The next morning, Nora awoke to a group of sore, grumpy guys. Matisse made coffee as they sat around the kitchen table. “Thank God this didn’t get wrecked,” Apollo noted.

“I’d have lost my shit,” Seok replied dryly, earning a gasp from her. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d heard him swear. “What?” He smiled at her and leaned over to kiss her temple. “I have enough projects without adding kitchen table to the list. Again.”

Leaning against the counting and staring out the window, Cai nibbled at a piece of toast. The day had dawned clear and cold. One of the first things Matisse had done after waking was crank the heat. “I refuse to freeze,” he’d told Seok, who examined the thermostat then adjusted it to a lower temperature.

“I wonder about you seeing Tyler today.” Cai finished his breakfast and rubbed his hands together.

Nora had just taken a sip of coffee and choked. Apollo rubbed her back then patted her, like a baby. “You okay?” he asked.

Wiping her eyes, she nodded. “Yeah,” she answered when she could speak again. “Don’t you think I’ll make him angry?” she asked Cai. He hadn’t seen Tyler’s face in the coffee shop. He’d been livid.

And the things he’d yelled as the police put him in the cruiser.

“If he’s more alert today, which he should be, it may do him some good to talk to you about what happened with Beau and with Dr. Murray. There’s no one else who can truly understand what Murray’s done, beside you.”

“And the other people in the study,” she added.

Cai’s eyes widened as if the thought had never occurred to him. “He still has people he’s messing with.” His golden skin paled, and he reached for a chair, pulling it out and sitting heavily. “I didn’t even…We have to get them out.”

Matisse refilled her coffee even though she was only a quarter lower than she’d been a minute ago. “I have his stuff on a USB. I’m going to give it to Vance. Let him deal with the asshole.”

“Make a copy of it.” Voice hard, Cai drummed his fingers on the table. “If they take too long, I want to find the people still in the study. Some of them could be my kids. I won’t let him hurt them.”

“I will.” Matisse sat the press on the table. “Cai.” Golden eyes blazed at Matisse, and Nora gasped at the pain she saw there. “Cai. I promise.”

After a pause, Cai nodded. “Okay.” His gaze fell on Nora. “You ready?”

“Now?” she asked. She was dressed, but it was barely eight.

“Now. I don’t want him to be alone if he doesn’t have to be.”

Pushing back the chair, she gulped down her coffee and nodded. “I’m ready.”

“Wait.” Apollo rushed to the refrigerator and pulled out two smoothies. “I made these for you.” Cai’s was a thick green, but hers, thankfully, was pink.

“Apollo,” Cai whined.

“No complaining.” Apollo wagged his finger. “Three days out of the hospital. You get vitamin boosts. And kale. So shut up and drink it.”

It might not have been Apollo’s intention to lighten the mood, but he did. Grumbling, Cai reached for Nora’s hand and dragged her out the door. He shoved his shake in the cup holder as he backed out of the driveway, but smiled when Nora removed it and handed it back to him. “Vitamins.”

“Mmhm,” he answered, and took a sip, grimacing. “He doesn’t try to make it taste good like he does with yours.”

“I didn’t have scarlet fever,” she retorted and licked her top lip.

The hospital was only a few blocks away, but with early morning traffic it took longer. Neither of them spoke much. Nora’s stomach was a jumbled mess of nerves as she replayed her last interaction with Tyler. She understood what Cai was trying to achieve, but she was afraid her presence would only provoke him, or worse, send him into a tailspin. From what Cai had said, Tyler’d had a few good moments with him. She worried that in his haste to make things better and protect Tyler, he was actually rushing what the young man could handle.

Cai parked and led her into the hospital, a circuitous route that gave her an eerie sense of deja vu. It suddenly hit her, after he pushed the arrow next to a set of elevators that they’d be returning to the floor where she’d been brought to recuperate from her bullet wounds.

Her stomach dropped as the elevators opened, but she made herself follow Cai inside. As the doors closed, however, panic built in her chest. Her breath came in quick pants.

“Nora?” Cai’s voice sounded far away. “Nora. Sweetheart. What’s the matter?”

The buttons lit, one-by-one, and the only thing she saw were the numbers. One. Two. Three. Four. A sudden alarm blared, and Cai shook her shoulders, forcing her face toward his. “Nora!”

All at once, everything came back into focus. Cai’s golden skin was white and his eyes wide with fright. As if he could tell she was with him again, he embraced her, hard. His arms, leaner than they were before his long hospital stay, enfolded her. “What happened?”

His worried eyes held hers. “I remembered.” Was that her voice? Hoarse and strained like she’d been screaming? “I remembered I stayed on this floor before. After Reed.”

“Oh.” The word left him on a long exhalation. “Oh, Nora. I’m sorry. I forgot. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Stepping back, she sucked in air and let it out slowly. She held her hands against her stomach like Apollo had taught her. “I’m okay now. It just hit me. I’m sorry.” Reaching past him, she depressed the emergency stop button and the elevator jerked into motion.

“Nora.” Cai’s voice was wary and sad.

“I’m okay.” Hands in place, she concentrated on breathing. “I’m okay.”

The doors opened, and she stepped out. If she said it enough, she’d come to believe it.

Locked doors greeted them as they entered the wing simply labeled, Baird Five. So innocuous, but it held a world of hurt. Things she’d forced herself to forget came crashing back. The yelling at night. The nurses’ coldness and irritation. Her heart hurt thinking of the sunny young man who may be suffering the same treatment she’d faced.

“Are they nice to him?” she asked when Cai’s finger was poised above the buzzer.

“They?”

“The nurses and doctors. When you saw him. Where they kind to him?” She kept her eyes glued on the small camera above the doorframe. “I wonder if they recognize me.”

“They weren’t to you?”

Nora shrugged, and then, because she didn’t owe those nurses anything, she shook her head. “No. They weren’t. Of course, I’d been accused of something horrific and not toppling a few tables at a coffee shop. But when people are at their worst, sometimes that’s when they need the most kindness.”

Cai entwined his strong fingers with hers and lifted her hand to his lips. He kissed the back of her hand once, and then pressed the button.

“Yes?” a tinny voice asked.

“Malachi Josephs and Nora Leslie to visit Tyler Caswell.”

A buzzer sounded then a click, and the doors swung open. The nurse at the station waved them forward. “Tyler was waiting for you, but he’s been transferred.”

Glancing at Nora in confusion, he rubbed his forehead. “What? What do you mean transferred?”

“I can’t disclose patient information, but he was transferred by his psychiatrist to a separate facility. One that can give long-term care.”

“He didn’t need long-term care,” Cai ground out. “Who transferred him? I want their name. I’m going to be granted medical power of attorney, but as his social worker, I should have been informed of any changes to his care.”

Nora kept her eyes on Cai. The muscle in his jaw began to tick, and when he laid his hands on the desk, they trembled. “Cai?”

A quick side-eye was all she got. “I want to speak to your supervisor and the attending physician, and I want to know where Tyler Caswell was transferred, and I want to know it now!” He pounded the desk with his fist, rattling the cup of pencils on the top.

“Cai.”

“Sir!” the nurse cried. “Please, calm down. There’s no need for your tone. Mr. Caswell will be well taken care of. I’m sure this was an oversight. Let me see your identification, and I’ll have a supervisor with you in a moment.”

With shaking fingers, Cai fumbled with his wallet. Nora held out a hand to help, but he shot her such a look of warning that she dropped them. Flinging the ID at the nurse, he spit out, “There. Now get your goddamned supervisor down here, and while you’re at it, I want to talk to the asshole who transferred him.”

Red-faced, the nurse left to use the phone away from them. Nora glanced around, noting they’d attracted the attention of multiple staff. Many of them glared at Cai, posture tight as if they were ready for a fight. Worried, she watched Cai. He was ready for a fight, too. She’d never seen him wound so tight.

His hands fisted at his side, and he paced in short lines in front of the desk. Like a caged animal, Nora realized.

“Sir?” The nurse hung up the phone and approached them cautiously. “The doctor will see you in his office. If you sit there, he’ll be right with you.” She pointed to hard plastic bench that appeared to be secured to the floor.

Cai whipped around, and Nora reached for his hand but he tore it away from her. “Don’t,” he warned. The voice he used brooked no opposition. “I can’t.”

Nora never wished so hard for a phone. Something was happening with Cai, and she didn’t know how to help. “Okay.” She kept her voice low and calm. “Do you want to let the guys know what happened?”

“I need you to be quiet, Nora. I can’t concentrate.” He rubbed the back of his neck, sat on the bench, and then lurched up. “Here.” He tossed her his phone. “You tell them.”

Eyes on him, she thumbed into the phone and started a new message, adding Ryan, Seok, Matisse, and Apollo to the recipients. Tyler transferred. Please come. Cai needs you.

Immediately, the phone chirped. Where are you? Ryan.

Baird Five. She wrote back.

On our way. Matisse.

When she glanced up at Cai, more nurses had gathered at the station and were watching him closely—like they were ready to spring into action. If he kept it up, she realized, something bad was going to happen.

Clearing her throat, she stood and angled her body to catch his attention. “I wasn’t allowed out of my room when I was here.”

Her words brought him up short, but a second later he began to pace again, giving no sign of having heard her. Nora didn’t wear a watch, but the time they waited went on and on.

“Mr. Josephs,” an all-too familiar voice called.

Cai stared over her shoulder, face flushing red then white, and then red again. “Dr. Murray.”

Slowly, like taking longer would change the outcome, she turned around. Serious. Angry. Dangerous. Dr. Murray observed them. “I heard you wanted to speak with me. Please come to my office.”

Cai shook his head. “What the hell did you do?” It was as if his anger made him larger. Shoulders heaving, he approached Murray, and for the first time since meeting him, Nora feared Cai would act without thinking.

“I’m Tyler’s doctor, Mr. Josephs. I did what was best for him.”

“You did this to him.” Cai’s voice was ragged. “You pushed him. You wore him down until he thought he was nothing—until he believed whatever bullshit you foisted on him.”

“You’re acting irrationally.”

Cai stumbled at Murray’s words, and Nora burst into action, positioning herself between the two men. “Cai. Please. He knows what he’s doing, and he’s playing you.”

“I got this, Nora.”

He didn’t. Nora could see he was flailing, and she didn’t know how to catch him.

“Cai.” He was still staring at Dr. Murray, so she placed her hands on his chest. As her body came into contact with his, he flinched, like she’d hurt him.

“Nora. You’re only hurting and confusing him. Move away.” Dr. Murray’s voice was calm. “You don’t know what you’re doing. Step aside.”

At Murray’s words, Cai glanced down at her, but the doctor kept talking. “You don’t have the skills to help someone like Tyler, Mr. Josephs. You’re out of your league, son.”

“Cai, I want to leave.” Pushing on his chest, Nora tried to redirect him to the door, but he was stone.

“Doesn’t matter what you want, Nora. You’re not going to get it.” The doctor’s words wound around her brain, squeezing like a snake until she couldn’t think.

“Dr. Lecter!” Someone grabbed her from behind, and pulled her into their arms while Matisse parked himself between her and Dr. Murray. He was as tall as Cai and blocked her view of the doctor. His presence seemed to shake some sense into Cai, because he reared back, nearly stepping on Nora.

“Watch out,” Seok warned Cai and tightened his arms around her.

“Nora’s entire harem is here.” She couldn’t see him, but she could hear the venom in Dr. Murray’s voice.

“Casse toi, nut job,” Matisse said. “Save the head games for someone who isn’t as fou comme moi. Let’s go, Cai.”

“He had Tyler transferred,” Cai croaked. “I don’t know where he is.”

“T’inquiète pas. We’ll find him,” Matisse assured Cai.

“Your friend’s reasoning is irrational,” Dr. Murray replied. “Watch him.”

Nora wished she could come up with the exact right thing to say. The thing that would make everything better and stop the shaking she’d seen in Cai’s shoulders before Matisse planted himself between them.

“Let’s go.” Apollo appeared next to her, holding out his hand, and she took it.

Matisse slung his arm around Cai’s shoulders, steering him more out the door more effectively than she had past the nurse’s station. Once they’d exited, Matisse picked up the pace to hurry them to the elevator. Nora held tightly to Apollo’s hand, squeezing it in both of hers. Seok held her in a similar hold to how Matisse gripped Cai—one arm over her shoulders, anchoring her. The elevator dinged, and they strode across the hospital and through the parking garage toward Apollo’s car. It was parked diagonally across two spots. Clearly, they’d roared into the garage earlier.

The entire drive home was silent, but once they got into the house and Matisse had settled Cai on the couch, they began to talk.

“Malachi Josephs.” Matisse shook his head and slapped Cai on the back. “You scared the ever-loving shit out of that wacko.”

“I lost it,” Cai replied quietly. “I fucking lost it.”

“He messed with your head,” Nora countered. “It’s what he does. He did it to me. I couldn’t think.”

“But I’ve dealt with his type before, Nora.” He yanked the blonde strands and shook his head back and forth. “I know the kind of person he is, and he still got to me.”

Apollo and Ryan stood near the door and stared at their friend while Seok fisted his hands at his hips and glared.

“He saw an advantage and took it.” Out of all of them, Matisse looked the most at ease, like he dealt with breakdowns every day. “It took years for me to figure people out—decades—and let me tell you, my friend, you got to him, too.”

Scoffing, Cai rubbed his face. “I really didn’t.”

“He was on the attack, but like one of those fish.”

“What the hell, Matisse. A fish?” Apollo dropped his arms and shook his head. “I can’t follow you, man.”

“You know—” He puffed out his cheeks. “They make themselves seem bigger than they are to scare off predators, but it’s the only weapon they have. Murray made himself seem big to scare you off. But the only reason he did it was because he was the one who was scared. You’re the bigger fish.”

“I’m the bigger fish?” Cai finally looked up to meet Nora’s stare then Matisse’s. “I’m a fish.”

“A big fish.” Matisse held his hands out. “Like one I once caught. It was this big.” Tipping his head to the side, he squinted at his hands and adjusted them wider. “This big.”

Cai barked a laugh, but got serious again quickly. “I gotta find, Tyler. Get him away from them.”

“You will,” Nora said. “You saved me, and you’ll save him.”

“I didn’t save you,” Cai argued.

“Ta gueule,” Matisse said. “Shut up. You saved yourself the moment you made the call to Ryan. A weaker person would have taken it, but not you. You knew what you needed, and you went for it.”

“Maybe.” Nora liked the way they saw her, but she wanted them to see themselves the way she did, too. “But I wouldn’t have been strong enough to deal with Dr. Murray if it hadn’t been for you. Cai. You’re strong, and brave, and loyal. You give those kids hope. And yesterday, when you were with Tyler for ten minutes—Ten minutes!—you gave him hope. Trust yourself, Cai. Like I trust you.”

“We all trust you, man,” Apollo added.

“There’s no one else like you.” Matisse got serious fast. “Tyler’s going to be okay, because he has you.”

Nora watched Cai bloom under the positive words of his friend. Seok nodded, a small smile touching his lips, and it was enough to make Cai stand straighter.

“Your heart, my friend,” Ryan said. “You have endless patience, and you’re strong. Unbreakable.”

“Unbreakable.” It was true. Separately, they may have flaws. But together, each of them shoring up the others, they were tough, indestructible. “Let Dr. Murray do his worst,” Nora said. “He’s never seen anything like us.”

Pushing off the wall, Ryan’s green eyes locked on hers. Her breath caught, and she marveled at a world where she was enough to merit the intensity of someone like him. He held her face between his palms, leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. “And I’ve never seen anyone like you,” he whispered. “I love you, Nor.”

Gripping his wrists in her hands, she kept him there, breathing his breath, her heart full of love. “I love you, Ryan.”

He stepped back, and Matisse swept her into his arms. Lifting her, he spun her in a circle. “Je t’aime, cher.” Carefully, he eased her feet toward the ground, but he didn’t let her go. Taking one hand in his and placing the other at the small of her back, he eased her onto his chest and began to dance. “Il est entré dans mon cœur, une part de bonheur, dont je connais la cause. C’est lui pour moi, moi pour toi dans la vie. It’s you for life, Nora.”

“Moi pour toi dans la vie, Matisse. It’s you for life. I love you,” she whispered.

Nora wasn’t sure how long they stayed there, swaying to music they made themselves. The other guys let them have that time. It wasn’t until Matisse's pocket vibrated a third time that they drew apart. Reluctantly, he took out his phone and sighed. His eyebrows drew together, but then he smirked and winked at her. She stepped back to leave, but he wrapped his arm tighter around her waist and kissed her forehead.

"Don't move," he whispered.

“Matisse?" A smooth, southern voice answered the phone.

“Mom. I’m putting you on speakerphone. Say hello to Nora. She’s my girl, and I’m bringing her home for Thanksgiving.”

Wide-eyed, Nora shook her head, unprepared to speak, but he pushed the phone closer. Her voice was a squeak, but she somehow got out, "Hello."

“Nora." The woman's voice was breathless. "I can't wait to meet you." A moment later, her words tumbled over each other. "I'm sending tickets now. Nora, do you have family you'd like to invite? We have plenty of space for everyone.”

Hesitating, she stared at Matisse and began carefully. "Just Matisse and Cai. Seok, and Ryan, and Apollo.”

“That’s right,” Matisse broke in. "The family. Our family, Mom.”

There was a slight pause, but then a tinkling laugh. “You always had to do things your own way, Matisse. Nora, welcome. My son sounds happy.”

“This girl is our world, Mom," he answered, holding her gaze. “She’s our future.”

“This is my family, Mrs. Boudreau,” Nora went on. “I'll do everything in my power to make your son as happy as he makes me.”

Loving them was the one promise she wanted everyone to know.