He shrugged. “As long as necessary.”

“My job. I can’t stop going.”

“I called Noah. He said there’s work you can do here for him. There’s an account you can take over and manage from home, if needed.”

“Carter, you can’t keep interfering with my job.”

“I will,” he barked, then immediately softened his tone. “If I have to—if it means you’ll be safe. Any other time, I wouldn’t, but right now you have to be safe.”

Something was happening. Something was changing. I knew, though Carter wouldn’t tell me the details. Whatever was going on, it was here, very present with us. Fear like I hadn’t felt in a long time began to well up in me, filling my body. Trust Carter. That’s what I had to do. But then I heard his next question, and the fear crept back up again.

“What happened last night?”

I shook my head. Not yet. “Who is Cole Mauricio?”

“You’re not going to tell me?”

“Are you?” I asked right back.

He grinned, his eyes searching my face in a loving way. I felt sheltered and protected. “Cole was like a brother to me,” he said.

I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t those words from him. He and my brother AJ had been like brothers. Hearing someone else referred to the same way, a twinge of jealousy pierced my chest, though it was unreasonable.

“After AJ died and I went into the Mauricio family, Cole and I became close,” he continued. “His immediate family were the head of the entire organization. His dad. His brothers. Him. The rest are elders, like his uncles, or people like me who aren’t related by blood, but are still considered family. For a long time, with the Mauricios, the true leaders were only one family: his. All of that ended a few years ago. The Bartel family started a war and killed every single member in his family. His dad went one week. His mom was the next. Every week, they found another member of Cole’s family and executed them. They were hiding, but the Bartel family always found them. His three brothers. Then his older sister. Cole had two little sisters, twins, and both of them were murdered too, until he was the last one left.”

I swallowed. Another nightmare had unfolded in someone else’s life.

Carter grew quiet for a moment. Then said, “I was assigned to protect him. Cole’s a year younger, but with everything I had done, I felt like I was ten years his senior. He was like a little brother to me. They found us one night and almost killed us, but I got us out. I went against the family protocol. Instead of taking him to a Mauricio safe house, I took Cole away.”

“Away?”

He nodded, turning over to stare straight up at the ceiling. He was back there, back in his memories. “I cut off all communication with the family and took him away. I trained him, taught him how to be a killer, how to fight.”

It began to click into place, why Cole moved like Carter.

“He’d been off the radar for five years until two weeks ago. The Bartel family found him and tried to kill him. They killed two of his friends, but Cole got away. He killed them instead.”

Carter had said something happened, something that would change things for us. My blood grew cold as I connected the dots. “The Bartel family moved against him?”

Carter nodded, his eyes hooded.

“And now he’s back?” What did that mean?

“He’s resumed his place in the family.” Carter’s voice was somber with the gravity of what he said.

“Why are you telling me all of this?” I asked.

“Because you need to understand. It’s time you know more. You’re mine, Emma. My first allegiance is to you.” But Cole was family, too. He didn’t say the words, but I heard them anyway. Then he added, “Things are going to happen now, and I can’t control them. The Mauricio family has always followed me. I saved their leader. Even if Cole wasn’t with the family, he was still alive. His uncles and cousins have followed me and allowed me to do whatever I needed. They helped me save you.”

Suddenly I realized—he was going back in. A tear formed in my eye, and I ignored it. This was what he was telling me. I swallowed over a lump. “What happens now?”

He didn’t answer at first. Then he let out a soft breath of air and turned, his eyes pained. He said one word: “War.”

Cole had slacked with his training over the years. I adjusted, leaning forward, and he didn’t catch the movement. Five years ago, he would’ve been alert and reacting the same instant. He’d grown soft.

His eyes narrowed, and he twisted back on his leg, sweeping out with the other one.

I dodged the kick, but saw his hit later than I would’ve liked. I evaded both, blocking his arm and knocking him back a step. I should’ve countered with a hit of my own, but I didn’t. Maybe I’d grown soft, too?

No. I smirked at my own question. I wasn’t soft. Cole was.

A wicked grin appeared on his face, and he shook his head, falling back a couple of steps and putting distance between us as we sparred.

The room was dark. A single light bulb hung over our heads. Us—no weapons, no audience, and nothing to distract us. Hardcore training. We fought, and we got better. This was how I’d taught him so long ago. I called it night-style fighting. Most times an enemy doesn’t make their presence known. They use the darkness to conceal their approach, so a person needed to “feel” them coming before they arrived.

It’s what gave my men the “ghost” feel Emma always talked about. It was true. Be a ghost. Fight like a ghost. Disappear like one. That was the best way to ensure you lived.

“Like old times, huh?” Cole flashed a smile, but he watched my feet warily.

I didn’t respond. I waited for his eyes to glance away, and when they did, I swept my leg out, tripping him so he fell to the mat. He recovered before he even touched down and shot his hand up. I dodged it, grabbing his wrist, and I fell to the floor as well, but rolled him over with me. I kicked at his hip and flipped him to the side, then wrapped my other arm around his neck. I had him in a paralyzing hold.

Apply pressure and he’d fall asleep. That’s all I had to do, but Cole tapped out, so I let him go.

“Shit,” he exclaimed, recoiling from me.

I was the one to flash him a grin this time.

As we stood, he shook his head. “I forgot how fast you are.”