It was a few days since that evening in my apartment, and everything had changed between Andreas and I now. He was no longer just my client - of course he had never been, not really, but the stakes had been raised.

And I couldn’t have been happier.

It was good to see him smile again, see him relax when he was around me. I loved that he felt so safe in my presence, and I loved that I could just be myself with him. In my line of work, there were certain barriers I needed to put up most of the time. Maintaining a certain professional distance was just good practice in my business...but Andreas had broken all of mine down.

I should have felt exposed, naked...but the opposite was true. I felt like, with him by my side, we could handle anything. As long as I focused on the work, and as long as Andreas could allow me to take that risk into my hands, I knew we could do this.

I was humming to myself as I walked into the office that morning, and Sierra looked up at me with a crooked grin on her face.

“Morning, Sierra,” I smiled. “Beautiful one, isn’t it?”

“Uh huh, sure,” she replied. “Although I don’t think it’s the time of day that’s gotten you in such a good mood.”

I shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

She laughed, and then caught herself as if remembering something. “Gael asked me to send you to him when you arrived,” she said. “Sounded important.”

“Sure, thanks,” I said. “I’ll go right over.”

Gael Aranza was the founder of Bridgeport Security and Investigations, and was, therefore, my boss. He was a busy guy, and mostly left me to handle things on my own. Nonetheless, it wasn’t too surprising that he wanted to see me. Gael liked to be kept abreast of all ongoing investigations, and his long years of experience meant that he often had useful perspective if we were stuck.

Although, more often than not, his previous experience as a cop meant that he would just take us to task for not keeping on top of the paperwork. Gael was a stickler for procedure, always with the damn paperwork.

I smiled to myself as I walked the short distance to his office and then knocked.

“Come in,” came Gael’s voice, in his thick Spanish accent. No matter how long he lived here, that accent never seemed to fade even a little. At this point I was convinced that he did it on purpose.

He was sitting behind his desk, his dark eyes fixed on me, his expression probing. I sat in my chair and met his gaze. Gael’s deep brown curls looked particularly unruly that morning, as if he’d been running his hands through his hair in frustration.

“What’s up?” I asked. “It looks like you’ve got something on your mind.”

He nodded and tapped at a sheet of paper in front of him. “I’ve been keeping up with your progression on this Weber case,” he told me thoughtfully. “How’s it going?”

“Good, overall,” I replied. “Nato’s investigations have uncovered some encouraging leads, and so far we’ve managed to avoid any major incidents with Dara, Andreas’ daughter. We had that little incident with his home alarm system, but that’s now been resolved.”

“Yes, that’s good,” Gael said, but I could tell he had more he wanted to say. He sat and studied me for a few moments, his expression unreadable.

“I understand that you and Andreas have history,” he said carefully. “And I also understand that there are some...new emotional ties between you now.”

Well, damn. News travels fast.

I nodded quickly. “Yes. That’s true.”

Gael fixed me with that inscrutable gaze again. “Jake, you’ve been with me for a long time. I trust your judgement, and I respect your professionalism. So, I’ll only ask this once. Are you fit to keep working on this case? You’ve given me no reason to believe otherwise, but you know that I prefer to keep work and personal life very much separate.”

“You don’t need to be concerned, Gael,” I said firmly. “It won’t be an issue. As you said, I’ve been doing this a long time. My personal ties to Andreas will absolutely not get in the way of my work. I promise you that.”

A second’s pause, and then he nodded and smiled. “Good. I will leave it at that. Now-”

He was interrupted by another knock on his office door, and Nato stepped inside with a lithe, handsome blond man by his side.

“Sorry for interrupting,” he told us. “But I have a new lead in the investigation, an important one, and I thought it should be shared with you all immediately.”

He stepped to one side, and indicated his companion. “This is Thom Gleason, Frank Meyer’s partner.” Thom nodded at us, looking uncomfortable but trying to play it off. “Thom has some news to share with us. Please, Thom, take a seat.”

Thom did as he was asked, and looked from face to face. “Nato came to see me a few days back,” he said. “Told me about your suspicions with Frank. I...decided to help. What that girl’s gone through shouldn’t happen to anyone.”

He sighed, rubbing his forehead before continuing. “I overheard a conversation between Frank and a friend of his last night. Someone named Clifton…”

Nato and I looked at each other, and I nodded.

I knew that guy gave me the damn creeps. Intuition never let me down before, and it hasn’t now.

“Obviously I only heard Frank’s side of it,” Thom continued, “but it didn’t sound good. It sounded like Clifton is responsible for those horrible threats that have been made. They were talking about putting more pressure on, and Clifton stepping things up.”

He cleared his throat. “That’s all I know. If I can’t be of any more use, I’d like to leave as soon as possible.”

He stood, but then stopped before exiting the room. “Also, this conversation never happened, alright?”

“Of course,” I told him. “All our sources are always given total confidentiality.”

Thom nodded, satisfied. “Good. I don’t want to deal with Frank’s anger issues over this.”

Nato’s didn’t react, but something told me this wasn’t the first time he’d learned this about Thom and Frank’s relationship.

“We can get you and your son to a safe house,” Nato said.

“No. Thanks, but no,” Thom said, firmly.

Nato’s expression tightened, just a little. “Don’t leave things too late. Men like that can turn violent at the drop of a hat. Think about the kid.”

Thom gave him a long look. “I can handle myself. If I do need help, I’ll reach out, OK?” He left the room. Nato watched him go, his expression dark.

“I hate to see that kind of shit,” he said. “He seems like a good guy - God knows what he’s doing with some asshole like Frank Meyers.”

I went to Nato and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You can’t help him if he doesn’t want to be helped. You already know that.”

Nato faced me, anger and frustration in his eyes. “Yeah, I know, damnit. Fuck.”

He was definitely heading towards becoming emotionally invested in this guy, for whatever reason. “Yeah. . .it might be a good time to take a step back and get some objectivity.”

Nato’s eyes flashed. “Don’t need your lectures.” He turned on his heel and marched out of the room.

Gael chuckled behind me. “Something in the water right now, is there? All of my agents getting their feelings all mixed up in their work. I hope you don’t all come to regret it…”

I shook my head. “Tell me about it. This case has gotten us all tangled up…speaking of which, I need to go talk to Andreas about this new development with Clifton Aeronson. Something tells me he’s not gonna take it well.”

“Very good,” Gael replied. “Keep me updated on everything, Jake. I’m gonna trust in your experience to see everyone through what is turning into something far more complicated than we were expecting.”

“You got it, boss. I’ll handle it.”

Darek was standing outside Andreas’ house, alert and staid as usual.

“Anything to report?” I asked.

“Naw,” Darek said. “Quiet day. Dara and Andreas are inside - I came out for a little fresh air.”

“Thanks for helping me out on this case, Darek,” I said to him. “You’ve been a lifesaver.”

“Just doin’ my job,” Darek said. “No need to thank me.”

He tucked his hands into his pockets and strode off to his car. I watched him go, wondering where he was headed. Darek was a difficult one to figure out - he always did his job, was always reliable, always professional...but he’d never been much of a talker. He didn’t socialise with anyone in the office, and some people even considered him borderline rude, with his curt manner and reluctance to engage in conversation.

I figured that was just his way, though, and I was happy to leave him to it. At least with Darek we wouldn’t have to worry about any extra-curricular attachments complicating the case. He showed up, did his job, and then left.

I walked into the house to see Andreas standing in the center of the open-plan lounge, new furniture arranged haphazardly around the room. He had his hands on his hips and was surveying the chaotic scene with a look of puzzlement.

I went to him and wrapped my hands around his waist from behind, kissing him gently on the neck. He turned and smiled absently at me, planting a quick peck on my lips.

“How’s it going?” I asked.

“Well, we got all the new furniture delivered, and now I’m trying to figure out where to put it all. I’m a restauranteur though, not an interior designer. Right now I just wanna shove it all against the nearest wall and leave it at that.”

I laughed. “Hell, that’s what I’d do. Need a hand?”

He grinned at me. “Sure.”

We spent the next few minutes pushing couches and tables around the room, until there was at least a semblence of order.

“That’ll do,” Andreas said. “I’m sure a Feng Shui practitioner would have a fit.” He came to me and wrapped his arms around me. “I wasn’t expecting to see you today. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”

It was intoxicating to be in his embrace, to feel his body so close to mine, but I forced myself to snap out of it and focus.

Remember your promise to Gael. You’re on the clock.

I took a breath, wondering how Andreas was going to react to what I had to tell him.

“There’s been a development in the case,” I said, untangling myself from the embrace to try and clear my thoughts. “An important one.”

He watched me intently, waiting for the information.

“Nato has been doing some more digging, and we’re pretty sure we know who’s behind all this. I can’t reveal sources, but the information is solid, and I trust Nato when he-”

“I understand, Jake,” Andreas cut in softly. “Just tell me who it is.”

“Clifton Aeronson.”

He was silent for a few moments, taking it in, coming to terms with it. “And you sure?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He massaged his temples, looking anguished. “Clifton? What would he have to gain, though? It doesn’t make sense. I need to talk to him, make him understand…”

“No, Andreas,” I told him. “Leave this to us now. Clifton obviously isn’t who he seems, and he could be dangerous. We’ll handle him.”

Andreas shook his head stubbornly. “No, he’s one of my oldest friends. I can make him see-”

“Andreas, listen,” I said, my voice sharper than I intended. “I thought we had gotten past this. Whatever loyalty and friendship you had with Clifton in the past, that’s over now. It’s done. He smashed up your home, he threatened your child. He’s evil.”

I was alarmed at how quickly he’d slipped back into old habits, trying to make excuses, trying to see the good side in his friend when there was none there. I felt a gnawing sense of worry in the pit of my stomach.

He stared into my eyes...then nodded. “OK. You’re right.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re making the right decision. Leave it to us at the agency to deal with - we’ll get this scumbag and make him accountable for what he’s done.” I pulled him into a hug. “We’re near the end of this whole thing now, Andreas. Once Clifton’s out of the picture, you and Dara can finally start to get back to normal. Well...the new normal.”

He rested his head on my shoulder as I held him close. “I hope you’re right, Jake. I hope you’re right.”