COCO SAT ON the bumper of the ambulance. She knew she'd been sitting here for a while, staring at the asphalt but she couldn't make herself move. It was all a blur. She wasn't even sure how she'd wound up here, just that here she was.The last clear thing she remembered was locking eyes with Paxton and then...Her mind shied away from it. Her skull ached. She was impossibly cold despite it being early evening still."Coco!"The sound of her name had her chin jerking up.Paxton?The man jogging toward her had her face. No blond hair. No broken nose. He was familiar, just not the person she wanted to see.Cane closed the distance between them at a run. When had her intellectual brother taken up running?There was so much they didn't know about each other anymore. She was clueless when it came to her other brothers, too.Brothers.Oh, God.Her throat tightened. How could she have forgotten?Cane reached for her, his hands gripping hers."James? Patrick?" Their names came out
PAXTON SHOULD HAVE already been gone, but he couldn't exactly show up at the airport covered in blood and expect to be allowed to board a plane. No matter how much his mind screamed at him to go, to get out of there before Coco returned, he couldn't just leave his things there.She wasn't going to understand any of this. Part of his head screamed at him to stop, slow down, think it all through. But his gut knew better. What he'd done today had been easy, except for the part where he feared Coco might have been injured or dead.Coco was fine. She was alive. The cops and Silas would watch out for her.Paxton, on the other hand, needed to go home.The guys would be here for another week. He'd have the house to himself for seven whole days. He couldn't remember the last time he spent that much time alone. It would be good for him.So why was he moving so slowly? And where the hell were the rest of his dirty clothes?Something jostled the front door.He froze, listening for the sligh
A year later. Cane De Jong's Home, Johannesburg, South Africa.COCO DIDN'T KNOW how her brother had pulled this off. She couldn't remember both sides of their family having ever been in the same room before.Her father and step-dad were snickering like kids and fiddling with Cane's stereo.Mom, Olivia and Mia had taken over the kitchen, fussing over the food.The boys were sprawled on the sofas, taking turns on the two hand-held gaming devices.It had taken Coco moving half a world away for her to really get to know her family. She'd talked to each of these people more in the last twelve months than she had in years.And the cherry on top? Cameron and his mother were here.Cane had really stepped up after everything went down with Luke. One of the things Coco had been most touched by was how Cane went to bat for Cameron. He'd not only hired a lawyer and got the boy free, he'd found Cameron a job with one of his peers in Soweto handling social media and administrative tasks. Ev
Volume 9: Dangerous SecretsSILAS HERRERA WAS NEVER doing anyone another favor for as long as he lived.Hell, he should have learned his lesson after the last favor he'd done for his best friend had them tromping through hip high savanna grass hunting people that liked to shoot at other people.This time he was learning that lesson. This was a mistake he would not repeat. Ever.No. More. Favors.He scrubbed a hand over his face. At least this job was simply tedious. There were small things to be thankful for. No one shot at them. He got to stay in nice hotels. Nothing exploded. His meals had been decent. There hadn't been any deaths. Though he was about ready for a change of pace. If he had to watch one more emergency make-up situation, he might just stab his own eyes out.He glanced at his watch again. If his asset waited much longer, he'd have to insist she hold tight while he scouted the route to the meeting room again.Did he dare tell her to get her ass in gear?Not in t
EKKO'S FACE HURT FROM smiling and she was fairly certain she could taste the journalist's cologne. She was so ready to be done with this and back home. Being on camera and talking to her regular viewers was nothing like this circus. But if she wanted to stay alive, the best thing for her to do was make sure the cameras were rolling.She was playing with her life being this close to Dauria.Dauria was a messed up hell hole hiding behind a curtain of national pride. She was eternally grateful her parents had made it out and that they'd enjoyed freedoms the people of Dauria didn't dare dream about."And that's a wrap." The journalist on Ekko's left turned toward her.His gaze dipped to her chest. Normally she only wore tops that came up to her collarbone for this reason. She ground her teeth together, hating the need to put up with this.Now, where was that bodyguard of hers? Was it too much to ask that the man stop watching her for thirty seconds?The journalist leaned toward her,
SILAS WAS GOING TO strangle this girl. At least in his mind. He'd never lay a hand on her, asset or no. She was on his last goddamn nerve though.What the hell was she doing sneaking out like this?At first he'd hung back, baffled by her coat theft and curious enough to see where this went. Now he was starting to hear alarm bells in his head the farther west she went.Fewer people.Some dead guy near the fountain.That kneeling routine she'd done at the café.What the hell was she up to?He peered around the hedges, cursing the lack of people. He'd had to drop back farther to avoid being seen. So far she hadn't noticed him. Turning his jacket inside out and grabbing a baseball cap had been enough change for her to not realize it was him. But now there wasn't a way for him to stay close to her.Silas didn't like this one bit. He should have marched up to her as soon as she left the hotel and demanded answers.A man stepped out from between the hedges halfway between them.Ekko
IGNEY WATCHED THE RETREATING backs of the target. His head swam and he was seeing two sets of figures in the shadows when he knew there was only one.Days of recon. Hours spent in this damn fucking park. And all for nothing.He slid the knife into the sheath concealed by his boot. It wouldn't do for the cops to find the murder weapon in his hand.Well, the night wasn't a complete waste.They had eliminated a known dissenter on this side of the border. Igney knew the man had provided documents for people fleeing Dauria. Taking that person out of the equation meant that the DSS would recover more of their errant people.Footsteps swished in the grass.Pasley groaned and Igney caught sight of the man moving his arm.They'd been taken down by a single man.Igney grit his teeth.Whoever that man was, he wanted him dead."We need to go," Pasley said, his voice pitched low. Though Dauria wasn't that far away, speaking their native language would draw unwanted attention."Yeah." Ign
EKKO BARELY MADE IT to the armchair in her room before her legs gave out on her. She caught herself and lowered herself onto the cushion. She drew her legs up tight against her chest and turned her head toward the window. This far up she couldn't see directly down, but the flashing lights of emergency responders created a colorful display across her ceiling.A man was dead.She didn't know for certain if the person who'd left the envelope for her was the one who'd died, but she also didn't believe in coincidence.Who was that person? Did they know what they'd died for?She'd always known this plan was dangerous. Her parents and others had warned her that the things she said on camera could make her a target. It was widely known that DSS executioners sometimes killed people who spoke out. Part of the reason she'd made sure to plant her in front of any camera willing to film her was to protect herself.Knowing it was dangerous and experiencing it were two very different things.Ekk