6. DECIDED
SIX
decided
Hudson
It’s been a few nights, but the tension hasn’t faded.
Enzo’s SUV idles like it’s holding its breath—blacked-out windows, engine humming low.
The kind of car that disappears sitting still.
Luca’s at the wheel, steady as ever. Niko rides shotgun, silent, alert.
If something goes sideways, Niko will move first—he always does.
The air smells of gun oil and faint tobacco. The residue of Luca’s last cigarette clings to the cab no matter how many damned air fresheners he hangs. Outside, the city pulses with horns, sirens, and footsteps on pavement.
Inside, the car is a pressure cooker. Silent. Focused.
All eyes locked on her—Pippa, Jane, or whoever the hell she’s pretending to be today. She walks like a woman with a purpose. The sway of her hips in those high heels is all confidence and calculation, every step balanced between temptation and threat.
Eva had a set of Enzo’s men set to trail her tonight, but Enzo wanted to handle this personally. He asked me to join, which I took as a good sign.
I snack on pretzels to keep my hands busy and sell the illusion that I’m fucking calm.
It’s easier than admitting to the nerves running through me as we tail the woman who’s haunted my dirtiest thoughts for the past year.
Knowing her real name feels…dangerous. Like I’ve crossed a line without intending to.
I’m not sure if my nerves are about seeing the “real” her or if I’m nervous about Enzo’s new obsession with her.
Damn it. I’ve never seen him like this about a woman, not even his ex-fiancée, Ciara.
I’m not surprised Pippa captivated him—I understand the draw all too well—but I am concerned about a woman coming between our friendship.
I know we wouldn’t let it happen, but…fuck. This feels precarious.
Enzo breaks the silence. “So… Jane has a real name.”
Here we go. I exhale, long and theatrical, in attempt to break the tension with humor.
I want to let him know this doesn’t have to be a problem.
“Yeah, funny how that works. You fall for a mystery girl, and she turns out to have a LinkedIn profile. Complete with a sexy-as-hell corporate wardrobe she’d never be caught dead in playing poker. ”
Today, she’s dressed in a high-end white designer suit that is tailored to her every curve. And don’t even get me started on her heels. Fuck me.
Enzo forces a chuckle. “And that doesn’t throw you?”
We both know he’s opening a can of worms, but we’ve been friends too long to keep avoiding it.
“Depends how this all plays out, doesn’t it?
She could be the woman of my damned dreams or the one whose secrets ruin me for all future women.
Hard to know.” I pause, then add, “Besides, Eva said that when you talked about the redhead from The Vault you sounded like the one who needed a cold shower. You doing okay over there?”
He shoots me that deadly look he uses to intimidate, but he knows it doesn’t work on me. “This isn’t about me.”
I grin, knowing I’ve successfully baited him. He started it. “Says the guy who sounded downright poetic when he described her sitting at the bar wearing… What was it you told Eva? A dark green jumpsuit that matched her eyes?” I chuckle. “Don’t worry, I get it. She’s…” I take a breath.
“Remarkable,” we both say at the same time.
Luca flicks his eyes to the rearview.
Niko doesn’t move, but I clock the tension anyway.
This, whatever the fuck this is, is new territory for all of us. Enzo and I have never gone after the same woman before. Now, we’re in his SUV basically stalking one. Luca has every right to wonder what the hell is going on.
Then, because deflection is my love language, I add, “Also, just to put it out there… As your token bisexual best friend, I’m not opposed to a little sharing. And spoiler alert, neither is she. We’ve…done that several times.”
He looks at me for several long beats without saying anything. No immediate dismissal. No scoff.
Interesting.
When I learned Pippa’s real name, I was ecstatic. I couldn’t believe my luck. I immediately thought about showing up outside her office—perhaps even pretending it was a coincidence—and finally introducing myself. My real self. Having her name felt like an opportunity.
I haven’t known how to feel since realizing why Enzo and Eva sent me her name.
I can’t blame my best friend for being drawn to her—I can’t blame anyone for being pulled in by her orbit. Shit, I understand it better than most.
Images have entered my thoughts without permission since last night. Fantasies I try not to think about too often. Enzo knows I’m bisexual, and he’s too good-looking to fool himself into thinking I’ve never thought of him that way.
The idea of him and Pippa? Fuck. I remind myself not to get hard in the back of this SUV just thinking about the three of us together.
Unfortunately, our line in the sand has been well-established for a long time. Enzo is straight. He’s never once indicated otherwise.
I’m lost in these thoughts and daydreams when I spot Pippa take a turn on her walk. “The hell? Is she going to the Old Wharf?” That area is about half a mile south of respectability, and way outside the Capital’s comfort zone.
“Yeah, this isn’t the side of town where a woman like her would usually spend time. Alone,” Enzo grumbles as he watches her round a corner flanked by graffiti-tagged brick and a flickering streetlamp.
“This is giving serious back-alley rendezvous energy,” I say with a wink at Enzo, just to get under his skin.
Niko exhales then coughs to clear his throat.
Luca doesn’t laugh, but he fights a smile.
“You’re an idiot,” Enzo mutters.
“Correct.”
We let the conversation fade as we follow her.
Jane—Pippa is walking deeper into the abandoned warehouse area of the Old Wharf.
She seems locked into a destination, navigating this area like it’s her second fucking home.
She approaches one of the larger warehouses and disappears behind a side door with a keypad lock.
And shit, just like that, I know Enzo’s hunch about her is edging closer to correct.
No one walks into a warehouse locked with a keypad in the Old Wharf unless they’re hiding something, damn it.
“Well, brother, those instincts of yours may have hit the mark again,” I say.
“What do you think’s inside?” he asks.
I keep my eyes locked on the entrance. “Something she doesn’t want on the Hill.”
He grunts in response.
“What’s the play here?”
Enzo calls Eva. She picks up on the first ring.
“You’re on speaker,” Enzo says. He gives her an update, then asks, “Think you can give us a peek inside?”
She makes a sound halfway between a cheer and a gasp—pure hacker glee. “You know just how to make a girl’s night.”
I tell her the address, and I hear keys clicking on a keyboard.
“I’m tapping traffic cams, alley feeds, anything in a five-block radius . . . ” she says, then, “Hm. That’s odd.”
“What?” Enzo and I ask in unison.
“The cameras in that area seem to be on loops. Someone’s overridden the code. Anything that could have eyes on that block has been hacked or disabled.”
Enzo and I share a glance. Luca and Niko cast their gazes back our way.
Damn, Jane, what are you up to?
Eva rattles off some options we have for overriding the cameras in the area or setting up our own, when we see another woman approach the warehouse.
I gasp. “Holy shit! That’s Luna!” What the actual fuck?
Eva and Enzo both ask me if I'm sure. “I’d recognize her hair and bright-pink glasses anywhere. It’s even her backpack. I’m telling you, Luna Steele just entered that warehouse."
“I tried to find any connection between them. I couldn’t,” Eva says, “but neither of them has much information to even find. Luna certainly has the skills to keep their identities protected. And to keep this warehouse block out of sight of prying eyes.”
The car is silent as we process what we’re learning here.
Enzo asks if there is anything Bureau-related that might have Luna here, and I’m not sure.
It’s a possibility she’s on a case I know nothing about, but when our agents are on classified assignments, the ADs are usually informed.
We can’t know details, but I’d know if she wasn’t available.
The new case with Stone is on the West Coast and she hasn’t been pulled from any other cases yet.
I explain that I’d expect to see other agents here if she was on a case.
She wouldn’t be in the field alone; she’s not an undercover agent of any kind.
A third woman approaches the warehouse. None of us recognize her. I snap a photo and send it to Eva to see if she can run facial recon to find out who she is. “Sorry, Eva. Not sure how good the quality is going to be. We aren’t that close and lighting is bad.”
“Let me see what I can find. Hey, Luca, does your console still have that lock kit with the pin scrambler?” she asks.
Luca confirms.
“Perfect. Enzo, does the keypad look standard?”
He confirms it does.
“Then the scrambler should gain you access. If you want to walk in and ask some questions—”
“You think we should ambush them? We have no idea who else is inside,” I say.
Enzo looks deep in thought. He can’t think this is a good fucking idea.
“Enz?”
“Yeah, no. That’s a bad idea, for sure.” I’m relieved, but then he adds, “But I think we should go in.”
“Okay, what am I missing here? You think it’s a good fucking idea to just go unlock their private warehouse they clearly don’t want anyone knowing about and what? Storm in and demand answers?”
“I don’t know. Let’s play it by ear,” Enzo says.
“Never once in the twenty-plus years I’ve known you have I ever heard you say we should play something by fucking ear.
Enz, let’s get more info. Eva said she can put cameras here overnight.
We can keep an eye out and learn more. We have no idea what we’d be walking into.
I know that at least Luna is armed. They’re in the Old Wharf, for fuck’s sake, they better all be packing if they’re smart. ”
I think I’m getting through when Eva breaks in. “I can’t find anything on the third. The pic has too many hits, she has a common dark hair look that is really standard and her face is too grainy.”
“Makes sense. Hudson, I hear what you’re saying,” Enzo starts, “but something is telling me this is our window. If we don’t go in there tonight, we won’t get another shot to learn what is going on.”
Fuck. I know this look, I know my best friend. He wants to go in there, guns blazing. When he wants answers, he can be stubborn.
I slip into my FBI field persona. “Let me be devil’s advocate here.
Let’s say we charge in there to simply ask questions.
Best case scenario, they likely tell us to fuck off.
Worst case, they shoot us. But let’s say we get past all that and we learn what they are up to—and to be clear, I don’t think they will tell us jack shit, but let’s just pretend our good looks and charm can get us some answers—then what?
What’s the goal here?” In this situation, outside of wanting to know more about Pippa, and now Luna, I really don’t see the benefit of rushing in there.
I spot the moment Enzo decides and resign myself to the inevitable.
“You each deserve an answer to that question. I don’t have it, though. I’m just telling you I know I need to get into that warehouse. I can go alone or you can come with me, but I’m going in.”
Niko and I nod to each other as we check our guns. If he’s going in, so are we.
“Stay safe,” Eva says over the phone. “I don’t have eyes.”
“Appreciate it. We’ve got it from here.”
“Go get your girl, boys,” she tosses out with a chuckle sweet as poison. She hangs up.
Maybe it is as simple as that. Maybe Enzo just needs to be near Pippa, make his presence known. He and I may not understand how to handle this fucked-up dynamic, but one thing is clear: She’s pulling us deeper into her web and neither of us seems to be willing to stop it.
And Luna? We’ve worked together for years. She’s like a little sister to me, similar to Eva. I have to admit I feel a responsibility to confirm she’s okay. Whatever they’ve gotten into, maybe we can help.