CHAPTER THIRTY
JORDAN
My phone chimed with a text during my shift at the coffee shop. Axel sent me a picture of himself holding a key between his thumb and forefinger, accompanied by the text: Got your keys little sis. When do you want to move in?
Chico and I went straight to the penthouse when my shift was over. Cora and Axel were both there, beaming. After a lot of hugging and shrieking and jumping, Axel formally handed me the key.
“Want to go see it?” he asked.
“Yes!” I shrieked. “How did you make that happen so fast? It was my top pick, too!”
“I told you. Connections.” He tipped his head toward Cora. I almost broke down in tears. “I might have paid your security deposit for you, too. I know you didn’t want anyone paying your way, but consider it a housewarming gift.”
I swallowed a knot in my throat, pocketing the key. “Thanks, big bro. I appreciate that.”
He tugged my ear. “Anytime, Jordan.”
“And thank you, Cora, for all your help.”
Cora stepped forward, and I bridged the distance, hugging her tightly.
“It’s the least I could do,” she said. “I’m so excited for this new chapter in your life. And I can’t wait to see how you decorate it.” She squeezed the sides of my arms as she stepped back. “Just let me know if you need any help. I know a few interior designers who you’d love. We could just consider it another housewarming gift.”
While her words warmed my chest, my stomach felt a particular type of sick chill. Because her generosity was occurring at the same time as my deceit. Even though it was for a greater good…it didn’t sit right. I shoved the thoughts aside, determined to enjoy this family moment without anything bringing me down.
Damian and Trace joined us, all six of us piling into the SUV with Legs. As we crossed town, my entire body buzzing with happiness and belonging, the conversation turned to Seven.
“Where’s Seven today?” Trace asked good-naturedly, turning to face Chico and me in the third row of the SUV.
Chico glanced at me first before answering. “Not sure. Had some other business to attend to.”
“Probably at the office,” Axel said, his eyes on the world flashing past the windows.
I snorted. “What office? Is that code for the bathroom?”
Damian laughed. “No. It’s his actual office.”
Confusion made slow steps throughout me. “Wait, for real?”
“Yeah. He rents one from us,” Trace said helpfully. “In the same building as the one we dedicated to you and Kaylee.”
“The building that started it all,” Axel said quietly, nudging Cora, who giggled in response.
My brows trekked slowly toward the center of my face. There was no way he had an office and hadn’t told me. “Why on earth does he need an office?”
“It’s the headquarters for Silva Security,” Axel said. “I think that’s the name. What does Silva mean anyway?”
My heart was beating more rapidly now. “Has he had a security company since…you met him?”
“No, he just started it not too long ago.” Axel rummaged in his pockets for something, glancing down as he hunted.
“I was his first hire,” Chico supplied with a smile.
I stared at him, trying my best not to react. I wasn’t supposed to care about what Seven did with his life, in his free time, or with his purported business. In front of everyone here, I was supposed to be a regular client. Not some broken-hearted little girl who fell in love with her bodyguard.
“Are there more?” My voice came out strained as I tried to maintain some degree of lightheartedness.
“Yeah, he just hired a new guy, I think.” Axel swore to himself. “I had the business card here, and I cannot fucking find it.”
“Which one are you looking for?” Damian asked from the front.
“Seven’s!” Axel grunted in frustration and gave up. “Whatever. I had his card, but now I don’t. Metaphor for life.”
“Oh, I have it,” Damian said. “I took it off your desk.”
Axel sent me a flat look. “Damian has it. He took it off my desk.”
I laughed but it died quickly. Not only was there something happening that everyone knew about but me, it was serious enough that Seven had his own headquarters, employees, and personalized business cards. The news settled like a boulder in the ocean. I’d been fucking this man for weeks. Why were my brothers and the back-up guard the ones to break this news to me?
I wanted to stew. I wanted to fester. I wanted to scream my head off. But nobody in this car was supposed to know that I cared what Seven did with his life, so I crossed my arms and forced myself to stow it away where I could deal with it after this momentous visit to my new apartment.
I drew a few deep, cleansing breaths as my brothers chattered about something else. And then we were in the whirlwind of checking out the apartment: testing the locks, opening the windows, examining the doorframes, discussing wall colors, imagining where the furniture would go. With my brothers—including Trace— and Cora at my side, things moved at light speed. They had the vision and the resources to make whatever they wanted happen. Whatever I wanted happen. Before we concluded our visit, a delivery person arrived with things that Axel ordered on the down low. Cleaning supplies, pantry staples, cookware.
“I’ll work on getting the rest of your things brought over,” Axel promised me. “You could be living here by tonight if you wanted. What do you think?”
All I could do was look at Axel, Damian, and Trace with watery eyes and hug them each in turn.
I was finally starting a new chapter of my life. With my family at my side.
And no matter how good it felt, I couldn’t keep myself from wishing Seven were there, too.
****
Chico and I arrived at Seven’s apartment around dinnertime, much later than I’d expected. I found Seven in the kitchen, chopping onions at the island.
“Hey, guys,” he said brightly.
But his tone and general hotness were no match for the bombshell revelation in the SUV earlier. Just from looking at him, all those bad feelings came back. The secrecy. Keeping me in the dark. Everyone else knew but me.
How fucking dare you.
“How’d your day at the office go?” The question erupted from me like a geyser. There was no dancing around the issue.
Seven looked between me and Chico a few times. “It was fine.”
“Building something big over there, huh?” I crossed my arms, maintaining my stance near the door. Chico backed away slowly.
“Well, I’ll hand this back to you,” Chico said.
“Thanks, Chico. I’ll touch base with you later.” Seven watched as Chico slipped out of the door. Once it clicked shut behind him, his gaze returned to me. “What’s going on?”
“I should ask you the same fucking question!” My voice was nearly a shout, and I couldn’t contain it. I was furious. Humiliated. Depressed. “Turns out everyone and their brother—including my own brothers—knows about this business you’ve started. Axel even has a business card! Yet somehow, conveniently, you forgot to mention it to me?”
He set down the knife he’d been using and faced me slowly. “I’ve been waiting for the right time.”
“It takes literally ten seconds to mention the fact that you started a business,” I shot back. “Oh look, I just said the words. Less than ten seconds actually. Maybe it took three.”
“Building a business of my own has been the plan since before I even met you,” he said slowly, in a measured tone. “It didn’t come up earlier because I wanted to keep that line drawn with you. I didn’t think you needed to know. It seemed irrelevant. Those aren’t the type of things I talk about with my protection clients—business ideas, future plans. But then things…changed.”
I scoffed. “Yeah. They sure fucking changed, didn’t they?”
He watched me heavily for a moment. “Listen, I have news from my meeting with Federico. This is important. Do you want to hear what it is?”
I sighed, nodding, still not completely satisfied about the whole business-hiding thing. Seven pushed aside the cutting board, gesturing for me to sit. This time, as I sat in the stool facing him, I realized I felt farther away from him than ever before. There was a cutting loss in finding out that somebody you trusted, let get so close to your heart, had been withholding important details. It made me look back on everything we’d shared the past few weeks with suspicion.
“Federico thinks we have a shot at building a portfolio of evidence,” Seven said. “He’s fast-tracking some recording devices for us to use, and he says we need to build a top-secret intel team. This is, for obvious reasons, something that cannot be shared with anyone. Not even your brothers. So it would just stay between whoever is on the team. But he seems confident that if you get some admission of guilt from Eli, that we could use it to cause a mistrial or have the case dismissed completely before the trial even starts.”
Excitement flooded me. “Okay. So…we can move forward.”
Seven nodded slowly. “Yes. But with precautions. And…awareness. This might not work out. There’s a higher chance of failure than success, according to Federico. But I’m willing to help if you want to do it.”
“Of course I want to do it,” I blurted. “I can’t let something like this go unaddressed. Especially when my brothers are facing a decade of prison time.”
He smiled, pulling the cutting board back into position so he could resume chopping. “I figured you’d say that.”
But the prickles of my discontent returned, reminding me of what I was still so angry about. “In fact, Eli is planning to pick me up from my new apartment in a few days.” It wasn’t entirely true—while Eli was begging to see me again after our last visit, I hadn’t told him where I lived, much less asked him to send a car for me. But what was an argument without poking the bear a little? “We can do the first set of recordings then.”
Seven’s gaze hardened into stone. “Excuse me?”
I smiled sweetly. “What part didn’t you understand?”
“There’s a few things you’re going to want to go over.” His voice felt like a slap. “One: new apartment. Two: Eli visiting any residence of yours at all. Three: additional plans with him. When did that happen?”
“I signed on the new place this afternoon,” I said simply. “And Eli’s been begging for more of me since the second I left last night. He wants me at some gala in Midtown, which is happening this Friday.”
Seven’s gaze slid slowly back to the cutting board. “Why wouldn’t you have told me about the new apartment?”
“I thought that’s how you preferred to play the game,” I shot back. “Not too much different than a new office. Except the difference is, you knew all along I was apartment hunting. Well, one panned out. I would have celebrated with you, if I hadn’t found out today just how much you’ve been hiding from me.”
He drew a slow inhale through his nostrils but said nothing.
“Who knows? Maybe there’s more I don’t know about. Secret wife on the West Coast? An entire family you failed to mention? Maybe this isn’t even the first business you’ve started since we met. Maybe you’ve got offices all over Manhattan.”
“Jordan—”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m going to go pack up some things. I’m planning on spending the night in my new place.” I headed for my bedroom, calling over my shoulder, “All alone!”
I shut the bedroom door hard, pressing my back up against it as I fought tears and listened to the frantic beating of my heart. I only knew how to press forward on my own. Even though I was desperate for someone to fight for me.
Waiting for Seven. Waiting for…something. An explanation that felt good. A plea to stay. Maybe even just a long hug and deeply felt apology.
But none of that came. Only silence.
So I got to packing.