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“Famous last words,” Derek muttered.

At least he and Marco were on the same side. Team freak the fuck out.

Cruz wasn’t typically the rational one, but I was grateful I had one of them in their right mind.

“Later tonight, we can go around and set up cameras and mics.” They knew this. It had been the plan since we figured out where Emilia and Dias were going. “For now, just watched the feeds we do have set up.”

Derek sighed and slipped the headphones back on. Emilia had a mic in her purse from the pool party, but we hadn’t been able to catch much yet. It was likely shoved in a closet at this point.

The only cameras we could set up without detection were two on the road in front of Mrs. Dias’ house coming from both directions. She lived in a secluded area with only a few other homes, so traffic was light, making it easy to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. That’s what Marco was supposed to be doing instead of repeating the same complaints every ten minutes.

I scrolled through the file Rod sent over with all the information they had on Dias’ parents, but I had all the key points memorized. At this point, scanning through the pages was the only thing keeping me from running into one of the bedrooms and succumbing to the fear and questions festering in my chest.

Two days without seeing her in person, and I wanted to call her just to hear her voice tell me she was safe and okay with the situation. She was going through the motions because it was her job. Turning down Dias’ invitation would only have raised suspicions. She was supposed to be falling in love with him, and damn if she wasn’t doing a great job of pretending.

That’s what it had to be. The easy way she touched him, leaned into him, even made love to him.

It was fake.

She was just playing a role.

But what if the lines had blurred?

He’d killed men for her. That would scare off most women, but Emilia was more than used to that. She’d probably expect that of the man.

He treated her like an equal with respect and consideration of her wants and desires. That was hard to find within the Pack. Women were put on a pedestal and protected, but there was still a strong undertone of inequality. Men went to work and protected them because it was their female duty to have and raise the pups.

With Dias, she was a normal woman. No need to fight or kill to prove that to him. She could relax and be taken care of for the first time in her life.

That was fucking terrifying.

He could give her what my brothers and I never could.

But could she really hide her true self from him? What if they eventually had kids? There was a fifty-fifty chance they would be shifters too. She could avoid that, of course, by not having children or adopting.

But would she keep her wolf suppressed for the rest of her life? She’d done a great job for the last decade.

Fuck.

I could already feel us losing her.

Alessio Dias was a criminal. A boss of an underworld empire. His day-to-day life involved killing, stealing, and breaking laws.

Most women would hear that and run, but not a Velez. Not Emilia.

“Shit,” Marco muttered.

“What?” Cruz leaned over, pulling my attention back to the present.

“Two black vans just drove by,” Marco explained.

“So?” Derek pulled the headphones off.

“There hasn’t been any traffic like that.”

“Tourist? Maybe there’s a restaurant or something––”

“No,” Marco cut Cruz off. “There’s nothing other than a handful of other mansions.”