Snatching a hair band off my desk, I pulled my thick, black hair into a messy bun on the top of my head and started packing. I didn’t turn to face Kira when she came into my room ten minutes later, but I knew she was there.
“How could you do this to me?” she asked quietly, her words breaking with emotion. “You’re supposed to be on my side, you’re always supposed to be on my side. And you went behind my back and planned this with Mom and Dad without even warning me?”
I glanced over my shoulder, my eyebrows rising at her assumption. “I didn’t plan shit, Kira. They told me while you were talking to Zane right before they asked you to get off the phone. They just wanted me to know because they thought you would freak out and they needed me to be able to try to talk you into it calmly—rather than hitting us both with the news at the same time. The only difference between you and me is I have no problem with this move because I’m not stupid enough to think that the gang won’t actually make good on their threats if we stay here. Or try to.”
I went back to packing, and there was a couple minutes of silence before she said, “I know why you’re all really doing this. Don’t think for a second that I’m stupid enough not to realize this is about Zane.”
I released a heavy breath and shook my head. “Despite what you think, this has nothing to do with you and your boyfriend. But I do think that this is something we need to do, and I think it will be good for us.”
“I won’t forgive you for this. You of all people should realize how much this is going to kill me.”
My breath caught, but I didn’t reply. I knew I couldn’t without lashing out at her. Without another word, she left my room. The only sounds were her soft cries and her feet on the hardwood as she walked away.
“SO NOW THAT you have us on a private jet—which just makes this all the more weird, by the way—do you mind telling us details about where we’ll be spending the next however long?” I asked Uncle Mason a few hours later.
“Didn’t your mom and dad tell you everything?”
I gave him a look that he immediately laughed at.
“Okay, tell me what you know, and I’ll fill in the blanks.”
“Basically, all I know is that Juarez and a handful of others from his crew are up for probation within a few months of each other starting next week. They’re somehow threatening us—but more specifically, Kira and me—and Mom and Dad think it would be best if we weren’t near Tampa. Since we just graduated and don’t have a reason to stay up in Tallahassee anymore, the only other place to go is California, near Mom’s family, and we’ll be there for an undetermined amount of time.”
“I wasn’t told most of that,” Kira muttered from where she was sulking across the aisle.
“You were told that,” I shot back. “All of that. You just couldn’t get past the California-equals-no-Zane part, and flipped while they told you the rest!”
Before we could start on another war, Uncle Mason spoke up. “You’ll be just north of San Diego, near your uncle Eli. He’s already been looking into places for you to live, and your parents are working something out with them for a car.”
“Lovely. Sounds like everyone is already completely filled in,” Kira sneered.
Uncle Mason didn’t respond for a long time, he just sat there staring at Kira with a somber expression. It was so unlike him. “I don’t want you two to have to do this any more than you do, trust me. Your dad and I know better than anyone what it’s like to pick up and move at a moment’s notice and not be able to have a say in it, so we know what you’re going through.”
Kira mumbled something too low for me to hear, but it was obvious in her expression that she didn’t agree with him.
After a subtle shake of my head, I looked back at Uncle Mason and tapped his leg with my foot to get his attention again. “Okay, so we’ve heard about Juarez’s gang and what happened with Mom being taken. But here’s what I don’t understand and am having a little bit of trouble with. Why, after so much time has passed, do you think it’s them threatening us? Wouldn’t they be over it by now? I mean, couldn’t it just as easily be someone you’ve arrested recently, and you’re just jumping ahead and thinking it’s Juarez?”
Uncle Mason was shaking his head before I even finished asking my questions. “No. It may have been twenty-three years ago, but we haven’t forgotten what happened, and we know for a fact they haven’t and are still holding a grudge, because there have been letters delivered to your dad.”
“What did they say?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“What did they say?” I asked louder, and Kira leaned toward us in her seat to hear his response.
“I said it doesn’t—”
“We deserve to know!” I snapped.
After a beat of silence, he admitted, “They said, ‘Can’t wait to meet the rest of your family,’ or ‘How are those daughters of yours?’ ” Uncle Mason sighed heavily and looked out the window for a few seconds.
“That’s it?” I asked when he didn’t continue. “I mean, that’s really creepy but it doesn’t prove much of anything.”
“It does, because at the bottom it had the gang’s symbol. A symbol your dad and I used to have tattooed on us when we were undercover. A symbol they left spray-painted on your parents’ wall after kidnapping your mom.”
“Oh,” I breathed, and Uncle Mason sent me a look.
“Yeah. ‘Oh.’ ”
May 27
Liam
SQUEEZING CECILY’S WAIST once, I deepened the kiss for a few seconds before pulling away. A smirk crossed my face when she tried to follow me. “I gotta go.”
“Just a little longer?” she asked huskily as she pulled on my tie, bringing us closer together.
“I can’t. You know I have to get to that meeting.” Grabbing her slender wrist in my hand, I took my tie from her firm grip and sent her a look.
“Of course, the so-called meeting that no one else in the office seems to know about.” Her full lips pouted, and I exhaled slowly at the annoying look.
“You know about it.”
Cecily smacked my arm and huffed. “Only because you told me.”
“That’s not my problem. Besides, it might be a bad thing that I’m the only one. Who knows? You may get your wish, I might be getting fired.”
She smiled wryly and wrapped her arms around my neck before pressing her mouth to mine. “Now, that definitely sounds like a meeting I want to happen,” she murmured against my lips.
“Power-hungry bitch,” I growled, and kissed her hard once more before backing away.
“Man-whore.”
“Hasn’t stopped you.”
Her gaze raked over me as I backed toward the door before snapping up to my face. “No, it hasn’t.”
I grinned and nodded in her direction. “Are you going to leave my office?”
She slid off the desk and walked around to sit in my chair. “I don’t know, maybe I’ll sit in here awhile to get used to what my new office feels like.”
“I haven’t gotten fired yet.” Not bothering to wait, I walked out of my office and left Cecily in there. I looked behind me to watch the door shut as I fixed my tie, a soft smile tugging at my lips as I thought about the girl in there.