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  With a punch to the speaker button, Mike said, “That was a waste of time.”

  “Not really. He’s smart enough to know I got wind my cover was blown. This is part of the game for him, twisted fucker that he is.”

  Vic picked up the phone again. “I’m gonna send Tiny over to Lily’s summer camp. Have him keep an eye on things.”

  Next to Mike, Tiny was his go-to guy. Not many people knew Vic and the former Marine were cousins. They had, in fact, lived together like brothers after Vic’s loony-tunes mother dumped him on his aunt.

  He liked to keep his private life under wraps. Parading his loved ones around, as the current situation proved, could be catastrophic.

  “One of us has to tell Gina.” Mike ran his hands through his hair. He’d aged ten years in the last fifteen minutes. “This is a fucked-up world.”

  Wasn’t it the truth?

  “Where are you?” Vic asked when Tiny answered his phone. “I need you to get over to St. Theresa’s school. Lily is in day camp over there. Call me when you arrive.”

  Gina didn’t know it yet, but Tiny was about to become part of her round-the-clock security detail.

  Vic hung up. “He’s on his way.”

  That’s what he loved about these guys. Nobody wasted time asking questions. They went where ordered and asked questions later.

  “Mike, I’m sorry—”

  He put up his hands. “I know what you’re thinking and it’s bullshit. You did a job. Nobody expected you to get sold out. We’ll fix this.”

  Oh, they’d fix it. Vic wasn’t sure how, but he knew it would involve a lot of blood. Probably his own.

  “The only thing we know,” Mike said, “is Lily may be the target.”

  That shriveled his balls. Innocent little Lily mixed up in his mess.

  “He could also be playing us,” Vic said.

  “We need to be ready for anything.”

  Anything could be a whole lot of things. Visions of car bombs, home invasions and rapes went though his mind. He was most definitely going to blow his cookies when he left Mike’s office.

  “I’ll tell Gina,” he said. “It’s my situation.”

  Mike leaned back in his chair, ran his fingers over his lips a few times and nodded. She wouldn’t sleep until this was all over and it made Vic’s insides burn. He hated to give her more grief.

  “I’ll call St. Theresa’s,” Mike said, “and let them know I’m sending people over to help with security. I’ll tell them they’re getting use of Taylor Security’s brand-new community support initiative. I’m going to lie to a nun.”

  “Yeah, well, it beats the truth. And God’ll forgive you. I’ll head over to the school after I talk to Gina.”

  This was why Vic didn’t do relationships. He never wanted to sit in front of a mother and tell her that her child faced danger because of him.

  And now he had to do just that.

  Chapter Five

  Man Law: Always avoid emotional women.

  Vic walked by rows of dull gray cubicles in the Taylor Security accounting department and shivered at the sound of clacking keyboards and low murmurs. The place gave him the creeps. Mike went for the industrial look in the open areas. Even the carpeting screamed b-o-r-i-n-g.

  “Good morning, Mr. Andrews,” Gina’s cubemate said.

  “Hey, Martha.”

  Gina, phone to her ear, turned and smiled. He liked her chaotic curls better than the pulled back do she wore this morning, but whatever. He supposed the ice-queen hair went with the navy pants suit that was more Roxann than Gina, but what did he know? Women were always changing things up.

  “Well, hi there,” she said when her call ended.

  Her happy demeanor at seeing him would change fast. He smiled because, hey, smiling at Gina was easy.

  “Got a minute?” He tried to sound casual, but how many times had he walked into accounting, rather than calling her, when he needed something?

  Her smile went bye-bye and he knew she thought this had something to do with Friday night and their kitchen aerobics. In a way, she’d be right.

  “Everything okay?”

  Vic jerked his head toward the conference room. No way would he do this in front of an audience.

  Gina closed the conference room door. “What’s wrong?”

  Vic leaned against the wall and gestured for her to sit. He was acting squirrelly again.

  She took the nearest seat in an effort to hasten whatever news he would deliver. He dropped three photographs in front of her and, after wiping her sweaty hands on her slacks, she picked them up.

  “Why are you taking pictures of Lily?”

  “I’m not.”

  A protective maternal instinct sparked. “Then who is?”

  He rubbed his forehead and the sliver of panic Gina had been squashing threatened to break free.

  “I’m going to give it to you straight,” he said. “I don’t know how else to do it.”

  This would be bad. “Honesty is best. I’m a big girl.”

  He nodded. “I did a job in Israel last month—I can’t give you the details—but a man died and now his brother, a sheikh, wants my ass in a sling.”

  Israel. A sheikh. Vic’s ass in a sling. Why was he telling her this? “What does that have to do with Lily?”

  Vic dragged his fingers against his forehead again, this time hard enough to turn his knuckles white. A stranger would think maybe he had a headache, but she’d studied him for hours. He went to Herculean efforts to keep his emotions in check. Not much rattled him.

  She clasped her hands together and squeezed. “Is my daughter in danger?”

  He pulled a chair and sat, putting his big hands over hers. Their warmth somehow diminished the jitters. Whatever the problem, Vic would help her.

  “All I know,” he said, “is this guy wants to mess with me. He had someone following me, taking those pictures. They saw me with you and Lily and must have assumed we were a couple. He wants me to think Lily is in danger and, well, this is a bad dude.”

  “How bad?”

  He stared right into her eyes. “Bad enough he’s on a government watch list.”

  “A terrorist?”

  He nodded. “I’m sorry.”

  “So, he’s capable of harming her?” Thoughts of her beautiful little girl in her pink strawberry T-shirt prompted tears. Dammit. She swiped at them. She would not get hysterical. Hysteria, she had learned from Danny’s death, got her nowhere but into a bottle of Xanax.

  Vic squeezed her hand. “I promise you nothing will happen to Lily.”

  Was he kidding? She, of all people, couldn’t believe that. She bit back the sudden irritation and focused on him. “You can’t promise me that.”

  She’d dealt with tragedy before, and empty promises couldn’t erase it.

  He nodded. “You’re right, but we’ll do everything we can to keep her safe. I called my buddy at the State Department and told him the sheikh might be in Chicago. They’re all over it. They want this guy, Gina.”

  “We can count on them to help?”

  Vic shrugged. “As much as they can. Lynx is a good guy. If he can help, he will.”

  The oil painting over Vic’s head suddenly won Gina’s attention. She focused on it and tried to organize her twirling thoughts.

  Lily.

  She shot out of her chair. “I have to get Lily.”

  He grabbed her arm. “She’s fine. Tiny is at St. Theresa’s now. I’m going there when we’re done here. We’ve got a couple of other guys heading over also. Mike called the school, told them Taylor was giving them a year’s worth of free security. Some bullshit about a community support initiative.” He smiled. “Your brother has become a spin doctor.”

  Gina nodded, her mind zooming ahead. “I’m going with you. I want to get my baby and bring her home. The boys too.”

  The boys. Jake was on a field trip with the science club and Matthew—he’d better be at Keith’s, or he would be in big trouble. He’d reached th
e age where babysitters or camp gave him a rash. Gina had put him on a short leash for the summer to see how he did. So far, he hadn’t disappointed her, but they weren’t even out of June yet.

  “I need to get my purse and cell phone.” With Vic on her heels, quick strides carried her to her desk. She’d call Matt and Jake from the car.

  Her knees wobbled, but she willed herself to stand tall. She’d get through this. Her family would stay intact. It had to.

  She refused to lose one of her children.

  Vic pulled into Gina’s driveway and spotted Cowboy Roy in his signature snakeskin boots and Wrangler jeans standing on the back stoop. Mike and Roy had come ahead and gone through the house to clear it. All had been quiet.

  “Who’s that man, Mama?” Lily asked from the backseat.

  Gina slid Vic a sideways glance. “He’s a friend of Vic and Uncle Michael’s, honey. He wanted to come by and visit. Is that okay?”

  “Sure,” she said, shrugging.

  He glimpsed Lily in the rearview. “He’s a nice guy, Lily. I’ve known him a long time.” He rotated toward her. “Stay in the car a second, okay? I’m going to come around and open the door for you.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Just like the movies!”

  That made Gina laugh. “Yep. We can pretend Vic is prince charming.”

  Ha. Good luck with that one, babe. He was as close to prince charming as a serial killer. Technically, he was a serial killer, but somehow the government made it honorable. And on some level, he knew what he did helped fight terrorism, and knowing it kept him sane when the demons crawled into his mind while he slept.

  Roy came off the porch and stood next to the car while Gina and Lily got out. Vic ambled behind them with Roy on the side, just in case a stray bullet happened by.

  What a thought.

  He tensed his body, let the brutal squeeze of muscle sink in and counted to ten before releasing his breath. The moment of panic went away.

  Gina darted up the stairs, through the back door into the kitchen. Who could blame her for being spooked?

  Vic turned to Roy. “Monk’s out front.”

  “Roger that.” He stepped back out the door to keep watch.

  “Is he leaving?” Lily asked.

  “Um, no,” Gina said. “He’s going to stay outside for a while. Why don’t you go upstairs and put your things away? Maybe we’ll go to Uncle Michael’s and use the pool.”

  Use the pool? Was she smokin’ crack? Yeah, Mike lived in a secure building, but the pool was on the roof. Thoughts of choppers and snipers ran through his brain. Okay, maybe a little paranoia wormed its way in too.

  “You should stay inside,” he said after Lily went upstairs.

  “And how do I explain that to my children?”

  How the hell should he know? He didn’t know squat about kids. Still, he felt a pang of guilt over having put her in this situation. “I don’t know and I’m sorry.”

  “I know you’re sorry. You’ve told me three times.” She leaned against the counter in the very spot where they’d done the deed on Friday night. “Sorry doesn’t help, so stop saying it. I need you to lay out for me what our new security entails.”

  Vic sighed. “It entails you and the kids keeping your asses inside. If you go out, you go with one of the guys.”

  She glowered at him with the face. The one where she narrowed her eyes and puckered her lips. The mentally-dismembering-your-body face.

  “Jake and Lily won’t ask a lot of questions,” she said. “But Matthew? He’s a problem.”

  Matt would be the ball breaker. Maybe Gina should tell him the truth. He would be sixteen soon and considered himself the man in the house. It still seemed a lot of pressure for a teenager.

  “Do you think I should tell him the truth?” Gina, the mind reader—how the hell did she do that?—asked.

  He sat and rubbed his gritty eyes. “Hell, I don’t know. Part of me thinks it’s a good idea, but I’m not a parent.”

  “Could you have handled it when you were his age?”

  “That’s different. My mother walked out on me. I had enough anger in me to fight ten sheiks. Matt’s anger is different. It doesn’t rage like mine did. He knows his father loved him.”

  Whoa? What the fuck? When did this become Dr. Phil?

  Gina, still leaning against the counter, unfolded her arms. Body language for I’m open to this. You can talk to me.

  No freakin’ way. Kill me now.

  After a minute, she had the aha moment that he wouldn’t admit to his emotional shortcomings.

  “You’re probably right,” she said, “but I won’t lie to him. When he asks, I’ll tell him a watered-down version of the truth. I’ll have to since we won’t be going anywhere unaccompanied until this is over.”

  “Nobody leaves this house without an escort. No negotiation.”

  Just as she was about to mouth off, Matt came through the front door and shouted that he was home.

  “In the kitchen,” Gina yelled back.

  “What’s with the goon out front?” Matt carried his skateboard and wore a pair of ratty jeans and an equally ratty blue T-shirt. “Oh, hey,” he said when he saw Vic.

  Since the night on the beach, Matt had been giving him the hairy eyeball. A subtle hairy eyeball, but definitely there. That may have gone back a couple of years to the day he barged into the basement and found his mother in his clothes. The kid wasn’t stupid.

  “What’s up, pal?” Vic gave Matt a fist bump.

  “Is he one your friends? Sorry about the goon comment.”

  Vic shrugged. “He’s been called worse.”

  “Thanks for coming home so quick,” Gina said. “Have a seat. I need to talk to you about something.”

  Holy shit, the kid’s face went four funky shades of green, and Vic thought Matt would vomit right there. Gina rushed to him, put her hands on his cheeks.

  “No. Honey, everything’s fine. I’m so sorry.”

  She hugged him and Vic’s chest tightened. A similar scene probably unfolded the day Matt found out his father was dead.

  “Mom, don’t do that to me.” Matt pulled away and jammed his fingers into his eyes. “I’ll be right back.”

  He took off, and when Gina turned back to Vic, she threw her hands over her face and starting bawling.

  Great. Women crying. Not exactly his specialty.

  Not knowing what else to do, he pulled her onto his lap and kissed the back of her shoulder. “I’ll fix this. I will.”

  Then she did something she’d never done before. She spun around, buried her pretty face in his neck and locked her arms around him to finish her cry. Selfish son of a bitch that he was, he was stoked to hold her. He’d brought chaos into her life and he had the audacity to enjoy this? She should cut off his balls. Well, maybe cutting off his balls went to the extreme, but there had to be some sort of punishment.

  He ran his hands down her back, but they couldn’t spend too much time here, because he needed her to focus. “Matt’ll be back any second. Can you pull it together or should I intersect him?”

  Shooting to attention, she rushed to the sink and splashed water on her face. “I can’t believe I just did that. What if he’d walked in on me crying?”

  “He didn’t. Stop worrying about it. Do you want me to talk to him?”

  Would he really know what to say to this kid?

  With her back still to him, Gina wiped her face with a kitchen towel. “I don’t know.”

  “Neither do I, but maybe I can lay it out for him. He won’t freak if I’m here.”

  She did a yes-no thing with her head and Vic prayed she’d tell him no. He wasn’t afraid of many things, but this scared the crap out of him. He wasn’t equipped for family drama. His aunt’s house hadn’t packed much drama. None he had seen, anyway, and he forced himself to block out the first eleven years of his life with Mommy Dearest. It was easier than thinking about the johns who came and went so his mother could feed her addiction.

&nb
sp; “Maybe we can do it together?” She turned toward him. “He might ask questions I don’t know how to answer.”

  And what made her think he could? No clue. He’d roll with it. “If it’s what you want. I’ll do whatever you need.”

  Chapter Six

  Man Law: Never get mixed up with family squabbles.

  Gina pointed to a chair at the kitchen table. “Have a seat, buddy.”

  This would be a tough conversation. And having Mr. Anti-Emotion help her would make it even more interesting.

  Slanting a glance toward Vic, Matthew dropped into the chair. The recent tension between them ran fast and strong, and she didn’t understand it. Then again, Matt enjoyed being crabby to everyone lately.

  “Does he have to be here?”

  “Hey,” she said. “He has a name and you will use it. Besides, I want him here.”

  What the heck? She hadn’t even started and she had lost control of the situation.

  “Gina,” Vic said, leaning back and crossing his arms. “Let’s not sweat the small stuff.”

  Now he was going to tell her how to discipline her son? He was supposed to be helping her. “You’re a guest in our home, and I want him to be respectful.”

  He shrugged.

  “Whatever,” Matt said.

  She hated that all-purpose response but clamped her jaw shut.

  “Why am I here?”

  Trying to explain this without freaking Matthew out would be a challenge. She took a silent breath and shifted toward Vic for support. Mr. Impatient held his hand out.

  “The man out front works for Uncle Michael and Vic. There’s another man out back. They’re going to be hanging around for a while.”

  “So?”

  Vic grunted and Gina shot him a look. She wanted to slap Matthew too—not that she’d ever done it before—but he needed to let her handle this. He was in a support role, whether he liked it or not.

  “Can you stop being a smart-ass for five minutes?” Gina asked.

  Matt jerked a shoulder.

  Progress. Wonderful.

  “Uncle Michael and Vic sometimes get involved with dangerous situations. I don’t know the details, but we’re in a dangerous situation with them. Someone made threatening remarks against us, and Uncle Michael wants us to have security. It’s only a precaution.”