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“Sort of.”

My dad frowns. “He seems like a nice enough kid, but he has quite the reputation, pumpkin. I would tread lightly.”

I pat my dad’s hand and cross my arms. “Dad, it’s not like I’m gonna marry the guy.” I laugh.

My dad raises an eyebrow, and I know what he’s thinking. “You never know,” he and I say at the same time, quoting my grandmother. When my parents first dated, my dad said something akin to what I just said, and my grandmother answered with “you never know” and it’s sort of become a family saying.

“Just...be careful,” he reiterates and a chill runs through me at his foreboding words.

August

I look down and see Anna’s face on the screen. I pick up my phone.

“Yeah,” I answer.

“Houston, we have a problem,” she says. I almost want to laugh because this saying is one of the many American phrases we picked up at our summer camp when we were kids. Only, I know what she has to say isn’t going to be funny.

“What?”

“Shit just got real, Augs. I don’t have time to explain, but we are aborting your mission. I want you home, now. And I’m getting Kate’s family out of there, too. We’ll regroup when you all get here.”

“All?”

“Uh, yeah, all,” she says.

“Who is ‘all’?”

“Kate’s family just got invited to the Summer Palace. K, see you tomorrow,” she says and hangs up.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” I yell as I throw my phone down. I no sooner throw the phone down when it pings with a text message.

I groan and pick it back up.

Unknown Caller: Meet me at La Petite in thirty minutes. I have information you want.

I stare at the screen. I pull out Jared’s card, but it’s not his number.

Me: Who is this?

There’s no response, and when I hit call, the number chimes with a busy signal. I sigh. Do I stay or do I go?

CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE

I’m not known for making the best decisions, so why not live up to my reputation? I casually walk inside and see Nico on a computer. He looks up at me.

“I’m going to pack some things and grab a shower. Looks like we are heading home,” I say to him casually.

“Yep, orders just came through. We leave at oh five hundred tomorrow morning.”

I nod and head into my room. I search on my phone and find La Petite. It’s a coffee shop. It looks small. I must have passed it a million times but never noticed it. I shut the door and walk over to the balcony. It has steps down to the garden. I take them, following a heavily vined trail along the side of the property, hoping I don’t run into any of our security guys.

When we were kids and would come here to visit, we used to use this route to go down to the beach when we were supposed to be studying or doing anything but going to the beach. Halfway down the brick wall, there’s an opening but it’s covered by shrubbery and vines. It likely just filled in over time but unless you are a nosy kid that shimmies under bushes, you’d never know it. I just hope I’m still slim enough to squeeze through the opening.

I find it and push the bushes back, smiling. It’s still here, and I’ll just barely fit through. I make it through and head down the wall to the neighboring property. It’s owned by a movie star, but she’s never there. I pop out farther down the street and walk to La Petite.

My phone pings with a text message. I look down and smile. It’s from Kate.

Kate: I hope you are having a good day.