Chapter 6
Ego
The weekend almost kills me.
Watching her without being able to touch her is a test of strength I wasn’t prepared for—and I’ll admit it, I waver once or twice.
Maybe more.
After all, I’m only human.
Lucky—or unlucky—for me, Sabrina Rosetto is the perfect hostess.
She lets me into her space with minimal fuss, offers coffee like this is all completely normal, and listens while I explain what needs to be done.
I keep the cameras discreet, tucked into corners where they won’t intrude.
None in the bathroom.
None in the kitchen.
None in the bedroom.
Mostly.
I do place a bug in her bedroom.
But I tell her about it.
She’s pissed at first. Rightfully so.
Her eyes flash, her shoulders stiffen, and for half a second I think she’s going to throw me out on my ass.
But then I remind her of the facts.
We don’t know who’s stalking her.
We don’t know how close they are.
And we don’t know what they want yet.
That reminder pisses me off more than it does her.
So when it’s time for me to post up in the truck outside with Kai riding shotgun as my second, I do it unwillingly.
I don’t want to be out here.
I want to be inside.
Near her. Watching her breathe. Making sure she’s safe.
Instead, I’m sitting in a cold-ass surveillance truck with my idiot brother.
“Don’t know about you, bruh,” Kai says with a grin, “but I am so hot for teacher.”
I punch him square in the nose without hesitation.
Hard.
Asshole.
“What the fuck, man!” he yelps, clutching his face.
“Don’t ever talk about her like that,” I growl. “Got it?”
He stares at me for a beat. Then his expression shifts—no more joking, no more bullshit.
“Whoa,” he says slowly. “You serious?”
I nod once.
And that’s all it takes.
Some people don’t believe twins have that kind of understanding—that unspoken language—but I can tell you it’s very fucking real.
Kai sobers instantly, nodding back like he gets it.
Me and him? We usually give as good as we get.
Not this time.
Because I’m not playing.
Sabrina is special.
She’s something rare.
Something good. And yeah—whether she knows it yet or not—she’s mine.
But first, I need to find out who’s coming after my little angel.
“Let’s go over it again,” I tell him.
Kai pulls up the file, starts reciting what we know about her brother. His financial issues. His distance.
The possibility—however slim—that he might be connected to what’s happening.
It makes my blood boil.
She deserves better than a selfish prick of a sibling who only shows up when there’s money on the line.
Deserves better than being left alone in the world like this.
But I force myself to stay professional. To listen. To observe.
And that’s how the fat fuck that is the whole of the next week goes.
Every morning, I greet her at her front door.
I even start bringing her that special tea blend she likes from the local bakery, along with a cinnamon bun.
She blushes every time.
Her cheeks go pink.
She smiles shyly and thanks me like it’s nothing—like she doesn’t know she’s become the highlight of my day.
I drive her to school.
I sweep her classroom before the kids arrive.
I sit either in the hallway or across the hall in an empty supply closet with the door open. The idea is not to frighten the kids or draw attention.
Kai offers to swap detail with me.
I punch him again, and now he’s sporting a Band-aid over his nose.
Asshole can stay in the fucking truck.
I won’t trade places for anything.
There’s a school-wide trip scheduled for Saturday—some Broadway show. Big. Busy. Loud.
The kind of environment I hate securing because chaos is a predator’s best friend.
I insist on going with her. As in right next to her, not watching from a distance.
The principal is not happy.
But my boss offers to pay for the buses and donate the same amount back to the school.
That makes a difference.
Money always does.
And if that’s what it takes to keep her safe?
I’ll reach into my own offshore account and spend every damn cent.
No hesitation.
She’s worth it.
I’m outside her place in the truck, parked half a block down in the shadows like we do every morning.
It’s six-fifty, which means in twenty-five minutes, I get to walk up her front path, knock on the door, and see her sleepy little face light up like I’m not the devil in a suit.
Best part of my damn day.
I’m sipping bad coffee, watching the porch lights flicker on, when Kai suddenly sucks in a sharp breath beside me.
“What?”
“We got some intel,” he mutters, eyes locked on the tablet in his lap.
I snap my attention his way.
“Talk.”
He scrolls, face going tight. Then he reads it out loud.
“You know how we couldn't locate Marco Rosetto? And how we only suspected big brother has ties to that data leak case we’ve been tracking for months? Well it all just got confirmed.”
My spine goes rigid.
“Confirmed how?”
“Encrypted file dump. Cross-referenced with metadata from the initial breach. His signature’s all over it. Our sources say he just got back stateside, and the moron is in New York—been hiding out, but someone’s tracked him down. And these are some bad dudes after him, bruh. Like, serious players.”
I grit my teeth. “Fucking corporate espionage bullshit. Worse than goddamn gangsters.”
“Yeah, and the guys he stole from? Multinational defense tech firm based in Munich. Ties to private military contractors. Real deep-pocket revenge vibes.”
“Great,” I mutter. “So, what? They want to hang him out a window until he confesses?”
Kai doesn’t answer.
Instead, he scrolls again, then goes still. His voice drops lower.
“They don’t just want blood, Ego. Apparently, Marco stole something big. Like, high-clearance access keys—shit he used to breach their system. Our contact says they believe he sent these ‘keys’—or whatever the hell—to someone else. Someone they can track. Someone who won’t see it coming.”
The silence crackles like a live wire.
Then Kai says it.
“They think he sent it to his sister.”
No.
No fucking way.
Ice hits my veins.
“They think Sabrina is harboring access keys to encrypted software for a German-based multinational defense tech firm? Hammerfall Technologies thinks that?”
Kai just nods.
“Yeah. They’re looking for her now. Word is now that they’ve failed to quietly locate the access keys, they plan to extract her. Quietly. Make it look like an accident. Or maybe not. Depends on who gets to her first.”
I’m already unbuckling.
The coffee spills to the floor.
“She doesn’t even know,” I growl. “That coward piece of shit used her like a dead drop and didn’t say a fucking word.”
I slam the truck door open.
“Where you going?” Kai asks, even though he already knows.
“To knock on her door.”
“She’s not leaving your sight today, huh?”
“She’s not ever leaving my sight again,” I snap, slamming the door behind me.
Because if anyone touches a hair on my angel’s head?
There won’t be a body left to bury.