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Before Chad or Ethan could respond, JJ spoke. “I’m not one to shy away from conflict, Ellie, but in this case, I’d urge you to stay where you are most protected. Whoever is behind this knows you’re here in Mystery Lake and knows you’re staying with Asher. Although we don’t know the extent to which they know about your relationship. The specific tactics they’ve demonstrated so far lead me to believe that they will not be satisfied until you are completely destroyed. Again, what that looks like to them, we don’t know. But I think we can all agree that’s not what we want.”
She looked at Asher, but the expression on his face made it clear the decision was hers. She already knew where he stood, but she also knew he’d stand by her.
“Will I be able to leave at all? Go about my business?”
“Do you have a lot of business up here?” Chad asked with an arched brow. And half grin. Sabina elbowed him, and he jerked back.
“Yes, you can. But not on your own,” Sabina answered, then pointedly looked to Ethan to elaborate. Chad picked up Sabina’s hand and kissed it. Ellie didn’t miss how her fingers curled into her husband’s at his touch.
“You won’t be held prisoner,” Ethan agreed. “But when you do go out, it should be with someone from HICC, Asher, Ryan, or a group.”
“So if we wanted to have a girls’ night we could?” Ellie asked, looking at Ava.
“HICC employees,” Ava said, wagging her finger between herself and Sabina. “We may be the cyber crew, but I assure you, we train with the operatives.”
Ellie paused. She hadn’t known that. It made sense, but she had a hard time picturing Ava and her perfect nails, four-inch heels, and flawless skin doing anything resembling target practice or hand-to-hand training.
It made her feel better, though. Not just knowing Sabina and Ava were trained, but knowing that because they were, she really wouldn’t be too restricted in her movements. Especially since Ethan had included Asher and Ryan in his approved list. Other than Sofia, there really weren’t any other people she wanted to spend time with.
“What about Sofia?” she asked. “We have errands to run this week. We’ve been meeting with Angelica, who’s designing jewelry for me for the Oscars.”
“And that’s a statement I never thought I’d hear at this conference table,” Chad said with a laugh. But before his wife could elbow him again, he added, “We’d prefer if youalsotook someone else along with you. Sofia is tough, we all know that. But she’s not trained.”
“I’ll go,” Ava jumped in. “You know me and jewelry. I’m kind of offended you didn’t ask me already.”
Ava did have excellent taste. Not only would she meet the conditions HICC laid out, but she’d probably have some good ideas for Angelica, too. Some small details that would make the designs pop the way Ellie wanted them to.
“Deal,” Ellie said. “We have a couple of meetings set up. I’ll send you the calendar invites so you have time to move things around on your end if needed.” She paused, then turned to Asher. “I guess we should go pack some clothes?”
He nodded and rose, pulling her up alongside him. “How do you feel about hosting a get-together tonight since we missed the last one?” he asked her. “Cody and Tia won’t be there, obviously. And I’m not sure what everyone else’s schedules are, but we could make it a potluck.”
“We’re in,” Sabina said before Ellie could respond.
“I can pick Kara up at the hospital and head over after,” Ethan said.
“I’ll bring the booze,” Ava said with a grin. “Cody has an excellent selection, but it’s heavy on wine and whiskey. And I feel like tonight might be a tequila night. For those of us not knocked up, of course,” she added, grinning at Sabina.
Ellie inhaled a small but swift breath. Asher squeezed her hand, reminding her that his family was in the room. And didn’t tend to miss much. She quickly rolled her eyes and laughed at Ava, hoping no one had noticed her slip. “You’ll need to be up at nine tomorrow to meet with me and Angelica. Drink whatever you want, but don’t bitch when you have to drag yourself out of bed.”
Ava scoffed. “Ha, I’m twenty-six. Hangovers can’t keep me down.”
Ellie arched a brow at her. “Hm, maybe. But I will drag your ass out of bed if I need to.”
“There will be no ass-dragging, I promise,” Ava said, casting her boss a reassuring look.
Sabina waved her off then set a hand on her baby bump. “Someone should get to have some fun. Since it won’t be me.”
“Babe,” Chad said, placing his hand over his heart. “You’re killing me. I thought we’d been havinga lotof fun lately.” Then he waggled his eyebrows at Ethan. “Second-trimester hormones are a beautiful thing.”
Asher cleared his throat. “Since I do not want to listen to my cousin and younger brother discuss their sex lives, I think we’ll head out. JJ, you are more than welcome to join us tonight. And Chad, feel free to invite any of the HICC crew who are in town. I’ll grill burgers and brats for everyone. You all are responsible for the rest.”
He turned to leave the room, his hand still wrapped around hers. But she stopped him before they made it to the door. She had one more question she wanted answered. She didn’t want to kill the good mood, but she wanted the answer sooner rather than later.
“Sabina?” she said.
“Yes.” Sabina paused her gathering of files.
“How did she die?”
