This isn’t the same woman who wouldn’t look at me when she fled the house after my biggest mistake since the divorce.
“Kane!” she yells as the door slams against the wall. “Kane, thank God.”
The panic in her voice activates pure instinct.
I’m already moving before I process what she’s said. My hands grip her upper arms and she gasps.
She stares up at me with stark fear flashing in her eyes.
“What the hell happened?” I whisper, iron yet gentle.
Her eyes flutter shut and then open again as she breathes roughly.
Her throat tightens.
“I… I was in the car, just pulled up at the end of the driveway and—there was someone there. A man, watching me, slinking around in the shadows. When I saw him, he freaked. He went flying right past my car, and I—” She’s trembling now, and I guide her into a chair.
“Sit,” I tell her. All my old military instincts sharpen, and a familiar icy calm settles over me. “Start from the beginning. What did you see?”
“Not much. Definitely a man. He was hiding in the brush, I think. I was only there a minute before he just sprinted past the car, and—”
She breaks off as the kids come barreling into the kitchen.
“A man? What man?” Sophie squeaks.
“A bad guy! Don’t worry, I’ll find him.” Dan rips a drawer open in the key drop by the back door, rifling through it until he finds a flashlight.
“No, you won’t.” I grab him before he reaches the door. “You’re staying put and I’m going out there.”
“But—”
“No buts, little man. Lock the back door after me.”
The severity on my face says there’s no argument as I pry the flashlight out of his hand.
Dan nods, his face falling a little.
Margot slumps down in a kitchen chair, watching me through damp blue eyes while Sophie looks on, bewildered.
“Hello?” a tinny voice says on the other end of the phone clenched in her fingers. “Is everything okay? Did you make it back?”
Slowly, mechanically, she raises the phone to her ear and speaks, looking at me the whole time. “Yes, I’m okay, Hattie. I’m with Kane and the kids now.”
“Kane? Is that the guy who—”
“Bye!” Margot ends the call.
“Stay with them while I investigate.” I grip the flashlight in one hand. It’s one of those long, sturdy tactical flashlights built for the outdoors. The hard, all-weather shell built around it makes it double as a small club.
Possibly left behind by Leonidas’ bodyguard or maybe the old man himself.
At close quarters, it’s a makeshift weapon, which might be useful. Can’t rule out anything the second I step outside.
Adrenaline tosses my heart like a tumbleweed, but I wrestle back the caveman instinct to go rushing out there in the dark.
First, I need to make sure these guys stay safe and the area around the house is clear.
“Sophie,” I say. “I need you to stay with Margot and Dan, okay?”
