“I’M SO GLAD TO SEE you.” Vix wrapped her arms tightly around me. After we were sure the Spiders were no longer after us, Theo and I had gone straight into the Cobras’ area, and one of their men had taken us to Tobias and Vix.

“I’m glad you’re okay too,” I said as I stepped back. “I was worried the Spiders would attack the Cobras and you.”

“No, we haven’t seen them in the area, and this place should be safe enough.” She spread her arms, and I took a look around the room. It wasn’t overly big, and it had no windows, since we were underground, but there were plenty of security measures at the door, which was reinforced too. I didn’t think the Spiders would be getting inside this hideout even if they managed to find us.

“I didn’t know the Cobras had this place.” I spotted Tobias and Mick sitting at the computers at the end of the room, and they waved at me, then got back to what they were doing. They were probably monitoring the area and checking the traffic camera feeds.

Vix’s boyfriend Seth was here too, his face serious, his blue eyes never leaving Vix. I supposed she’d finally told him everything that was going on and he hadn’t wanted to leave her side for anything in the world. He shot a quick glare at Theo, who stood as far away as possible from everyone. Vix was avoiding looking at Theo completely, as if he wasn’t even in the room.

These were my friends, not Theo’s, and for the most part, they’d been his enemies. Well, the Rosa Nera’s enemies. They didn’t really know him, and I was sure they didn’t trust him. The only reason they’d let him in here was because of me. I was hoping they’d warm up to him eventually, although I wasn’t going to hold my breath.

“I didn’t know Tobias was setting this up either. He wanted to keep it top secret for situations like this one.” Vix extended her arm toward the dark blue sofas that were to her left. “There are still a few more tweaks needed and the sleeping quarters aren’t quite ready, but you should get some rest. The sofas are comfortable enough.”

“Do you have any info on Walter and the Spiders? Are they going to attack?” I couldn’t keep the worry out of my voice. “I really hate that I brought this whole thing upon you.”

“It’s not your fault,” Vix said, and Seth glanced at Theo. “And Mick hasn’t been able to locate Walter just yet, but if the Spiders come into the Cobras’ territory, we’ll know about it. The Cobras set up some new cameras, and if the Spiders want to fight them, they’ll have to do it in the Cobras’ territory.”

“There’s something else we’ve been planning to do, but we wanted to hear your opinion first,” Tobias said as he made his way toward me. “It’s a slight change from our initial plan.”

“Why do I have a feeling I’m not going to like it?” This was now the Cobras’ fight as much as mine, and I was sure Tobias would want to be the one to make all the decisions related to his gang, so I wasn’t sure why he needed my opinion at all.

“We wanted to send a message to the Spiders and Walter telling them that you’re with us, and that if they want you, they can come and try to get you,” Tobias said, and my eyebrows shot up.

“Why would you do that?”

“We know they’ll be coming for us, and Walter is after you. And if we want to end this once and for all, we have to fight them. If we do it in our territory, we have the best chance of winning. They’ll have to come to us.”

I thought about it for a few moments. “Okay.” I was tired of running, and Tobias was right. Defeating the Spiders would be easier in the Cobras’ territory. “Are you sure they’ll want to come to us? If they hire someone or if Walter makes a deal with some other gang too...”

“You don’t have to worry about that. We know we can defeat them and we’re ready.” Tobias gave me a small smile, then made his way back to the computers.

“Seth and I will get you something to eat,” Vix said, and she and her boyfriend strolled for the door. I turned toward Theo, who was lounging against the wall, his dark eyes troubled.

“Hey.” I waved at him and pointed at the sofas. “Come.”

He pushed himself off the wall, and we settled on one of the sofas. I leaned my head on Theo’s shoulder and huddled close to his warm body.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing.” His lips pulled into a smile, which didn’t reach his eyes.

“You can tell me.” I placed my hand on his chest and rubbed gently.

“Maybe I should leave. I don’t belong here, and I could be of more use out there. If everyone here is distracted and worrying about what I might do, then they might fail to protect you, and I don’t want to...”

I pressed my finger over his lips and shook my head. “Don’t say that. Your place is here with me.” Lifting myself up, I captured his lips with mine. “I need you.”

“Okay.”

“I’m serious.” My eyes bored into his. “Don’t get any ideas to sneak out of here when I’m not looking because I’ll be really, really mad, and I’ll go out there to find you even if I have to go through the Spiders, Walter, and whoever gets in my way. Understood?”

He nodded.

“Good.” I gave him another kiss, then settled back next to him. A calendar that was on the wall to my right made me groan. “I’m going to miss my deadline. Wonderful,” I muttered.

“What deadline?” His brow furrowed.

“Right. I didn’t tell you. Working at Vix’s fight club isn’t my only job. I also write articles for a magazine, but they aren’t published under my name. I was supposed to have one done by tomorrow, but it looks like that won’t happen. And there I thought I’d have plenty of time to do it. I shouldn’t have postponed it, but I was all out of ideas.”

“A magazine?” Curiosity flickered in his eyes.

“Yeah. For women. I needed money to pay the rent and a job with flexible working hours. And I needed something to occupy my mind because I couldn’t stop thinking about a certain hitman.” I flashed him a smile.

“You were thinking about me?” he said as if that was the most unbelievable thing he’d ever heard. God, it was impressive how confident he could be about his job and a lot of other things, but when it came to someone liking him and wanting him in their life, he was all kinds of insecure.

“I tried not to, but I couldn’t help it.”

“You were worried I was going to find you and kill you.”

“No, silly!” I slapped him lightly on the shoulder. “My thoughts were a little more X-rated than that. I missed you. A lot.”

“I missed you too,” he said quietly. “I was watching you and making sure you were safe, and sometimes I wanted to reach out to you so badly that I could barely contain myself. But you looked happy, and I didn’t want to ruin that. Then someone found Ingrid’s will and I... I had to make sure you knew your life was in danger because I couldn’t be by your side all the time.”

“Well, now you can.” I grinned. “But I have a confession to make. You said that I looked happy. I wasn’t. Not really. I mostly pretended to be, because after everything that happened, I thought that I should be grateful I was still alive and enjoy myself, but it just didn’t feel right. And I constantly needed protection, so that was a little annoying too.”

Vix and Seth were coming toward us with plates full of burgers and fries, and my mouth watered just at the sight of food.

“Oooh, this looks delicious,” I said when they set the plates on the small glass table in front of Theo and me.

“It tastes like that too.” Vix smiled as she grabbed one of the burgers and took a bite. We all ate in silence, and when Seth went to get us some drinks, Vix’s gaze focused on me.

“Tobias sent the message to the Spiders,” she said. “And we think it should reach Walter soon.”

“Are you sure he can’t find us here?” I asked.

“Nothing’s sure in this life, but this is safer than any other place out there.”

“Don’t underestimate Walter,” Theo said. “He knows what he’s doing.”

She pursed her lips as she looked at him. “We won’t.”

“I mean it,” he said.

“It’s a good thing we have you here, then, so you can give us your invaluable advice.” Her voice was like icicles. Yeah, it was going to take a lot of time for Vix to get used to Theo being with me. “I’m going to help Seth with those drinks.” She rose to her feet and strode away.

“Don’t mind her,” I said. “I think you remind her of...”

“Ingrid,” he said softly.

“Yeah, and of our time with the Rosa Nera too. I’m sure that’ll change with time.” I studied his face. “What about your parents? We never really had a chance to talk about that.”

He only shook his head, and I wasn’t sure if that meant that they were dead or that he didn’t want to talk about them.

“Once this is all over, I’m going to introduce you to my family.”

Theo’s face lost some of its color.

“Okay, I take that back. I’ll introduce you to them once you’re ready. You can meet my grandma, though. She’s the only person who I can tell I’m dating a hitman.” A grin popped up on my lips.

Theo raised an eyebrow at me.

“She’s deaf.”

He shook his head at me, and I burst into laughter.

“If we stay together, you’ll have to meet my family eventually. I swear they don’t bite,” I teased.

“We’ll think about that some other time.”

“Why? Do you think we’re not going to make it?”

“I don’t, but we have more important things to worry about.”

“Yeah, worry.” I chuckled. “I was hoping we wouldn’t have to do that all the time. They say it’s bad for your health.”

“Can’t be worse for your health than that burger you just ate.” A smile tugged at his lips. “And those fries full of oil.”

“Says the guy who mostly fed me pizza.”

“Alright. I’ll take some cooking classes and make you the best healthy dinner you’ve ever had.”

“Don’t joke about it.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m going to hold you to that.” I waggled my finger at him.

“I’d never joke about something like that.”

I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him in for a long kiss, and for a moment, the world around us didn’t exist.