.”

That one expression made him wonder. His eyes had rolled back just slightly as though the question was too disgusting to answer. He would have expected his eyes to flare or soften at the thought of his lover.

Only one way to find out. “I think I’ll keep her for myself. She likes to talk during sex. I think if I just fuck her a couple more times, I’ll probably figure out everything I need to know.”

“You raped her?” Ten’s face had gone a mottled red.

Again, that response didn’t feel like it was coming from a man who was pissed someone had taken what was his. More like a man who had something to protect, some responsibility he had to perform. And why would he go straight to rape? Jesse decided to push it a little further. He really wanted to see if the man would break. If he could get Ten to break, they would have the advantage again—and the danger would be off Sean, who had a kid and had left the business and should never have to deal with having a gun at his head again. “I didn’t have to, man. She begged me for it.”

“Are you kidding me?” Tag asked, looking at him like he was the dumbest of all asses.

But Ten dropped everything and charged.

Well, that answered one question. This was very personal for Tennessee Smith, and he was about to get his ass kicked. He prayed he could hold onto his sanity long enough to fight back.

* * * *

Phoebe heard the lock open with a satisfying snick. So her skills weren’t as rusty as she’d thought. She’d made the torque wrench and pick out of office supplies from Erin’s very sparse desk. The whole office looked like no one was home. There were no pictures, no little knickknacks. Erin Argent’s desktop was empty with the exception of a computer monitor and a charging station for her cell phone. Inside the desk wasn’t better. Phoebe had found gun oil and some cloths and a few office supplies, like the unopened box of paper clips that had become Phoebe’s lock picking set. Other than that, it looked like Erin lived like a Spartan.

She got the door open just as a loud bang shook through the walls. She shrank back for a second before the acrid smell hit her nostrils.

Flashbang. Shit. She was going to kill her brother. That was so much damn overkill. She was just about to run toward the lobby when she heard a cry.

Oh, god. The babies. The babies were here and Phoebe had no idea what Ten had told his men to do. Fear gripped her. She knew her brother wouldn’t ever take an innocent life but bad shit happened in the middle of battle. The idea that any of those precious babies could be lost made her sick, forced her feet to run toward that sound. She ran past the kitchen, catching the barest glimpse of Sean Taggart there. If he was worried, it didn’t show. His head was down and he was cutting something in that quick manner chefs used.

Another cry pulled Phoebe away. It was a high-pitched little baby wail. She started to turn the corner when she heard a man talking. British accent. Simon Weston.

“I’m moving. You don’t have to get rough. Just leave the children alone,” Weston was saying in a perfectly reasonable voice.

Phoebe glanced around the corner just in time to see Charlotte Taggart start after the big guy who had Weston.

Phoebe slipped down the hall and into the room they had just come from. Avery, Grace, and Serena were huddled in the back corner with the children while Eve leveled a gun at Phoebe’s head.

Phoebe could have had it out of her hands in about two point three seconds, but she wasn’t here to fight. “Is everyone all right? Please tell me they didn’t hurt the babies.”

Eve stared for a moment and then lowered the gun. “We’re fine. I don’t know where the others are. Charlotte is following Simon. I couldn’t stop her. If anything happens to her…”

“It’s my fault. I know. Just barricade the door. They don’t want to hurt anyone. They just want to get me and go.”

“Then you should really go,” Eve replied with icy eyes.

Tears formed as she realized this was her good-bye. Coldness from a woman she’d come to trust, but Phoebe was smart enough to know that a person rarely got a second chance. The old Phoebe—the one before Jamie and Ten, the one before Jesse—would have flipped her the bird and told her to fuck off. It was best to hide pain behind pure disrespect. But this Phoebe was still so raw.

She simply nodded and looked at the women she’d belonged with for such a brief time. She’d never had female friends before. They’d become quite precious to her. “Take care of those babies. And Eve, I know you’re scared, but you’re going to be such a good mom. That baby boy…he’s so lucky.”

She started to leave but then felt a hand on her elbow. When she turned, Eve pulled her in for a hug.

“You stay safe, Phoebe. You know that woman you became while you were here, she was always inside you,” Eve whispered. “You don’t have to lose her. Well, maybe some of the klutziness, but you don’t have to lose the core of her.”

The core of Phoebe Graham had been a woman who helped the people around her, who gave and gave and rarely requested anything back. When she went back into her brother’s world, it would be different. She would sink back into the personality she’d developed over years of service to the Agency. She would guard herself, her emotions.

It struck her that the year she’d spent at McKay-Taggart had been precious. It had been the first time in her life that she’d really made friends. Jamie and Ten didn’t count. From the moment she’d met them, they’d felt like family, and a very exclusive one. Their father had taught them to trust no one outside the family, to let no one else in. They only had each other, but for a brief time, Phoebe had Eve and Serena and Grace and the others.

It had been nice to have a little community to help take care of.

Grace stepped up and there were tears in her eyes. “Go on, sweetie. I’m worried they’ll kill each other.”

She shook her head. “Te…the man who’s coming to get me wouldn’t really kill anyone. This is his version of shock and awe. He won’t use deadly force.”

“Yeah, well, no one told Ian, and whoever is out there is about to get Ian’s version,” Serena said. “And he will definitely be looking to kill someone.”

Shit. Ten was going to get everyone killed. Without another word she turned and raced down the hall. She had to hurdle over a body encased in a familiar black uniform. The big man had been dumped in front of the break room. She didn’t see blood, but that didn’t mean one of her brother’s men wasn’t dead. The minute the McKay-Taggart men figured out they were in trouble, they would use any and all means to deal with the situation.

“Are you kidding me?”

Frustration dripped from Ian Taggart’s tone as she approached the lobby.

And then she heard a hard thud and a sound that could only be fists hitting a body.

“Stop it!” She simply yelled the words as she entered the room. It didn’t matter who was fighting. It had to stop. They were supposed to be allies and she’d ruined that, too.

It was worse than she’d imagined. Everywhere she looked someone was pointing a gun at someone else or had Phoebe’s friends on their backs. And the worst was the ball of rage that seemed to be made up of her brother and Jesse.

So much for keeping his cover. His mask was off and she could see the rage on his face. “Tennessee! Stop it!”

He punched out, twisting and turning with Jesse as they both seemed intent on killing the other.

“Charlie, get the fuck out of here,” Big Tag commanded. “Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you’re in? Dean, could you secure the package better than Jesse did?”

Phoebe squared off against Jake Dean because she wasn’t about to get locked in another office. “He could try, but I swear I’ll take out his balls this time. Remember what I did to your hand, Dean? Back off. Come on, Taggart. You know who I work for. Now can we try to keep those two from killing each other?”

“You’re not going to run?” Taggart still had a hold on Malone.

“There’s no reason to anymore,” she explained with a huff. “I was trying to protect that dumbass in there.”

“Which one?”

She was just about done with Taggart. “My brother, you idiot. I’m serious. The best thing to come out of my cover being blown all to hell is the fact that I can have a serious talk with you about how you treat Jesse. He’s not stupid. He’s smart. He’s way fucking smarter than you since he knew all along I was working for Ten.”

“Your brother?” Tag’s hand came down as he released Malone. “Ten is your brother?”

Yeah, she probably shouldn’t have mentioned that. “Not by blood, but he’s my brother all the same. And he’s being a moron.” She looked back over to where Ten and Jesse were. Jesse had caught sight of her and he turned her way. That gave Ten just the distraction he needed. He charged at Jesse. “Stop it! All of you.”

Ten got Jesse on his back. “You think you can play around, you little shit? You think you can fuck around with her? You’re going to learn how we do things in my house.” He punched Jesse right in the face.

Jesse’s eyes went slightly glassy.

Tag shoved Malone out of the way and holstered his weapon. “Ten, get the fuck off him. He doesn’t like being on his back. It’s a trigger.”

“Yeah? Well, I don’t like a lot of things.” Ten reared back. “I’m taking this fucker with me. I’m renditioning him. I have some questions I can’t ask on American soil. Malone, tell Ace to fire up the chopper. How about we head to the Middle East, Murdoch? I know you love it there.”

“You leave him alone.” She walked right up to her brother and started to push him off, but Taggart caught her around her waist and hauled her back.

“Don’t. He’s dangerous,” Taggart said. “Do you see that light in his eyes? He’s not with us anymore.”

Sure enough, Jesse started to fight, but not in the controlled way soldiers did. He thrashed, bucking Ten off him and rolling to his knees. He looked up at Ten, snarling like an animal.

“Everyone move back,” Taggart said in a calm voice. “Si, if you can work some magic here, I would appreciate it.”

“You’re being a little overdramatic,” Case Taggart said with a roll of his eyes. “Step back, boss. I’ll handle him.”

Before anyone could say a thing, Case stepped close to Jesse and Jesse pounced. He was on the bigger man, wrapping his hands around Case’s throat and saying something in a foreign language. Phoebe didn’t speak any of the Middle Eastern languages. She’d concentrated on Chinese and Korean and all the subdialects.

“Jesse!” She called out for him when Ten jumped back in.

“You’re making things worse,” Weston growled.

“What’s he saying?” Phoebe winced as Ten got Jesse in a chokehold. At least it would be over soon.

Or not. Jesse managed to move his head and catch Ten’s arm, biting down enough to draw blood. Ten shouted and dropped back.

“He’s saying he’d rather die,” Taggart explained. “He’d rather die than go back to being a dog. Someone’s dog. I don’t know all the words. It’s been a long time.”

“Charlotte, will you talk to him? Chelsea was able to talk him down last time,” Weston explained as Jesse turned on Ten.

Case started to walk up behind him, holding the butt of his rifle up.

“Stop!” Phoebe used her most authoritative voice and pointed a finger at Case. The man wouldn’t know subtlety if it bit him in the ass. “If you hurt him, I will make sure your next assignment is in the ass end of Africa. You’ll be pulling the leeches off your dick on a daily basis. Do you understand me? Charlotte, stand back. I’ll do it. He’s my responsibility.”

It had been right there on the tip of her tongue to say “he’s mine.” Every time someone questioned her rights to him, her damn alpha girl seemed to come out. She had to watch it because he wasn’t hers. However, she’d gotten him into this position and she would be the one to get him out.

Taggart released her. “Be careful. He really does go a little crazy when he’s in this state.”

Ten and Case stood ten feet from Jesse like he was a dangerous lion they didn’t want to touch but couldn’t let get away because he might eat all the villagers. The only good news was everyone seemed to have stopped fighting. They were too busy watching what was going on with Jesse.

“Phoebe, get back. That’s an order,” Ten commanded.

She’d never been really good at taking orders. It was easier to ignore Ten than to argue with him. “Jesse, it’s me. It’s Phoebe.”

“Softly,” Weston explained. “He’ll respond to the feminine side, not to someone in charge. Make yourself vulnerable to him. It worked before with Chelsea and he has a deeper connection with you. Let him hear the Phoebe he cares about.”

He didn’t look anything like the Jesse she knew so well. His eyes were wild, sweat covering his brow though it was nice and cool in the office. It was the blood on his mouth that completed the transformation.

Still, she didn’t hesitate.

“Hey, Jesse.” She moved toward him and he backed up, looking between the men.

“Damn it, Phoebe. Get back,” Ten ordered.

“You get back, Ten. You got us in this situation. I have to get us out,” she argued Ten’s way.

Jesse looked down and found the one thing he really didn’t need. Ten’s gun had dropped. Jesse got it in his hands and started pointing it around, speaking in rapid-fire Farsi.

“He’s telling everyone to get back,” Ten translated. Ten spoke a little in the same language, but that caused Jesse to start to stalk his way.

She couldn’t let that happen. The way Ten stilled let her know that Ten hadn’t come in with blanks. She lowered her voice, softening it. “Jesse, please. Please help me.”

“You have to get closer to him,” Simon advised.

“Shit. I’m going to get killed.” Ian lowered his voice and said something Phoebe didn’t understand.

Jesse’s eyes flared and suddenly that gun was being pointed at Taggart and Jesse was dragging Phoebe behind him.

“He didn’t mean it,” Simon explained quietly. “Jesse, you’re in Dallas. This is Simon and Ian. Ian would never hurt the girl. He just wanted to get your attention.”

So Ian had threatened her in Farsi and that had brought out Jesse’s protective instincts. Maybe it was time to bring out some other instincts. She wrapped her arms around his lean waist and brought her body against his. “Please, Jesse. I need you to come back to me.”

She let her hands move up his chest and felt his breath hitch. Yes, she was getting to him.

“Please, Jesse. You promised. You promised you would take care of me.” She went up on her toes and let her mouth rest against the outer edge of his ear. “I could take care of you, too.”

“That’s disgusting,” Ten muttered under his breath.

But Jesse pulled her around so she was cradled against his chest. He stared down at her and she reached up to wipe the blood off his face. “Phoebe?”

God, she was going to miss him. “Yes.”

It took him a moment, as though he needed time to move from one place to another, one time to another. “I’m sorry.”

She nodded, enjoying the closeness. It felt good to be in his arms as herself, with no untruths between them. “I am, too.”

“Are you all right?” Taggart asked.

Jesse’s arm tightened around her. His eyes found the floor and she could practically feel the shame rolling off him. “I’m here. I’m sorry. I forgot for a minute.”

“You’re fine.” She understood PTSD. Maybe not in the way Jesse experienced it, but she remembered how even after she moved into the big house in Virginia, she’d slept with a knife under her pillow, and she’d almost taken Jamie’s head off one night. “Ten deserved it.”

Her brother stepped forward, holding his left arm. “He bit me. The little fucker bit me. And he told me how much you liked him fucking you. He’s a liar because I know damn well you wouldn’t sleep with him.”

She felt her whole body go hot and she tried to step away from Jesse. She didn’t want Ten to know how close she’d come to betraying Jamie. He wouldn’t understand. She didn’t understand. She’d promised to be faithful to him and Jesse shook that vow.

“Did she call Ten her brother?” Charlotte asked. “I thought Ten was alone.”

Taggart stepped up, handing Charlotte his SIG. “Are we done with the preliminaries? We can get to the explanations later.”

Ten’s body seemed to swell as he faced off. “Yeah, we’re ready to get on to the main event, son.”

“Oh, I am so not your son, but I’ll show you that I’m definitely your better, you son of a bitch. You think you can walk into my house?”

“You threatened to kill my sister,” Ten growled. “You think I didn’t know what you meant with that phone call?”

“Does it matter that he didn’t hurt me?” Phoebe tried.

Charlotte moved in. “Nope. I think we need to let those two hash this out like men, and by men I mean ridiculously immature boys. Come on. I think we could all use a drink after this. Well, I can’t, but I can find the Scotch for the rest of you.” She winced as Li started things off by getting to his feet and immediately punching Case Taggart.

“Get off me, you little pervert,” Erin said, elbowing Theo. “Do you always get a hard-on when you attack a woman?”

“Only you,” Theo admitted as he tried to offer Erin a hand.

She took the proffered hand and used it to toss Theo on his back and begin a fight of her own.

Jesse stepped back, shrinking away as if he was dirty or something. She couldn’t handle that. She would have to leave him soon, but she wasn’t going to leave him like that.

Ian threw the first punch, but Ten was way meaner than he looked. He ducked hard and kicked Taggart right in the balls.

Charlotte groaned and put a hand over her belly. “I am really glad I already got that man’s sperm. It looks like this baby might be an only. Oh, jeez. I hope Ten froze his swimmers. Ian did not take that well. I think he just punched Ten’s balls back inside his body. That was a good uppercut. You get him, baby.” She sighed. “Who wants cake?”

Mike Malone looked away from the fights going on around him. “Cake?”

Charlotte’s eyes narrowed. “Fine, but I’m going to poison yours. I’m joking. It looks like my party is fucked. We should eat what we can. Sean, are you all right?”

Sean had joined his brother, leaping into the fray.

“And there go the appetizers.” Charlotte was surprisingly calm for a woman whose husband and employees were currently engaged in battle. “Jesse, come on. We need to get you cleaned up.”

“I’ll take care of it.” She wanted to be the one who made sure he was all right. It was all she could give him at this point.

Jesse pulled away, stepping around her. “I have a clean shirt in my office. I’ll be back.”

She watched as he walked away, his every movement stiff.

Charlotte eyed her as the room got worse. Jake Dean was getting into it with Deke and Alex and Adam walked in, carrying bags of groceries. They both stared at the chaos around them. Alex looked around and the minute his eyes lit on Ten, he was working his way toward the middle of the massive fight.

Adam sighed and joined Charlotte. “I’ll finish the bruschetta. It looks like Sean is having fun. Give me a couple of minutes. Simon, any way I can get you to help?”

“Well, I’m not getting involved in that. I just had this suit pressed,” Simon said, taking the bag from Adam.

“That’s my cousin,” Malone interjected, following the men. “What are you making? Because I skipped lunch.”

“At least we don’t have to worry about you getting away now,” Charlotte said and then winced again as her husband took a hard uppercut. “Or maybe you should run. I might go with you.”

She followed Charlotte to the back room, her thoughts on how lost Jesse had looked. And on how he’d pulled away. No matter what, her time was almost up.