"You can stay with us. I met your brother and liked him a lot. He was smart and brave, and he did everything possible to find you. When I get a chance, I'll tell you all about it."
"Okay," Natalie agreed in a small voice.
"Let me update Hamm. Hold tight," Annabeth said, heading toward her van.
A desperation clawed at Cade unlike any he had ever felt before. The urge to act, to do something, was overwhelming, but there was nothing to do, no steps to follow, no leads to pursue.
Stomach clenching as despair suffocated him, Cade went to the front steps to regroup and gather his thoughts. As he hung his head, the instinct to cry and scream flared, but as much as he hated to admit it, Tag had been right. He had to stay composed.
Sensing someone sitting next to him, he looked over to find Natalie regarding him silently. He didn't speak, didn’t know what to say, or even if he could force words past the lump in his throat.
Finally, Natalie asked. "So, you said you and Tristan were close?"
"Yeah."
"He never mentioned you before."
"Because we just met, like, six days ago."
Jesus, had it only been six days since he saw Tristan at Wilson's house? Had it really been less than a week since Tristan came into his life and changed it? Changed him?
Natalie peered at him with eyes eerily like her brother's. "How did you meet?"
"It's complicated." Pausing, he debated how much to share. If he told her how he met Tristan, he'd need to divulge why he was at Wilson's house. He was sure that once she knew he was an assassin, she wouldn't respect him, would consider him unworthy of her brother, and she'd be right. But he didn't want to lie or mislead; she didn't deserve that.
Cade blew out a breath and began, "First, I guess you should know I kill people. Bad people, I mean."
"What, like, for money?"
"No, for justice."
For a long moment, Natalie studied him, probing, assessing. "Okay. So what does that have to do with my brother? How did you meet Tristan?"
It flustered him that she hadn't reacted with revulsion and disgust like he expected, that she'd glossed over that to get at what she really wanted to know.
"Doesn't that bother you?"
Under the porch lights, Cade could see some emotion flash in Natalie's eyes, but he wasn't sure how to interpret it.
"Guys like them?" she asked, nodding toward the house. "Guys like the ones bidding on me?"
"Yes."
She shrugged. "I'm not sure, honestly."
He got that.
Natalie asked again, "So how did you and Tristan meet?"
Cade could tell she was curious, maybe even wary of him. Clearing his throat, he told her, "I went to a house to get information from a man named Wilson, who was the money man for this trafficking operation."
"And then kill him?"
"Yes."
Natalie seemed to take a moment to digest that, but he couldn't tell what she was thinking.
When she didn't answer, he continued, "Tristan found a warehouse near where you disappeared and traced it to Wilson. He was at Wilson's house at the same time I was, looking for information about you or where you were."
