Nothing moved from the forest.No birds chirped.No animals chattered.
He stepped forward.“Auntie?”
A branch cracked and he jumped to the right, toward the lake.But nothing happened.No one appeared.It remained still.
A warrior cry rent the air.The boy jerked, eyes wide as he glanced around.Behind him a woman ran toward him, her own sword brandished as she snarled.
He screamed and ran, this time toward the water.The sword fell to the hard-packed sand around the lake as he streaked toward it, his cry reverberating in the air.
Seven steps from the lake.
Five steps.
He looked behind and screamed again.
Three steps.
One.
“Gotcha!”
She swooped him up and tossed him in the air before catching him.Declan Jr, who she had called DJ from the start, was her first nephew.His sister was sleeping inside but they would play later.
“But, Auntie, I was sooo close.”DJ had his lower lip stuck out in a childish pout.
Jasmine laughed with maniacal glee as she growled and nibbled along his neck, making his squeals erupt with screeches of joy.Sinking to her knees, she rolled on the sand with him until he wrapped his thin arms around her neck.
“Love you, Auntie.”
She curved her arms around him, anchoring him close to her.“Love you too, DJ.”And she meant every word.
Motion in her periphery had her lifting her gaze to find her twin, Carolyn, standing there, eyes soft, hands resting upon her swollen belly.A gentle smile turning up her lips.
Jasmine kept one hand on her nephew’s back as she called upon her legs to get them up.Her knee ached, from the building incident, as she referred to it as, but she swallowed down the discomfort.
“Did you see me, Mama?I almost had it.I almost beat her.”
“I saw, baby.”She canted her head to the side.“Can you go help your daddy with breakfast?I know you and Camden have a lot to do today and need all your energy.”
Jasmine let him back to the ground and watched as he ran all-out toward the cabin, spinning around to dash back and get his wooden sword before going hard again.She didn’t take her eyes off him or the surrounding area until he was safely inside the cabin.Neither her nor Caro told him to slow down with the wood in his hand.Then she swung her gaze to her sister.Her twin.
Caroline McBride, Caro to friends and family, had found her place in the world.And was living her best life.The brilliant STEM woman’s hair had a soft red tint to it in the morning sun.She wore a zippered, midnight-blue hoodie with a gold Atlanta PD logo embroidered on the left side, heather-gray leggings, and a pair of hot-pink shoes.
“Something on your mind?”
Caro looked around and didn’t speak for a few moments.“I wanted to spend time with my sister.Is that so wrong?”
Knowing her tone had been sharp, Jasmine took a deep breath.“I don’t know.I’m not used to being in close proximity to you.”This trip had been Declan and Lance’s idea.They’d put it all together.She and Declan were learning to co-exist and she and Lance, well, other than the out-of-the-world sex, she wasn’t sure.
He’d tracked her down, fucked her until she legit didn’t know her name or have the energy to get up from the pile of blankets she’d woken upon.They were both healing and he had swiftly shut down any talk from her of splitting up.And he treated Camden like his own.Not flinching from the scars or when the young male had a breakdown because his dad was dead and he wasn’t sure how to handle it.It had been one hell of a fight to get Lance to head back to Atlanta to his superior because he’d not wanted to leave them.He’d returned within seventy-two hours.
She was so fucking confused it wasn’t funny.Jasmine had been granted her life back.In a manner of sorts.The FBI still wanted nothing to do with her and would prefer she disappear off the face of the earth, but they had agreed to leave her alone if she kept her information locked up in a vault and never speak of it, ever.She had nodded but refused to sign anything, well aware that once she was gone, they could shred the paper they signed to not have to uphold their end all the while they could, and would, keep her signed form of compliance.So she made sure the director was well aware that there was proof that would come to light if they ever thought about coming after her or her, Lance, or Caro and Declan.
The Jankovic family criminal enterprise had been shut down, their human trafficking ring, gun running, and drug trade put to rest.She wasn’t foolish enough to think someone else wouldn’t just pop up and start it up again, but that one had been ended.Part of Lance heading back to Atlanta was to get his old job back.Lance Beckner with blue-green eyes had been laid to rest, allowing Atlanta Detective Lance Baldwin with the icy green eyes to return.
The man had been adamant he wasn’t leaving her, no matter what she said.Damn it all if the part of her who yearned for what her twin had for her life hadn’t been begging for her to believe him and for it to be true.
Personal forgiveness wasn’t anything she was good with doing.
