Carol sat back. “You have to know something.”

I didn’t.

“Addison—” She shot forward again. “You have to tell me. You tell me; I tell them. We’re both safe. They said that. He said that. If you tell, they’ll consider you family again. Everything will be fine. They’ll protect us. Mauricio will never find us. Even Carter Reed, if he joined that family again, he won’t find us either. We’ll be safe. We could even go together—you, me, Hank. They wouldn’t hurt my other children. They’d be safe, and we could be safe too. Just tell me.”

I didn’t know! If I could speak, I would’ve been shouting it. I. Don’t. Know!

She held still, reading my eyes, before slumping back in her chair. “You really don’t know, do you?”

She was defeated. She finally understood that I knew nothing. Liam never said a thing.

Her hand rested at the base of my throat, but she was talking to herself now. “This isn’t good. They’re going to kill you. They won’t believe you. If you didn’t tell them anything, then why did you move in? It wasn’t a coincidence. Nothing’s a coincidence.” She focused on me again. “Why did you move in there?”

I lifted my hand, pretending to write something in the air.

“Oh!” She shot up out of her chair. “Hold on.” And she was gone. She returned with a computer, which she placed on my lap, helping me sit up. The wifi was disabled. I couldn’t send an email.

“Here you go.” She brought up a blank screen and moved her chair around so she could see what I typed. “Tell me how you ended up living there.”

My friend was approached, I typed.

“How?”

She was given a phone number. We called to look at it, and I loved the building. I paused, frowning, then added, I thought the house was haunted with Liam’s ghost. I couldn’t stay there any longer.

“Who was approached? Was it Sia? Was she the one?”

I pulled my hands from the keyboard. I wouldn’t answer.

“Addison, come on.”

I shook my head.

“They’ll want to know. We have to tell them.”

I typed out, No fucking way! Piss off, bitch.

Carol pulled away. “You don’t have to be rude.”

My hands were sore, but I extended my middle fingers. Both of them. When she saw, I moved them around in the air. She wasn’t going to get Sia’s name from me. My hands went back to the keyboard. I was going to type that they could kill me before I’d say, but she murmured, “Maybe he’ll know. I bet he’ll know.”

Dorian.

Fear rushed through my body. I was paralyzed for a moment, then I lunged, as best as I could, and tried to type again, but Carol pulled the laptop away.

She tucked it under her arm and leaned close, pressing her lips to my forehead. “I’m so sorry, Addison. I know you love this friend, but he’ll know. If it was Sia, he’ll know, and if it wasn’t, don’t worry. She won’t be harmed. I have to tell them.”

I tried to hit her with my head, but she moved away. I couldn’t do a thing to stop her. I was still tied down, just to a bed instead of a chair.

She went to the door and looked back. “I’ll make them free you. Get ready. You’re going to go home with Hank and me. We’ll disappear together. Everything will be fine.”

But we wouldn’t be. We were so far beyond fine that there was no going back. She was deluding herself, and after she went to him, he would kill Sia. He would kill me, and he might even kill Carol herself.

No, we weren’t going to be fine.

COLE

The tip came in through Ken.

He wasn’t told who took Addison. We already knew that. He was told where she was, and we didn’t hesitate. We were moving within the hour. I was in the weapons room when one of my men gave me the news I’d been expecting since Addison was taken. He coughed. “Sir, Carter Reed is at the door.”

I stopped, knife in hand, and looked at my soldier. He fidgeted in the doorway, and I knew he wanted to run. Right now I wasn’t the nice boss, the boss who joked around sometimes, the young boss everyone underestimated. I was the assassin the Bertals had created, the weapon Carter himself helped hone.

I was the fucking head of the Mauricio family staring back at him.

“You’re new,” I said.

His eyes narrowed before he nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“You’ve killed before?”

Another jerk of his head. “I have, sir.”

I pointed my knife at him. “And if they attack right now—if Carter’s actually a traitor and he’s going to try to kill me, what do you do?”

To give him credit, he didn’t hesitate. He rolled back his shoulders and tucked his hands behind his back, spreading his feet evenly. “I’d kill him instead.”

The door to the room opened and Carter walked past the soldier, but he paused and glanced at him. “You would, huh?”

The soldier’s eyes went wide. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “I would. Sorry, sir.” His eyes flicked to mine. “Other sir, I mean,” he corrected. “But I would. I’m loyal to the head of the Mauricio family and…” He hesitated, glancing to me again before returning to Carter. Their eyes met and held.

My respect for him went up a notch.

“You are not in the Mauricio family in the official capacity anymore, Mr. Reed, sir.”