Rain drummed against my umbrella. My gut twisted as I came up on the coffee shop. I scanned both sides of the road as I ambled up to it. No black sedans hissing along the wet street. No figures suspiciously lingering on the sidewalk. But I didn’t feel all that reassured.

I might be making something out of nothing. Maybe that text from Grace had been just a friendly overture. But it hadn’t fit the note we’d left things on last night at all. The Grace I’d been getting to know wouldn’t have made an invitation like that without checking that I was okay. She wouldn’t have made a snarky remark about other “company.” Which made me particularly worried about what other company she might have been forced to deal with today.

The second I walked into the warmth and sweet smells of the cafe, my gaze shot to Grace. I’d found her attractive from the start, but since that kiss it was like every nerve in my body hummed to attention at her presence.

She was sitting at one of the smaller tables, her shoulders a little hunched. Her face was wan but lit up when she saw me. The knot in my stomach tightened as I hurried over.

It was my fault she looked that nervous. I should have put her off from the start, stopped her from getting tangled up in the mess that was my life. But instead I’d let my heart—and my dick—call the shots, and now here we were.

I didn’t bother to order anything, just sat down across from her. “Hey,” she said quietly, peering at me as if she was searching for something in my eyes.

With a little jolt, understanding hit me. She’d found the video. She’d watched it.

She knew.

My stomach clenched for a totally different reason. I wet my lips and leaned my arms on the table. I wasn’t going to bring it up unless she did. “I got the impression from your text that there was something urgent you wanted to talk to me about.”

“Yeah.” Grace stared at me a second longer, and then blinked, her gaze twitching away. “A guy came up to me in the parking lot outside the shelter today. When I was leaving, about an hour and a half ago. He showed me the video of the crash. Asked me if I knew anything about you.” She hesitated. “He already knew my name. I’m not sure how.”

My back went rigid. Less than twenty-four hours. That’s how long it had taken them—whatever group this guy who’d hassled Grace represented. And no wonder. If they had her name, they probably did have access to police files. My fake ID was the only thing that had stopped them from showing up on my doorstep.

So far. It was my turn to study her. “What did you tell him?”

Her gaze came back to me. She raised her chin. “That I’d hardly talked to you after the crash, and hadn’t seen you since. It seemed weird, and I didn’t like the vibe I got from him. And I know you were worried yesterday...”

There was a question in her tone as she let the sentence trail off. I made myself ignore it. My heart was thudding. So all our fears had been valid after all. Someone was still keeping an eye out for people like me and the rest of my family, even thirty years after my parents had escaped them. Someone who’d go to a heck of a lot of trouble to track us down.

Those people knew more about me than I knew about them. I tapped my knuckles on the tabletop. “What did he look like? Did he give you his name?”

“He was maybe mid-forties. Reddish blond hair, blue eyes. Average height, I guess. On the thin side. And yeah, he said his name was Malcolm Finch. Even gave me a card.”

She fished around in her purse and produced a pretty bland-looking business card. I took it from her, flipping it over to the side with the text. Malcolm Finch. AP Enterprises Corp. A phone number. That was it. But it was enough.

My breath hitched. What were the chances that the AP in AP Enterprises didn’t stand for Alpha Project? No way was that a coincidence.

It wasn’t just some group still around thirty years after Mom and Dad’s escape. It was the exact group they’d escaped from. It had to be. Still around, and still tracking down every talented person they could find.

“Jeremy.” Grace’s voice came out quietly. She reached across the table and rested her hand against mine. Her gentle touch brought me back to earth. “Why would anyone be after you?”

I sucked in a breath. “I think it’s better if we don’t get into that. Is there anything else I should know about this Malcolm guy?”

She started to shake her head, but paused. “He was driving a black sedan.”

Shit. It had been them last night too, then. The DMV info Liam had been able to pull hadn’t revealed anything useful, a name on the registration that hadn’t connected to anything suspicious, so I hadn’t been sure.

I pushed back my chair. “I should go. Don’t worry about me. And thank you for asking me to meet you and for telling me all this. You might have saved my life. So I guess you don’t have to feel you owe me now.” I managed a crooked smile.

Grace frowned. “Go—you mean leave the city?”

“I don’t think I have much of a choice at this point.”

Her fingers tightened around my hand. “Do you want to go?”

Not when she was looking like me like that. Not when the grip of her hand reminded me of how she’d held on to me as we’d kissed.

I shoved those memories aside. “It’s not about what I want. They’re already here. Even if you don’t tell them anything, it’s probably only a matter of time before they follow one trail or another to me.”

“Because of what you can do.”

My body balked. I’d never talked about my abilities outside my family. “Let’s not get into that. All you need know is that I don’t really have a choice here, Grace.”

“Of course you do,” she said, her voice rising. She caught herself and lowered it again. “You’ve built a life here, haven’t you? Are you really going to spend the rest of your life upheaving everything any time you’re worried you might be in trouble? How is that even really a life?”

Maybe it wasn’t one. I couldn’t say I’d built much here. But that didn’t matter. “You don’t know these people. You don’t know what they’re capable of.”

“Do you?” she demanded. “Have you ever tried to stay?”

My mouth opened, but what could I say to that? I’d never even stayed this long before.

“You should stand up for yourself,” she barreled on. “Fight for yourself. Not just run away. You can’t let them chase you off like that.”

My hands clenched. Her coffee cup jittered an inch to the side. Grace’s mouth snapped shut. She stared at it, and then at me. I closed my eyes, inhaled, exhaled, and said as evenly as I could, “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She winced. A pang of guilt hit me, but it was true. Maybe I didn’t have any direct experience with the Alpha Project people, but my parents’ stories had told me enough. They were dangerous. Ruthless. It was me they wanted. If I was gone, then at least Grace would be safe.

The question slipped out anyway. “Why does it matter to you so much anyway?” I asked. “You hardly know me.”

Grace sucked her lower lip under her teeth. She looked away for a moment. A shadow crossed her expression, so dark I almost wished I could take back the question. Then she turned back to me. Her voice came out barely above a whisper.

“I know that you’re the only person I can think of still living who’d willingly put his life at risk to save mine. You leave, and I’m back to having no one who’d bother.”

The emotion in those words squeezed my heart. But I’d already made enough mistakes listening to that part of my body. I gritted my teeth and pushed myself to my feet.

“I’m really sorry about that. I mean it. But it’s not just my life I’m worrying about now either. I’ve got to go, Grace. Thank you again for the warning.”

* * *

When I got home, the first thing I grabbed was my burner phone. This time it was Mom who picked up my parents’ line.

“They caught on really fast,” I said. “The Alpha Project people. They’re already here trying to track me down.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Mom said in her usual brash tone. “Slow down and start from the beginning. What exactly have you seen and heard.”

I gave her the quick version of my trip to Grace’s neighborhood last night and what she’d told me just now. Naturally the first thing out of Mom’s mouth when I finished was, “It sounds like you really like this girl.”

“Mom. That’s not the point. AP—Alpha Project? They’ve got connections in high places if they’ve already gotten to Grace. They must have accessed the police records.”

“I think you’re right to be concerned,” Mom said. “But if their connections could have led them straight to you, they’d already be at your apartment. Grace didn’t tell them anything. So take a moment and breathe. We’ll get through this, like we’ve gotten through everything the last thirty years have thrown at us.”

But some of those escapes had been a nearer thing than others. I shoved my hand into my pocket, closing my fingers around the shard of glass so hard the worn edges bit into my skin. “You can’t really be suggesting I stay here now.”

“If you think it’s really best that you leave now, then get yourself out of there. But whenever we move, there’s a chance of getting detected then too. Abandoning ship creates a little chaos, and chaos is more noticeable than calm. You’re my son, but you’re also a grown man—I know that. I trust your judgment. If you think it’s possible the situation will blow over, that they’ll give up and move on, and you want to stay… I’m not going to order you to leave.”

So the decision was on my shoulders. Where it should be, really. After I hung up the phone I stalked to the bedroom and back again. Paced in front of the door for a few minutes debating going straight down to the parking garage and peeling out of this city.

Did I really want to go? No. Of course not. I’d come to love the dry heat and the rocky terrain, the majestic forests and the starkness of the desert. I knew where to find good food in the city. I knew where to go if I was bored. The apartment might be bland, but it was more comfortable than plenty I’d lived in before. Had I built much? No. I had gotten comfortable, though.

And there was Grace. Who was I kidding? She was more than a big deal. I hadn’t felt this way about anyone in... maybe forever. When had I ever let anyone outside the family get this close to me?

She couldn’t have a future with me, whether I stayed or not. I was just putting her at risk being around her. She was already at risk. That Malcolm guy had approached her once. What would the Alpha Project assholes do to her if they got frustrated with my trail gone cold and decided there had to be something else she could cough up about me?

Could I really leave her here to face them alone? That was what it came down to, wasn’t it? I’d stuck her in the line of fire, like a shield between me and the people after my family, and now I was going to abandon her to them.

I rubbed my forehead. No, I couldn’t do that. She deserved better. So much fucking better.

But what was the alternative? Staying and hoping that the Alpha Project people would give up?

I guessed they’d have to eventually. They’d assume I’d left town and leave, too. They couldn’t follow every lead they got forever. As long as I kept the same low profile as always, maybe I could stay at least long enough to make sure they didn’t go after Grace again. I owed her that much.

As soon as I’d made the decision, the pressure in my chest released. I was still wired, but I no longer felt like I was suffocating. I flopped down on the couch and pulled out my regular phone.

Change of plans, staying in, I texted to Grace. If you have any more urgent impulses to hang out, just give me a shout.

If anything happened that worried her even slightly, I wanted to hear about it.