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I scowl and wriggle free of his embrace, slamming a pan down onto the stove. “I don’t like how overly confident you’re being while brushing me off.”

“I’m not trying to brush you off. I know you think your sister is warning you, but none of the Lynde organization has picked up any rumors of Noah being anywhere near us.”

“You didn’t know he was back in New York for a long time either and look at where that’s led you!” I heat up some butter in the pan, waiting until it’s sizzling before spreading it around to coat the bottom.

Royce pours batter into the pan. “Gia, I’m trying to help here. You trust me, don’t you?”

The question makes me freeze in place. I trust him with my life, but to see blind spots within his own family? I’m not so sure that I do.

He could say one thing because he wants to believe the best in them while an entirely different thing could be happening behind the scenes.

“Gia, do you trust me?”

“Yes,” I say without hesitation. “I trust you, but it’s going to take more than trust to keep us alive.”

“I care for you more than I’ve ever cared for anyone else. I’m not going to let anything happen to you or our daughter.”

With a shuddering breath, I nod. “I know you do, and I care about you, which is why all of this is so hard. I don’t want to be the person who comes in between you and your family, but it feels like we aren’t going to be left with much of a choice soon.”

He cups my face in his big hands, his calluses rough against my skin. “Nobody is going to come between us because the choice is you, Gia. It’s always been you, even when I walked away.”

“You see the irony in that?”

Royce smirks and rolls his eyes, his hands dropping. “You don’t have to be a smart-ass all the time. You could’ve just let me have my moment.”

I lean against the counter, the stone edge digging into the back of my hips. “And if I let you continue to have this moment of yours, what else would you’ve said?”

“I would’ve told you that I’m tired of fighting against you and have been for a long time.” He steps closer to me, hands landing on the counter on either side of my body. “I would tell you that I keep thinking about what a future would look like between us, and I want it.”

“And what happens in this future?”

“I was thinking we would get a house with a massive art studio for you. Maybe even a gallery somewhere in the city if that’s what you want. We could have more kids, but that’s a full discussion we need to sit down and have later when this is all over.”

“I want more kids.”

The corner of his mouth tips upward. “Well then, maybe we should start practicing.”

“Yeah, you could use a little practice. Your tongue game has gotten weaker.”

He arches an eyebrow, the look in his eyes both a warning and a promise. “Is that so?”

With a smug smile, I nod and dart out beneath his arm, rushing to the pancakes and flipping them before they can burn. “It is.”

Desire burns in his eyes as he advances on me again, snagging me around the waist and pulling me flush against his body. Heat pools in my core as he kisses me, chasing away all the worry in my mind at least for the time being.

Until the screaming comes from outside.

Royce grabs me by the shoulders gently. “You need to get upstairs and get to Bianca. Keep her safe and locked up.”

“You can’t go out to whatever is going on out there alone,” I say, voice breaking as shots ring out. “Royce, he found us. There’s nothing you’re going to be able to do on your own.”

“It might just be a scout like the last two I found, but either way, get upstairs and get Bianca.”

Nodding, I turn and fly up the stairs, passing Skyla on her way down with a gun in her hand.

I tear into Bianca’s bedroom and pluck her out of the crib, cradling her close to my chest as I rush into the bathroom.

She watches me with wide eyes as I set her in the tub. “Mama, up.”