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The door swung open and in walked Vincent, a small plastic grocery bag in one hand. He looked around the room, his gaze settling on us. “What’s happening now?” He kicked the door shut and set the bag down on the table.

“I’ll tell you what’s happening,” Cade fumed. “Court wants to keep that fucking girl.”

Vincent unwrapped a chocolate bar and bit into one corner. “Okay. And?”

That was the wrong thing to say. Cade flung his chair across the room, where it hit the wall and splintered into a dozen pieces. “And she is a goddamn stranger. We can’t fucking trust her. I don’t care what Thorne and his kid were planning on doing, that doesn’t mean we have to take her in. We just needed to get her out of there—and we did, so now we’re done. We’re leaving her here and that’s not negotiable.” He pointed at me. “This isn’t the time to think about getting your dick wet⁠—”

I shoved him in the chest and pushed to my feet. “Watch it. That’s not what this is and you fucking know it. Don’t ever talk about her like that.”

Cade gestured at me with an incredulous expression, turning to the other guys. “Can someone please help me out here? Why am I the only one who seems to give a shit?”

Vincent shrugged. “He’s your brother.”

Cade ran his fingers through his hair and tugged. “Why am I the only sane person in this fucking group?”

Vincent finally put his chocolate bar down and stepped toward Cade. Of the four of us, he was always the most composed, and when Cade lost his temper like this, he was the only one willing and able to calm him. I felt sorry for him, that he had to deal with a pack of unstable losers, but he loved every one of us, I knew that all the same.

We loved each other like brothers. Had been there for each other when no one else had.

Growing up in a town rife with poverty, there really hadn’t ever been a whole lot of opportunity at our fingertips. We’d known each other since we were in grade school and, all of us being delinquents of some kind, constantly getting into trouble, stuck in detention together, we’d grown close.

Brooks was the only one who had come from a more affluent family, but money was all they had going for them. His dad was abusive, so Brooks left home at fourteen—but not before framing his dad for embezzling from his employer. He’d always been good with computers, so for him, it was easy to to move things from one place to another and make it look real.

Vincent had a more mysterious past that he didn’t like talking about, but from the little we’d gleaned over the years, we knew he was the bastard son of some big shot Mafia man who’d sent him away.

None of us had finished high school, not that graduating would have made any kind of difference in our lives. And when our mom passed away, Cade and I would have been completely lost without those two. We were eighteen at the time, so we were able to get custody of our younger brother, Jesse, who was only nine. We kept our house and Brooks and Vincent moved in. Cade and I got jobs at a construction company run by a local gang called the Sainted. They were a faction of the Irish mob out of New York City and Frank—our boss and the leader of the Sainted—had a soft spot for lost souls and took us under his wing.

We never joined the Sainted, but we stayed close with them. Did a lot of work for them, and in turn, they helped us with things we weren’t able to do on our own. It was a symbiotic relationship that worked in everyone’s favor.

But dealing with Thorne? That was entirely personal and we’d rejected the Sainted’s offer to help. This was something we had to do on our own.

“If I could just say something.” Vincent’s soft voice and peaceful demeanor were as effective as a sedative for Cade. He sighed, then headed to the chair in the corner of the room and sat heavily, hanging his head in his hands.

Did I feel bad for raising his blood pressure? Yes. But was I confident that Margot’s presence could help us more than it would harm? Also yes.

Vincent crossed his arms over his chest. “This could actually be a good opportunity, for what it’s worth. An excellent one because we won’t need to use force to get into the bunker now. Remember the vent from the satellite images? She’s small enough that she could go through that. It would be a cleaner job. Faster, too. No one would ever know we were there.” He thought for a moment, then amended with a small laugh, “Well, until Thorne realizes all his money is gone. But until then, there won’t be any way to know.”

Cade shot me a glare as I smiled smugly at him. “Asshole,” he muttered under his breath. He sat back, threw his arms in the air, and said to Vincent, “So you want us to scrap six months of meticulous planning so Court can get some ass?”

I shot off the bed, dragged Cade from the chair, and put him in a chokehold. “I fucking told you not to talk about her like that.”

“You—” He growled when I squeezed tighter, cutting him off, then leaned forward, grabbed my upper arms, and threw me over his shoulder. I smacked into the ground with a loud thud, rattling the furniture.

“Cut it out, you two!” Brooks jumped up and pushed Cade away from me. He’d been gearing up for a full-blown beatdown, I could see it in his eyes. “Are you crazy? You!” He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, then pointed to Cade. “Sit the fuck down over there. And you—” He pointed to me, then the bed. “Go sit there and don’t fucking move again. God, you guys are so annoying.” He shot me a glare. “Cade isn’t the only one who thinks this is fucked up. We can’t just allow a stranger to join us. You of all fucking people should know that. Are you even thinking about Jesse? Huh? Have you forgotten why we’re doing this? It’s unbelievable.” Brooks was riling himself up the more he spoke. “This isn’t you.”

He was right. I was letting myself get caught up in all these foreign feelings. Was I willing to risk the whole job for one woman? The answer should’ve been no, but right now, it was up in the air.

I didn’t fucking know anymore and it was too late anyway. Couldn’t put the pin back in the grenade.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I know. But she reminds me so much of—” I cut myself off, grinding my teeth together.

The look Cade gave me was deep and probing. He knew what I’d been about to say, he knew why I wanted to protect her so badly, but he didn’t understand why I was so obsessed with her to the point that I wanted to keep her, as he put it.

I didn’t want to keep her like a goddamn pet. I wanted to make her mine. I just wanted to keep her safe. And she would always be safe if she was with me.

“I know,” he finally said, the anger draining out of him. “I know, you stupid fuck.” He sighed, long and weary. “I’m going to regret this.” He fixed his gaze on mine, his mind set. “Fine. As long as everyone is on board with it, then…we’ll figure something out.”

“Like I said, I think she could make this go much more smoothly,” Vincent said.