Goddamn, he was right. “Stop.” I closed my eyes. The need to protect her was right there, lying just under the surface. It was right next to the Cold Killer. I was best at assassinating my enemies. He’d been kept in check, shoved down, but as Gene kept talking, I felt him crawling back up inside me.

Gene was right. Emma had to go away. As we flew from New York, I decided I would allow Emma to have a few more days while I got organized. The war was coming. We all felt it. And there were things I needed to do to prepare for it. When I was done, I would call for her, and she would go into hiding. Once she went, I had no idea how long it would be until I could be with her again.

A few days. I would give her a few days.

When I woke the next day, there was a message from Carter. He needed to fly home to take care of business. I didn’t like it. He’d kept his New York home from me, and now he wasn’t telling me what was going on. Cole had been initiated, so I knew that portion of business was done, but this was Carter. There was so much I still didn’t know, and sometimes, when I was honest with myself, I wasn’t sure I wanted to learn all of it.

“Okay!” Theresa came into my room, clapping her hands. “I talked Amanda into flying here. Noah sent the jet for her, so she really didn’t have much of a choice.”

“It’s Wednesday.”

“And tomorrow is Thursday. She said she could do work on the plane and then take tomorrow off.” Theresa’s smile stretched from ear to ear. “We’re going to have the triad. I need you, ladies. And you know what this means?”

“We’re going to the gun range?”

“Oh.” She perked up. “No, but we should do that, too…after we go dancing. Noah told me Carter has a friend who owns a nightclub here, so guess where we’re going Thursday night?” She snapped her fingers twice in my face. “Turn that frown upside down and get your dancing face on, because that’s what we’re doing. Drinking. Dancing. And….being divas.” She laughed. “I had to think of another D word, but it fits.”

“It fits you,” I told her.

Theresa turned back for the door and waved at me over her shoulder. “I’ll take it. I already knew I was the diva in the group.”

We were nearing our thirties, but we were going dancing, we were going to drink, and we were throwing the word diva around. As I lay back down in my bed, I couldn’t stop smiling. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

However, when Amanda arrived the next night, my smile had disappeared. I hadn’t been thinking about her since I got to New York. My thoughts had been focused on Carter, my sister, and the impending war. Since he’d gone, my thoughts had been only on Carter and his absence, but now Amanda was coming up the elevator, and I kept remembering she had a cop boyfriend.

The elevator pinged its arrival, and Theresa squealed as she went to meet it in the private entrance. I stood and followed at a more sedate pace, as did Noah. Theresa waved her hands in the air in excitement. Noah and I shared a look. Only Theresa.

Then the doors opened, and Amanda came inside pulling a piece of luggage beside her and carrying another large bag slung over her shoulder, along with her purse. Her eyes were wide as she took us all in. She choked out a laugh as Theresa flung herself forward, wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug.

“You’re here. You’re in New York. The triad is together again.” Theresa kept holding her, rocking her back and forth.

Amanda laughed again and stepped back. Frowning, she reached up to shake some of the snow from her hair. “I am, and it’s snowing outside. Are we really going dancing? It’s crazy out there.”

“We are. Damn the snow, I say,” Theresa announced.

She finally let Amanda loose so she could give Noah and me a hug. Things felt a little awkward with both of us, though Amanda made all the needed motions so the hugs seemed normal. She searched my face and gave me a small, tight grin before moving back. Theresa linked elbows with her and began pulling her to the bedroom she was going to use. As they went down the hallway, Theresa explained, “Going out is not a chore. You and Emma act the same way lately…”

As her voice faded, Noah shook his head. “She doesn’t give a damn about dancing tonight. She’s just avoiding me.”

I stiffened. My boss wasn’t one to share things with me. But I could see the pain Theresa was putting him through on his face. We had never discussed their relationship, but maybe now was the time. “She’s scared of losing you,” I said. “That’s all it’s about.”

He cursed under his breath, raking a hand over his jaw. “I’m getting damn tired of it. If she doesn’t want to move in, she doesn’t have to. What does she think will happen? That I’ll die?”

“Yes.”

He looked taken aback. His eyebrow raised. “Are you serious?”

I nodded. “She lost her family. She lost her fiancé.”

Another soft curse came from him. “She told you about him? She doesn’t talk about him ever.”

“She brought it up, but didn’t say much about him.”

“He was a wanker. He died in a bar fight. That was the tragedy of it. He didn’t die from a car accident or cancer. He got pissed drunk and started the fight.”

I frowned. “Does Theresa know he started it?”

He nodded, turning to look in the direction she’d gone. “Yeah, but I get it. He died. Her family died. I get it.” He looked at me for a moment. “She’s terrified of losing you too, you know. Our association with Carter worries her. She doesn’t say anything anymore, and she knows Carter will protect us both, but I know it bothers her.”

My eyes got big as I processed that. This made more sense. I patted Noah on the arm, heading for the bedrooms. “Just move her in one day. It’s the only way she’ll go, and she won’t leave. She’ll be panicked until it happens, but when it does, she’ll settle down.”

He barked out a laugh. “My luck, she’ll quit her job and move to Bali if I do that.”

I chuckled, moving down the hallway to where I could hear Theresa and Amanda talking. He was probably right. I could see Theresa doing that, but she’d come back. I had a feeling Theresa would always go back to Noah. He was her anchor.

Knocking softly on the door, I pushed it open and met Amanda’s gaze in the mirror. Theresa held a dress up in front of her, and Amanda had one hand holding her hair up behind her neck. She faced the mirror, and in that moment, pain sliced through me. In a way, Amanda had been an anchor for me too, especially during the mess of what happened with Mallory.