Her throat closed.She looked down at her lap, fingers twisting together.“I don’t want to be afraid.”
“You’re not,” Kayne murmured.She looked up and met his eyes.“You’re being smart.”
The server returned with drinks, smiling and oblivious to the fact that four people were currently planning the defense of Chloe Giordano’s entire existence.
When she left again, Chloe released a shaky breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.“So, okay, what now?”
Kayne leaned forward, voice low and final.“Now?We hunt.”
Anja nodded.“We set traps.Tighten security.Interview everyone.Monitor access logs.Whoever this is, they’ve already made mistakes.They’ll make more.”
Leo looked between them, torn between relief and terror.“And until then?”
Kayne’s gaze locked on Chloe.
“You don’t take one step without one of us,cher,” he said.“Not one.”
#
Kayne paid the checkwithout looking at it, and Leo argued out of habit while Anja clocked the room again.Chloe stood when they did, pulling her jacket on as if it were armor she wasn’t yet convinced fit.
Outside, the night had teeth.Cool air slid beneath his collar and settled deep, the kind that crept into bone and stayed.The street was quiet in that deceptive way cities get after dark, when everything looks calm enough to lie to you.
Kayne stepped behind Chloe as they exited, close but not touching.He could feel the hitch in her breath when the door swung shut behind them and caught a whiff of her floral, clean scent.Shampoo, maybe.Chloe radiated sunlight and discipline.Someone who took care of things because no one else ever had.
His job was to walk her to the car.His body did it automatically.Scan left.Scan right.
Check glass reflections and doorways.Be aware of movement that didn’t match the rhythm of the street.Nothing flagged, but that didn’t mean a damn thing.
She hesitated on the sidewalk, fingers gripping her phone.He saw the moment she remembered she wasn’t supposed to move alone anymore.The pause was brief, but the impact wasn’t.It hit him harder than it should have.
Kayne placed his hand on the small of her back to guide her.Her muscles jumped.
“Easy,cher,” he murmured.“I got you.”
She nodded a little too fast and let him steer her the last few steps.Her trust landed on him like a weight he welcomed and resented in equal measure.
The SUV unlocked with a soft chirp.He opened her door before Leo could because Leo hesitated, and Kayne didn’t.
She slid inside, paused, then looked up at him.Streetlight caught her eyes, turning them glassy and too honest.“You don’t have to do that,” she said, almost apologetically.
“Yes, I do,” he replied.
Because this wasn’t about doors.
He closed it gently and straightened, pulse steady, mind already running through the next hour, the next route, the next mistake the bastard stalking her would make.
They said goodbye to Leo, and he peeled off toward his own vehicle.Kayne slid inside and watched Chloe until the engine turned over.It didn’t matter that Anja was buckling into the back seat.
Chloe glanced at him once more before turning away.Something twisted low in his belly.
That was new.
Kayne exhaled slowly, grounding himself in what he knew: procedures, threats, lines of fire.He didn’t dofeelings.Feelings got people sloppy.Feelings got people dead.
But as the taillights disappeared down the block, one thought cut through with uncomfortable clarity: This wasn’t just a job anymore.Whoever thought they were going to get to Chloe, well, they were going to have to go through him first.
And that wasn’t going to end well for them.
