“Thank you both,” I say. “It’s been a long time hiding for me. My entire adult life.”
“And we’re here to help you keep hiding,” Adam says, “or stop hiding safely.”
Clearly Blake has told them everything, but there isn’t much time to think about that right now. Adrian pulls us up to the shop and my old home or rather, my old safe, familiar space. I am reminded of Kace telling me we will meet at Riptide and go home together. This place never felt like home. Kace does. He feels like home. He is home. It’s almost terrifying how much I need that man now, but I comfort myself with how much I believe he needs me, too. We need each other.
Adam is leaning around the seat to study me. “My gut is always to escort you to the door, but I know that’s not how we’re playing this. I’ll exit after you and be close to the door, but no one will know I’m with you. And we have a man watching the security camera in a vehicle a block down the road.”
“I’m not afraid of my brother.”
“If we’re watching him, someone else might be as well,” Adam replies.
And probably are, I think before I nod. “Right. I won’t be long.”
I exit the vehicle and hurry toward the door, where I key in my security code and waste no time opening the door. It’s ridiculous for me and Gio to be the opposite sides of any coin. Ever. “Gio!” I call out, entering the store, but there is only silence. “Gio!”
Still nothing.
Frowning, I hurry forward and make it three steps when I freeze. The hair on the back of my neck is standing up. Something is wrong. Seconds tick by and there is no movement. Suddenly I’m more afraid for Gio than I am myself. I start running forward, but I don’t call out. In my heart of hearts, my fear is that Gio is lying somewhere dead. I need to see him. I need him to be in bed asleep or in the shower.
I pass his empty office and dash up the stairs, fumbling in my purse for the key to open his apartment and do so without knocking. “Gio?!” I call out as I open the door, but a quick scan shows me nothing. I rush around the apartment, enter the bathroom, the closet, and come up empty. Gio isn’t here.
He has to be here.
Walker is watching the building.
I dash to my apartment and come up dry. I’m barely breathing as I run back down the stairs and enter his office, stepping behind his desk and sucking in a breath as I find a piece of paper that reads: Aria. The script belongs to Gio, and with my heart in my throat, I flip it over to read: I left. Your precious security team didn’t know. Still feel safe?
“He climbed out a window right as you punched in the security code.”
I glance up to find Adrian standing in the doorway, a skull on his snug black T-shirt.
“Where is he now?”
“We have a man following him.”
In other words, my brother’s wrong. Walker knows exactly what he’s doing. And so do I. He’s trying to scare me away from Kace and back to him. Anger simmers in my belly. Adrian crosses to the desk across from me. He’s tall and broad, his goatee and strong jawline accenting the confidence about him. He indicates the note in my hand. “May I?”
I hand him the note. He reads it, and then his lips quirk. “Bold. Cocky. I might like him.” He sets the card down. “But I’ve killed people I liked about as much.”
My temper flares. “This is my brother you’re talking about.”
“And?”
“He’s my brother.”
“If he tries to hurt you, we won’t choose him, Aria. We’ll choose you.”
“He won’t try to hurt me. He’s my brother.” I’m a broken record and I don’t even care. “We are family. We’re close. We’re a part of each other.”
“I said the same of my brother. Now he’s dead. He would have preferred it to be me.”
My lips part in shock. “You—you killed him?”
“It was him or me. And we were close, Aria, but money and power changed him. It happened and I never saw it coming.”
My hand goes to my throat. “I don’t even know what to say to that.”
“You don’t need to say anything. Just listen and think. You don’t know where Gio’s been, or what he’s been doing.”
“He told me.”
“Eight months later. Maybe it’s longer than that. Maybe he wasn’t telling the truth at all. I know what you’re facing. Many of us at Walker know betrayal by someone close to us. That’s why Kace hired us.” He leans on the desk toward me, his brown eyes meeting mine. “He’s a good man, Aria. He loves you. He wants you protected. You need to entertain the idea that Gio might be dangerous.”
“Did Kace ask you to tell me about your brother?”
“Yes. I did.”
At the sound of Kace’s voice, Adrian pushes off the desk and turns toward him. Kace gives him a nod and steps into the office. Adrian glances at me. “I hope he’s the brother you deserve.” He heads for the door and disappears.
I’m now alone with Kace. He stands in the doorway, in a thin, sleek black leather jacket and boots, his dark hair a rumpled, spiky mess, as if his fretting fingers have been running through it. Because of me. Because of Gio. “I thought you were meeting me at Riptide?”
He closes the space between us and drags me to him, cupping my head and resting his forehead against mine. “I had a bad feeling about this.”
I pull back to look at him. “You thought he would hurt me?”
“I don’t know what Gio will or will not do, Aria. But I believed you’d fight. I thought he’d hurt you emotionally during that fight. I decided you might need me. The way I needed you in California.”
My fingers curl on his chest. “You don’t trust him,” I press.
“I told you, baby. I don’t know him, And I share your fear that you don’t know him either.”
My words. My truth. Both I agree are hard to swallow. Instead of trying to respond, I hand him the card and he reads it before glancing up at me. “You know—”
“Yes. I know he didn’t really fool them.”
“He wants you to walk away from me.”
“That was my first thought, too, but Kace, if that’s true, then he’s not after the formula. And he wants it. He also believes you are the path to getting it. He needs me to stay close to you.”
“Then what’s his agenda?” He indicates the note. “What is he trying to prove?”
“I don’t know,” I say, my brow furrowing in consternation. “That I need him, too?” I wave that off. “That feels too basic. I’m back to I don’t know. I just don’t know.” I pull my phone from my purse. “I’m going to call him.”
He nods and leans on the desk. I punch in Gio’s number and it goes straight to voicemail. “Come to dinner tonight. Or I can meet you for dinner. We need to talk, Gio, and clearly, you knew I’d come to see you or you wouldn’t have left the note. Enough with the games.” I disconnect. “I should have just told him that I’m coming out as myself, but after this game he’s played with me, I need to think about what I’m going to say. And I don’t know what he’ll do, especially when Sofia and her people are out there. I can’t believe he didn’t take my call.”