I’m debriefed, along with the rest of the remaining assassins—but told not to approach. No one is to approach her because she’s dangerous.

Yeah, Harper has some moves, but Harper is not dangerous. She’s like a little kitten with those little kitten claws. She can hurt you, but she’s a kitten.

So everyone gives her a wide berth. Meanwhile Tony’s number comes up and he’s next on my list. At the same time, Ford calls in a favor to Merc, who calls in a favor to me, requesting that my crazy brother also be eliminated.

So yeah, I did it.

Well—I take a deep breath and crack an eye to see if Sasha noticed, but she’s deep in thought too—I didn’t do it. Tet did it. Tet did it and then Tet didn’t move to the back of the bus, so to speak. Tet decided to take the front seat, in fact. And that made me fail the psych evaluation.

Which got me sent to the beach to unwind.

And then One appeared with a video of my sister, Nicola. And she had black eyes and she asked me to help her. And One told me to get that file because I had a debt to pay.

I sigh again.

They played me. They knew Harper was a weakness. I’d stayed clear of her except on her birthdays. Still, certain people knew I went to see her every Six Day. They knew she interacted with me the day we turned Six. They figured—correctly, I might add—that I could tame her.

But I love her. I want her. I know she’s not my promise. I understand this and it killed me to lie to her while we were together. But I want her now. She’s mine.

And no one is going to take her away.

No one.

Chapter Three

James

When Harrison yells back that we’re finally landing, I get up and stretch. I shoot the Smurf a smile that says it’s all good and make small talk about food, then I sit back down to wait for the plane to stop.

When we get off, I stop to shake Harrison’s hand. “You ever need anything, Harrison, I’m your man.”

He smiles but I can tell all he’s thinking about is how he hopes he never needs the kind of services I offer.

“Thanks, Harrison,” Sasha says, giving him a hug. He squeezes her back, a little too hard maybe because she puts a hand to her chest where my bullet slammed into her last night, and he pulls away.

“Sorry, Sasha,” he says in his kind voice. “Be careful,” he adds, as he pats her on the back. And then he looks at me like I am scum.

“She’ll be OK, I promise.”

“I’ll be fine, Harrison. Don’t worry about me.” She points to the parking lot, which is sorta visible from where we’re at. “Hey, there’s your truck, James!” And then she’s off. Running like a kid.

“Tet… James… whoever the fuck you are. Don’t drag this kid down with you, man. It’s not right. You can leave her here. My wife and I don’t have any kids. We can always use the company.”

My eyes squint down as I stare at him. I have never really looked at Harrison before. He’s not quite middle age. His hair is still dark, his build still decent for a guy who sits for his job. His eyes are too kind to be part of my world. And I bet he’s got a nice home here in this town. Some no-nonsense bungalow that could be anywhere.

But he’s out of his fucking mind if he thinks he’s getting my Smurf.

“I mean, just until you figure shit out, not for good. Just for a little while. To keep her safe.”

I don’t care for what he’s insinuating. “She’s safest with me, Harrison.”

“You shot her in the chest, Tet. That’s not normal. That’s just fucking wrong.”

I grit my teeth and clench my fist. He needs to stop or I might just lose my temper. “I did what I had to do to save her fucking life. Now, if you don’t mind, we’ve got people to meet. I hope we’re still good after this, but if not, just ignore my next call and you’ll never hear from me again.”

And then I turn my back and walk away.

Sasha is sitting on the hood of the black Toyota Tundra pickup. “I can’t believe your truck is still here,” she laughs.

I shoot her a grin. “Why wouldn’t it be? It’s only been a few days.”

“I know,” she says excitedly, jumping down and walking over to the passenger side door. I click the lock on the key chain and the lights blink once. We get in at the same time and slam the doors closed. “But it feels like a lifetime, doesn’t it?”

“It does.” It really fucking does. I start the truck and take a deep breath.

“You miss her already?”

“Yeah,” I say, putting the truck in gear. “Dropping her off with the Admiral is a huge risk.”

“Do you think he’ll hurt her?” Sasha asks, the worry coming through in her voice.

“Nah. That’s not what I’m worried about. Now buckle up, it’s the law.”

She snorts at that, but it serves its purpose. She drops the line of questioning.

I’m worried about him hurting her, sure. He’s not looking out for her. Not the way he is Nick. He left her at the beach for a year. Fighting the panic and barely surviving. They both left her at the beach for a year.

And that file she had. No. Something is wrong about that file. If One has it, why haven’t we been called back?

I mean I know why I haven’t. I’m crazy and I’m pretty sure the next hit will be on my head.

But the Company has always been disciplined. We’re a military faction, albeit a covert black-ops one. We have rules and traditions. We have… protocols.