"I didn’t enjoy the way you spoke to me, but no." She leaned into my embrace. "I'm stressed over the idea that our lives now revolve around a giant game of tit for tat."
"Now that sounds like fun."
Looking up at me, she squinted. "What does?"
"Me and you playing that game. I show you my tat in exchange for you showing me your—"
"Burke Gallagher!" she interrupted. I laughed, and she rolled her eyes. "Whatever revenge we enact will come back on us. That's how this works now."
"Unfortunately, we're left without allies to stand beside us."
"What about the Navarros? They aren't currently loyal to anyone, but that doesn't mean it can't be us."
I let go of her to unfasten Finn from the swing and lift him. "They're pissed at us, though."
"No, they're pissed at whoever set the bomb. They don't know it was us."
It didn't escape my notice that she referred to the organization as us for the first time. "We could try."
"Keep your enemies closer, right?"
"Sometimes the things you come up with still have the power to shock me."
Beetling her brows, she asked, "Why is that?"
"I didn't expect you to have the constitution for this type of work. Deviousness, depravity, and the like."
"Burke, they tried to kill us. I'm in deep; as deep as I can be."
And that was what terrified me the most. I'd brought an innocent into my organization, corrupted her for my gain, and had no plans to change it. Hating myself fixed nothing, but it made me extremely careful.
"Why don't we spend the afternoon in the basement?" I offered.
"You make it sound so dark and creepy."
Chuckling, I leaned down to kiss her softly. With extreme glee, Finn reached out and grabbed a fistful of her hair. After helping her extract the strands, I clarified. "In the shooting range in the basement."
"Don't we need to strategize?"
"It's good to give our brains something else to think about."
"Like how to kill someone more directly."
I closed my eyes. She was right; it was just another form of destruction I was willing to teach her.
Lunch was noisy. Maddie and Caden kept up a stream of conversation with Kinsley, which I sometimes joined. Logan was typically more withdrawn, and it was the same on that day.
Once the others went their own way, I took Kinsley to our room to show her where I kept the key and so we could change clothes.
"Please, never go into the gun range without letting me know. I don't want you touching anything without me until I've had enough time to teach you."
"I understand."
Taking her hand in mine, I led her down the stairs to a hallway that ran behind the kitchen. Kinsley had seen the area before because there was a huge walk-in pantry and a door leading to the backyard, but I hadn't shown her the secret door. Coming to a stop at the dead end, I reached for the spot on the paneling that would pop open the hidden latch.
A large section of shiplap swung open, and Kinsley leaned in to inspect the separation. "Oh wow. It's so cleverly hidden here, I would never have known it existed."
"Exactly. It isn't split in a straight line because that would be too obvious."
