KATIE
Thomas was gone. In his place, two strangers had assumed command of my home.
Of course, I had expected them to arrive eventually, but seeing Andrew Evans in the hallway, pacing between my room and the foyer, still startled me. I stopped dead in my tracks.
A military-looking rifle hung from a strap hooked over his shoulder. Muscled biceps stretched the sleeves of his black T-shirt. The pants he wore and the boots also suggested a military vibe. A colorful dragon rose from his collarbone onto his neck, its gaping mouth breathing fire below his right ear.
He quickly disconnected from a phone call and raised his right hand in the air, as if to wave hello to me. “I’m Andrew Evans.” He extended his hand, offering to shake mine. “Forgive me for alarming you, Miss Reed.”
I stepped forward and accepted his handshake. “No, I’m sorry for pulling the stupid face. Thomas doesn’t wear anything like that, so it was a surprise. Please call me Katherine—no, call me Katie.”
“You all right, Katherine?” John Hastings entered the foyer, coming from the dining room.
Holy shit.
His eyes. The way he carried himself. He was a true likeness of Thomas. Smaller though. Shorter.
I nodded. “I’m fine. Thanks. I was just telling Mr. Evans I’d like to be called Katie.”
John grinned. “I’m not sure my brother would like that. I think we’ll stick with Katherine for now.”
Even the way his mouth curves reminds me of him.
“Come with me to the kitchen for breakfast.” He turned his wrist, his familiar eyes darting to his watch. Then, eyes skipping back to mine, he extended that hand to me.
The number eight. Dominance, strength. A deep sapphire color appeared in my mind. John’s masculine presence mocked the feminine undertones. Even his scent was distinctly masculine. My brain didn’t hesitate for a zeptosecond to assign the same numeric identity as it had given his brother.
All the Hastings brothers must share it, I thought.
I put my hand in his and allowed him to lead me to the kitchen. “Do you—I mean, are you into mathematics, like Thomas?”
“No, not at all.” He started removing items from a large brown sack. Food and coffee from Jack’s. “He’s the only genius in the family. I play football.”
“Thomas mentioned you were playing for Loughborough University. I imagine they’ll want you back soon for training.” I sipped from the tall paper cup he’d handed me. My coconut milk latte. “Thank you for coming over to help your brother.”
John swallowed a mouthful of toast, dipped into the runny yolk of a fried egg. “You don’t need to thank me, Katherine. This is what we do, my brothers and I. Thomas would and has done the same. Family comes first. Always.” When he reached across the island counter for his cup, ink identical to Thomas’s stretched out from under his T-shirt sleeve.
I missed Thomas, his tattoos, the strength he gave me, his kiss. My heart ached to be near him. A quiver ran along my spine, my body recalling his touch, his teeth pulling on my nipples, the thrill of his tongue between my thighs. A quick breath caught in my throat.
John tugged on his sleeve to reveal the entire shield. A lion. Roses. The Latin word Defensor. “It once represented an old protection pact between two families, but that’s quite a long story. I’ll let Thomas explain. What’s important is, in the present, it symbolizes our commitment to our own family, our promise to defend it at all costs.”
I nodded. I understood their desire to keep their loved ones safe, understood Thomas’s obligation to investigate my father. It didn’t scare me or make me want him any less. He wouldn’t find anything on my father—nothing criminal anyway.
“He didn’t tell me why he was leaving or when he’d be back.”
“Trust me, my brother will be back. Give him a day, maybe two.”
“I think I know what he’s doing. He went after the assassin.”
“Quite right. I don’t think he meant to keep it from you. Not really. Seeing you in more distress would have affected his mood, messed with the clearheaded focus necessary for him to complete the mission.” He pointed to my scrambled eggs with his knife. “Eat.”
I took a bite of scrambled egg. Chewed. Swallowed. What the hell was it with these Hastings men? It was a compulsion to obey their commands. “I’m not in distress, you know. And I’m not a child.”
“No, we aren’t children, Katherine.” He set down his cup. “You remind me of my sister-in-law.”
“Ellie, you mean. She’s a countess, right?”
“Yeah, she doesn’t like to be called by the title though. It annoys her. She was an American as well. But it’s your spirit I’m talking about. You’re fierce about your independence, but it’s balanced suitably.”
Narrowing my eyes, I said, “Explain what you mean by ‘balanced suitably.’”
“It wasn’t an insult, but rather the opposite. Ellie would tell you the same. My brothers and I are like alpha wolves, she says. It’s in our blood; it can’t be changed. You might think that makes strong women a poor match.” John shook his head as he nailed me with his stare. “Truth is, the challenge is a requirement to satisfy us, to keep us from boredom, and to keep us in line.”
“That’s really intuitive. And brave to say. Can I ask you something personal—”
An alarm sounded. John sprinted to the dining room. I followed.
As he studied the security monitors, he communicated with Andrew. “Where the fuck are you? I have an alarm set off and a garage camera out.”
I heard Andrew’s response through the speaker on John’s phone.
“Stay with your charge. I’m standing before that camera now. It was hit with something. When it blacked out, I came down the emergency stairwell. Inspect windows and doors and lock down the lift. Go. Quickly. I’ve got you in my ear. Let me know what you see.”
John grabbed my hand, his grip harsh and unrelenting. He gave no instruction, said nothing to me as he pulled me along. “At the lift now, locking it down,” he told Andrew. Then, he turned to me. “You must keep your back against the wall in every room while I check things.”
The sound of my heartbeat rushed through my ears. I stared at his face.
“Katherine.” He squeezed harder on my hand. “Got it?”
“Okay, yes,” I breathed.
“Kitchen first. Come with me,” he ordered, moving, towing me behind him.
John gripped my shoulders, positioning my back against the one solid wall in the kitchen. I watched him inspect the locks on the terrace door, the windows.
Gripping my hand again, he pulled me into Marta’s room. One window. Locked.
Hallway. The library.
“Back against the wall, Katherine,” he barked.
The living room. My back to the wall.
Hallway. The stairwell Andrew had used.
My parents’ suite. Against another wall. Terrace door. Windows.
When we entered my bedroom suite, the terrace door was open, the sheers blowing in and out.
John drew a handgun from his belt. “Did you leave this door open?”
I shook my head. I couldn’t remember. Thomas had ordered me to keep it locked.
“Katherine,” he shouted at me. “Did you open that door?”
Did I open it? “I don’t know. I … I don’t know.”
He kicked open the closet, making sure it was clear.
“Wait, please,” I cried, fumbling for the switch to the light fixture as John pushed me through the opening.
“You do not come out until you see my face again, Katherine.” He shut the door. “Evans, the exterior door in her bedroom is wide open.”
“I’m almost there, John. Do you have a visual?”
“Negative.”
A loud thud. The terrace door. It was the sound it made when hitting the interior wall.
My breath quickened. I braced myself, fingers tightly gripping the back of my dressing chair. My mind refused to count the breaths. How many were there? How fucking many? I’d always counted them when the thunderstorms scared me. When my father was gone. I’d hated him for it.
“Thomas, please come back,” I whispered.
Rumbling voices cut through the long silence. Andrew’s and John’s.
The walk-in door opened, and I flew into John’s arms.
“It’s all right. Everything is okay,” he told me. “No one is inside. We’ve got this.”
I lifted my head from his shoulder and locked on to his eyes. The contact was unsettling. He was too much like Thomas.
I pushed away from him, straightened my posture, and nodded. “So, it’s safe.”
Andrew nodded as well. “Yes. More security guards arrived. We’ve cleared the building.”
“I’m so sorry if it was me. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble.”
“Katherine, if you did, it doesn’t matter. That wouldn’t explain the unanticipated movement within the garage.” John grinned. “No more going out onto the terrace. Deal?”
Five hundred twelve. Eight to the power of three. Three wolves. Sapphire waves.
I sighed then, relieved to have my brain working properly again. “Yes, you have a deal.”
“Shall we finish our breakfast?”
“I don’t think so. Not now. But thanks for getting it in. I’d like to call my mother.”
He handed me his phone. “Ring her on mine. I don’t want communication between the two of you traced right now. Not until I hear from my brother.” Tilting his head toward the door for Andrew’s benefit, he added, “We’ll give you some privacy.”
“Um, no, I’ll go into the living room, if that’s okay.”
John dipped his chin, understanding my reluctance to stay alone in my room. “Yeah, of course. I’ll be close, just in the dining room.” He motioned for me to walk ahead of him.
“Thanks.” I followed behind Andrew, tapping my mother’s number into John’s phone, aware of both men, their boots on the wood floorboards, covering ten more feet of hallway to the next room.
“Mom,” I said as she picked up. “Thomas is gone. Don’t worry. I’m not alone. His brother and a soldier are here along with the extra security guards he hired. Did you know about this?”
“Sweetheart, hello. He did inform me of his plan. How are you holding up?”
I swallowed hard. “I would be a lot better if my damn parents were here with me.”
I heard her speaking to someone, asking them to give her a minute. A moment of silence lingered while she waited, and then she let out a weighted sigh. “I am sorry for that. He ordered me to stay in Albany. It was part of the deal. Do you think I want to be away from you while this situation is ongoing?”
A nervous laugh escaped me. “Situation? Oh my God, Mom. I was nearly killed, and your husband is being pursued. Or are you so busy that you’ve forgotten us? But you know what? Thank goodness for Thomas because he certainly hasn’t forgotten about me. Even if he did order you to stay there, it’s not like you and Dad were ever home anyway.”
Emotion twisted inside me, making my hands shake. I was growing angrier with her, resenting her for what she’d done to our family. For her absence.
“Katherine, please, just settle down. I get that you’re upset with me. And maybe you have that right, but speaking this way won’t solve anything. What worries me even more is the attachment I’m sensing on your side of this, darling. Thomas is not the kind of man with whom you should get involved. He’s a trained killer, and he won’t think twice about shedding another man’s blood.”
“You don’t even know him. Not the way I do.”
“Oh, but I do. I know so many men like him. You are to keep your distance. Do you understand me, Katherine?”
“Too late, Mom,” I taunted. “Zero distance.”
“Do you know where he is right now? He’s hunting down the man who attacked you. To kill him. Do you understand what that means, darling? He will return to the penthouse soon after killing another man.”
Confusion. Fear. Emptiness. Tears threatened to spill, but I wouldn’t let them, not when I needed to prove to my mother that I, too, was a strong woman. She had never seen that in me.
An angry surge overwhelmed me again. “Stay out of my business, Governor, and I’ll stay out of yours.”
“Katherine! I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you will not speak to me that way. A man like Thomas Hastings has a dark soul. Whatever kind of crush you might have—”
“I don’t care. How are his actions any different than yours? He protects his family, as we all do. You. Me. Dad. There’s no difference. If you believe Thomas is a monster, then aren’t you one as well for what you’ve done? You might as well have killed him.”
She fell silent—a rare moment for Carolyn Reed. The truth was that my family had ugly secrets. I wasn’t ready to unveil them for Thomas. The secrets weren’t mine to tell. Not only that, but I was also confident he would uncover them himself, which would keep me from betraying my family.
I realized then why he’d been pushing me away. He saw me as faultless, pure. But I wasn’t. I was a liar with secrets that I wouldn’t share with him. I wanted desperately to tell him, to make him see that I understood his position, that I could live with the things he’d done.
That I loved him.
But I couldn’t tell him any of it, not yet. I needed to work things out further.
I knew in my heart that he would go back to London soon. It was his home. His brothers were there. Would he want me if we were both in the UK? Would it be easier for him?
I’d accepted the offer from Oxford.
Mom broke her silence. “That hurts, Katherine. There are things you don’t understand. You’re still so young.”
“I don’t mean to hurt you. Please, Mom, put yourself in my position. I’m an adult, like it or not. I grew up faster than you care to admit. I’ve been surrounded by professors and politicians my whole life. I’m not as naive as you want to believe. I’m ready to move on … and I’m going to Oxford.”
“What? No, honey. You’re angry and confused right now. That’s all. We’ll work through it.”
I closed my eyes. I didn’t know what I was feeling right then, but it was no longer anger. “No, I’m not. And I’m sorry for the way I spoke to you. I love you and Dad so much. Still, I’ve never been more certain about anything. I am going to London.”
“I won’t accept this. Not at all, Katherine.”
“I hope you will someday,” I said softly. “I really do.”
She didn’t say anything else. Words left unsaid hung in the air between us, but speaking them wouldn’t do either of us any good. I heard as her assistant entered her office, and they discussed an appointment.
Then, she said to me, “Don’t do anything yet, darling. We’ll talk through it this evening. I’ll call you as soon as things quiet down here.”
Immediately after hanging up, I searched for flights to London, buying myself a one-way ticket.
I knew my mother. She would cut off my credit cards to punish me if I didn’t give in. But that was okay. Let her. Oxford’s fellowship was fully funded, and I could easily wait tables or make coffee to earn extra cash.
I was Katie Reed. Freedom was mine, and I refused to let anyone take it away from me.