Rhett didn’t trust me to leave with Jade. Either that, or he didn’t trust Jade to leave at all. He left the cleanup for Kryder to handle, met us in the garage, and demanded he drive my car. I had no idea how they’d gotten here—and if they drove, where they had parked—but I was in no position to ask. Not to mention, he’d never answer, anyway.

I climbed into the back with Jade while Rhett ran inside. She was so distant, but I couldn’t exactly blame her. She’d walked in on me at my worst, and there was no explanation I could offer. Not sure what all she’d heard or even how long she’d been in the house, I had no idea where to begin. But the bottom line was…she’d lost all trust in me. I saw it vanish from her eyes when I had her against the kitchen counter. The admiration and conviction in her stare was there one minute, and then empty the next. I had no clue what had happened in those few seconds, but whatever it was left a divide a mile wide between us, and it only seemed to get bigger.

“Talk to me, Jade. Please,” I begged quietly, afraid of coming off too strong.

She curled into the door and leaned against the window. We were still parked in the garage, and the only thing she had to look at was the wall lined with shelves. I doubted she could focus on anything, and she more than likely just used it as an excuse to ignore me.

But I wouldn’t let her. I inched closer to the middle and angled my body to face hers. With one hand on the passenger seat and the other on the headrest behind her, I closed the distance even more. “I don’t care what words you use, just please say something.”

“I’m not sure what else there is to say, Cash.” Her fingers covered her lips, which muffled her soft-spoken argument.

“Yell. Scream. Anything.”

She tilted her head, something in the garage catching her attention. And when I glanced away from her, I noticed Rhett heading back out, stalking toward the driver’s side door. He yanked it open in a blatant show of his irritation and settled behind the wheel. Kryder appeared in the entryway, half in, half out, his hand hovering over the button on the wall to raise the garage door. When Rhett gave him a quick nod, he tapped it. Then the engine purred to life.

I sat back in my seat and settled in for an incredibly uncomfortable ride.

“Where are we takin’ your friend, son?” He raised his eyes and locked his gaze on mine in the rearview mirror. We never had to speak to communicate. Silent words passed between us, then he returned his gaze to the road and carefully drove away. Rhett didn’t have to glance around like a paranoid addict looking for possible witnesses. He could spot them in his sleep.

I turned my head and observed Jade. She still hadn’t moved away from the door; her head still rested against the glass with her thumbnail between her teeth. We’d come here so she could be with her mom, yet everything had imploded. Although, I couldn’t say I minded all of it. I didn’t want to give her up, but if it were between that and going after the man who’d taken advantage of her…I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Just knowing he’d never be able to touch her again would lessen the sting of not being with her.

“I guess the hospital,” I mumbled with my heart in my throat.

“I don’t mean to scare ya, darlin’, but I’m gonna need you to keep quiet about what you saw tonight. Am I clear?” He hadn’t come across as intimidating, just direct and upfront regarding his expectations. However, it still caused her to flinch and tense in her seat.

“Yeah, she understands, Rhett. She won’t say anything.”

Jade whipped her head to the side and peered at me in the dark cab. I would’ve given anything to look her in the eyes and learn what she was thinking, but I couldn’t see anything past the shadows veiling her face. Her harsh swallow resounded between us seconds before she returned to her position away from me.

Silence played on repeat until we pulled up to the hospital entrance. Jade couldn’t get out fast enough—she barely waited until the vehicle had come to a complete stop. I hopped out and chased after her, catching her within ten feet of the idling car, and interrupted her hasty exit by grabbing her hand. The expression on her face when she turned around was enough to slice me open from tip to toe.

Her jaw tensed and flexed with her teeth clenching, and her lips were flat and pressed together. Instead of the clear skies that normally shined on me, drawing me in with the allure of sparkling, shallow waters on a sunny day, they deepened into an angry sea in the midst of a storm. Her brow was hard and pulled tight, casting a shadow over her heated eyes. I wanted to make it all go away. I needed the softness to return so I could make things right again. But something in my gut told me I wouldn’t get that chance if I let her walk away from me.

I lifted my hand to her face, ignoring the way she flinched, and grazed my knuckles across the smooth skin on her cheek. And when I ran the pad of my thumb along her bottom lip, some of the doubt fell away from her expression. It wasn’t much, but I was willing to take what I could get.

“I’ll be back to get you. Call me if you need anything.”

“No, Cash.” Those were the first words she’d spoken since we left her mom’s house, and they were the ones I feared the most. “I’ll have Stevie pick me up in the morning. I can sleep here for tonight. You should probably go home.”

Not once did she meet my eyes or lift her chin to look at me. I refused to believe what it meant, even though the truth was right in front of me. “You’re going to come home, right?” I sounded desperate—then again, that’s exactly what I was.

“I’m going to stay here until my mom gets better. After that…I’m not sure what I’ll do.” She held her hand up between us as if to keep me away, even though I hadn’t moved toward her. “I just need time to think.”

“What about the library? Your job?”

“I’ll call them in the morning and explain about my mom. I’m sure they won’t hold my position for me, and I can’t really ask them to. I have no idea if I’ll be back, so it’s unfair to ask them to hold my job when I can’t guarantee I’ll fill it anytime soon.”

“We need to talk. And honestly, I don’t feel comfortable with you being here alone.”

“I’ll be fine. I have Stevie, and I’ll be here at the hospital.” Then her gaze slowly trailed up my chest to my face before cautiously holding my stare. “You and your friends—or dad, or whoever they are—don’t have to worry about cutting my tongue out. I won’t say anything. And I’m pretty sure he won’t be a problem, either. He may act tough around me while he’s got me under his control, but I don’t think even he would enjoy getting another visit from a group of trained killers.”

Any ounce of hope I’d clung to until that moment deflated. My shoulders dropped and all the air in my lungs fled my body. “We really need to talk about that, Jade.” I glanced around, lowered my voice, and added, “But this isn’t the right time or place. Just promise me you’ll give me the chance to explain.”

Her throat dipped with her hard swallow before she nodded. Her gaze fell to the ground, and in a last-ditch effort, I curled my fingers around the back of her neck, pulled her head to my lips, and pressed a desperate kiss to her hairline. It didn’t last long, though. Rather than linger and watch her walk away from me, I dropped my hand and turned to climb into the passenger seat.

The second the door shut, Rhett shifted the car into drive and rolled away. I didn’t want to see her, but that didn’t stop my eyes from drifting to the side mirror. I found her standing exactly where I’d left her. The farther away we drove, the smaller her image became, yet throughout the entire time she appeared in the reflective glass just outside my window, she didn’t move.

“So now are ya gonna to tell me what the fuck happened tonight?”

I wasn’t stupid enough to think Rhett would let it go. I had no idea where he was taking me, but it didn’t matter because it wasn’t like I had a choice either way. My only option was to sit back and take it, give him what he asked for, and hope I still had a job.

Sighing, I rolled my head on the back of the seat and closed my eyes. “I already told you, Rhett. We came here because her mom’s in the ICU, and when I saw them together and heard someone call his name…I snapped.”

“There’s a reason I have rules set in place for shit like this. I tell all my men to come to me with personal vendettas—and I know I’ve told you the same. I don’t care what it’s about; I need to know.”

“I did tell you about it.”

“Yeah, well, ya didn’t call me.”

I huffed, not in the mood to argue, but also yearning to have my point heard. “I didn’t have time, Rhett. It’s not like I went looking for the guy. I walked into the hospital to find Jade, because she’d gone in ahead of me, and that’s when I saw them together. I had no idea who he was at first. But I couldn’t ignore her reaction to him, and within seconds, I realized who he was.”

“So you sayin’ it all happened in the blink of an eye?” A slight smirk played on his lips.

“Yes.”

His abrupt, roaring laughter startled me. “I thought you said ya saw him in the hospital? Yet I found ya in his kitchen. Unless I heard ya wrong—which ain’t possible since I got the hearin’ of a greater wax moth—ya told me you saw him with your girl…so why’d she seemed so su’prised when she walked in?”

“A wax moth?” I already knew the point he was trying to make, so I figured I’d attempt to change the subject.

“A greater wax moth, get it right. Damn thing developed the keenest sense o’ hearin’ in order’ta keep from getting’ eaten by them bats.” He shook his head in exaggerated, mock disappointment in me. I thought I’d won, but then he said, “Now, back to your claim that ya didn’t have time to call me.”

I closed my eyes and groaned inwardly.

“To me, it seems like ya had time to debilitate ’im, to get ’im in your car, to drive to his house, to get ’im inside, and somewhere along the way, ya had time to have a conversation with ’im. Yet ya didn’t have time to call me?”

“You know what I mean, Rhett.”

“You’re right. I do. It’s got nothin’ to do with time, b’cause ya clearly had enough of that. You was blinded by madness, deafened by vengeance. I get it. And that’s exactly why I don’t let my men handle that shit on their own. It’s not that I don’t trust y’all to handle a job, b’cause I do. You’re one of the best men I have—when you’re usin’ your brain. But you can’t use your brain when chasin’ after a personal vendetta. No one can—myself included. Too many lines blur until you’re makin’ stupid mistakes, like grabbin’ a grown-ass man from a well-lit parkin’ lot in front of a fuckin’ hospital, for Christ’s sake.”

“I checked for cameras,” I argued. “There was no one out there. No one saw me.”

“You’re so smart, son. Maybe you could teach me a few things.” It would’ve been better had it been a real, sincere compliment instead of sarcasm smothered in mockery. “I think I can retire now knowin’ I got someone to take the reins.”

“Fine.” I raised my voice, tired of the passive-aggressive verbal attacks. “I fucked up.”

“Yeah ya did. And as if that ain’t bad enough…you took ’im to his house. Without gloves. Without protection or even a damn plan. You can’t sit here and tell me any of that was done with a clear head.”

He was right. From the moment I’d pieced it all together, common sense had evaded me. Not just that, but my training and experience, as well. Everything I’d ever been taught about staying in the shadows and not crossing the lines between my professional and personal life went out the window. I had one thing on my mind, and that was to take him out. Blinding emotion led me to kidnap him in a place anyone could’ve walked by and seen. One witness, one phone call to the cops, would’ve ended me on the spot. But I didn’t let that stop me—hell, I had barely given it any thought. Desperation and a thirst for revenge drove me to his house. Again, putting everything I’d ever worked for in jeopardy.

I was smarter than that.

Apparently, weakness didn’t discriminate.

“You went against everything I ever taught ya.” The anger that had been in his voice was no longer present, and instead, all I could pick up on was disappointment.

“I apologize. It wasn’t intentional.”

“You’re human, son.” He peered at me briefly from the corner of his eyes. “You guys are lethally trained, just as potentially dangerous as a loaded gun. In the right hands, everyone’s safe, but if it found itself in the wrong situation, it could prove to be deadly. You’re not a monster. I don’t have to worry about anyone who works for me turnin’ their skills into a public hazard. But we’re human, Cash. We all have a trigger, and when it’s squeezed at the wrong time—generally speakin’—the wrong person can get hurt.”

He didn’t have to explain it to me. I understood what he meant. Following orders and taking out targets was one thing, but when we strayed down the dark path of our own vengeful desires, we took the chance of getting caught, of our families finding out what we really did at WireComm. And not only could it have negative repercussions on our own lives, but the lives of our entire team, as well.

He pulled up to a motel and parked in front of a building decorated with matching red doors, each with a brass number hanging on the front. The clock on the dashboard read ten till eleven, and I wondered where the time went. It hadn’t felt like two hours had passed since I’d driven into town, but with all the chaos of the evening, it wasn’t like I’d kept track of the night. I grabbed my phone from the cup holder, where it’d been since the hospital, and remembered the wallet in my console. Rhett would want it, but for a split second, I questioned keeping it for whatever information it held. I’d already put myself in the line of fire tonight, and I didn’t need more, so I reached inside the compartment between the seats, took the wallet out, and handed it over to my very surprised boss.

“You must really wanna keep your job,” he joked, and then turned off the ignition.

We each climbed out, and Rhett made his way to a door marked with the number nine. He slipped a card into the reader to open the door. I followed his lead, but as soon as we stepped inside, I came to a screeching halt.

“I know you’re all about being a team and whatnot, but how the hell are three grown-ass men supposed to fit in two double-sized beds?”

He slapped my shoulder with a resounding thud and laughed as he moved around me. “What? Don’t like to cuddle? I promise not to spoon ya if you swear ya won’t fork me.” Fucker thought he was a comedian. “Nah…Kryder will be busy all night. You’re stayin’ here with me ’til he comes back, then you can head home in the mornin’.”

“That’s it? Just like that? You come in, tell me what a piece of shit I am, and then let me go after a full night’s sleep?” Rhett had made it incredibly clear how much he didn’t tolerate his men going rogue, and even though I hadn’t intentionally done so, I still expected more of a backlash than a night in a motel.

He fell into one of the two chairs at the tiny, round table in front of the beds. I didn’t care to be too close to him in case this was his old age kicking in. There was always a chance that in a few minutes, he’d remember who he was and what he’d caught me doing. Being within arm’s reach for that was a little too close for comfort. So I settled on top of one of the mattresses and propped myself up with all the pillows it came with.

“Nah, don’t be foolish, Cash. I had to reorganize multiple teams just to move ya to the desk for a week. Now I’m gonna have to put my best man on suspension, which means more interruption for the entire crew.” A lot of the guys called him Sam Walton, saying he had more departments than a Walmart Supercenter. None of us fully understood the entire organization or what most of the other teams did, but we were all aware of Rhett’s operations. “If I didn’t think so highly of ya, you’d be gone.”

I nodded, accepting my fate.

When he spoke again, his voice was low and growly. “Was it worth it?”

I stared at him, not needing a second to contemplate the answer, and unequivocally said, “Yes.”

“Even if you lose her?”

Now, that I needed to think about. “I don’t want to, but at the end of the day, if she’s safe, I’d say it was worth it. He’s not just someone who lives in this town, who she may or may not see when she’s here—he’s part of her family. She would never be able to get away from him, not with him married to her mom. So if she leaves me after this, at least he won’t hurt her again…or ever touch Aria.” My throat closed, making it hard to say her name. The idea of her not being in my life was too much to bear, and I refused to think about it until I learned more of where Jade’s head was at.

“What do you plan on tellin’ her? I mean, you’re gonna talk to her…right?”

I nodded and swallowed the lump blocking most of my airway. “Does your wife know? Have you ever told her who you are and what you do?”

“I’ve told her what she needs to hear. I’ve never lied to her, and she understands enough not to ask questions. The less she asks, the easier our lives are, and she gets that. I tell ’er things I feel she needs to know. When I kiss her goodbye or tell her I love ’er before endin’ our nightly calls, she’s fully aware it could be the last.”

I had so much to think about. The only people in my life who were privy to the truth about me were in the same position I was—working for Rhett in one capacity or another. They had to accept me, because they were the same. But Jade wasn’t, and there was no reason for her to stick around if what I had to say was too much for her to handle.

“This fucking blows…” I stared at the popcorn ceiling, blowing a long breath past barely parted lips. “Maybe it’s for the best if she leaves me. She makes me stupid, man.”

“Don’t all women?” he asked with a short laugh.

“No…not like this. Hell, I’ve been married before, and aside from Colleen fucking that dude, there wasn’t a time I was ever off my game while I was with her. I picked up on every lie she ever told, and I’m pretty sure I subconsciously ignored the signs of her cheating to protect myself. I refused to believe my wife, the woman I’d promised to spend the rest of my life with, would be the unfaithful type, because that would mean I hadn’t profiled her correctly to begin with.”

“You can’t blame yourself for your wife steppin’ out on ya, son. This business is hard, and we’re gone all the time. We need the kinda woman who we can trust with our secrets, someone to go home to after a shitty fuckin’ week who’ll just be with us any way we need it. Judy is the only woman who’s ever seen me weak, but ya know what? Even when I’m breakin’ down, she still looks at me like I’m the strongest motherfucker alive. That’s the kind of woman guys like us need. But you can’t fault them for not being that person if ya don’t show them who you really are. Ya don’t need t’give specifics or blow the entire operation, but ya can’t expect her to try to heal you after a shitty week when she thinks you’ve done nothin’ but climb cell towers.”

Once again…he was right.

And if I didn’t admire him so much, it’d piss me off.

“So what’s the plan for Jade’s stepdad?”

He ran his palm over his mouth and paused. “He won’t be a problem.”

That was all I needed to hear.

We spoke for a little while longer—basically, him giving me advice and telling me the story of how he’d first met his wife. At least it made me laugh to listen to him admit that he had thought she was into him when she really thought he was an arrogant asshole and wanted nothing to do with him. Then I settled in and tried to sleep, but it wouldn’t come. I had too much on my mind. I needed to talk to Jade, and it kept me tossing and turning all night.

The next morning, Kryder showed up around eight. After a quick shower, I headed out in search of Jade, but that proved to be one roadblock after another. I wasn’t allowed in the ICU because I wasn’t family—they wouldn’t even tell me if she was there. Her phone kept going to voicemail, and I didn’t have Stevie’s number, let alone where she lived, and I had no way to get that information without my computer. By the afternoon, I had no choice but to return to Geneva Key and wait to hear from her.

With my suspension, I was left with endless days filled with worry, aggravation, heartache, and the most intense longing I’d ever experienced. I took up walks on the beach just to pass the time. The air had started to cool, which in Florida meant it was slightly better than the pits of hell, so I found myself strolling along the shore for hours each day.

On Thursday, I returned home from the gym just as the sky started to turn colors, alluding to the pending sunset. I would’ve stayed out all night if I could’ve, but after a certain point, it became loitering. You’d think after living alone for so long, the quietness wouldn’t be so difficult, but it was. Although, not near as hard as parking my car next to Jade’s behind my house, only to walk inside and she not be there.

Just like I did every time I came home from somewhere, I took one last look over my shoulder at the blue Jetta with faded paint and dented fender, and then went inside. It took two steps for my world to come to a screeching halt. A total of six seconds from the front door to the kitchen to make my heart stop.

It had taken three and a half breaths before my lungs ceased to inflate.