Sloane looks at me.
“She runs,” I say. “Or she hurts someone. Or herself.”
Cole’s face is iron. “You are not bait.”
“I’m not asking to be bait. I’m asking to be useful.”
“No.”
“Cole.”
“No.”
The word cracks through the cottage. I step closer to him. His eyes burn into mine.
“You told me you wouldn’t take my choice away,” I say.
His face changes like I hit him.
“I’m not asking to go alone. I’m not asking to be stupid. I am asking you to stop treating this like you can end it by locking me in a room while everyone else fights my life for me.”
His jaw works.
Sloane speaks quietly. “Controlled approach. Kara stays in the vehicle unless I say otherwise. Cole stays on her. Eli covers the dock. Harbor patrol blocks water exits. If Vanessa is armed, we pull back.”
Cole does not look at Sloane. He looks at me. I see the war in him. Protector against promise. Fear against respect.
Finally, he says, “You do exactly what keeps you alive. That’s what we need, Kara. That’s what I need.”
That surprises me more than if he had argued again.
His voice is rough when he adds, “And if I tell you to get down, move, or run, you listen because you trust me. Not because I command you.”
“Fair,” I whisper.
Sloane is already at the door. “Let’s move.”
Bluefin Marina waits across the island. So does Vanessa. My best friend. My saboteur.
Chapter 20
Kara
Bluefin Marina looks exactly the same, but today nothing is the same. Flags snap in the wind. Boats sit bright and polished under the sun. Gulls cry overhead like the world has not split open and spilled every ugly truth at my feet.
People move along the docks with coolers and beach bags. A little boy runs ahead of his father, laughing. Somewhere, music plays from a boat speaker, low and cheerful. Everything looks normal. Nothing is.
Cole parks two rows back from the south slips, angled so the SUV faces the water. His hand goes to the gear shift, but he doesn’t turn off the engine.
“Stay in the vehicle unless Sloane says otherwise,” he says.
“I know.”
“If I tell you down—”
“I get down.”
“If I tell you to move—”
