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We sat down and listened as he went over his weekend, which included equal time spent at home and at the base. Apparently he was ‘through running’, and that anyone and everyone wanting a piece of him could ‘come right up and get it’. Austin laughed. Maddox snickered. Yet the three of us knew, all humor aside, that he meant everything he said with deadly seriousness.

“It was dead here,” he said, jerking his head at the nearest wall. “All weekend long. Not a peep, not a poke, not anything at all.”

“Even during the times you were away?” asked Austin. “On base?”

Kane nodded from his corner of the kitchen. “I checked the cameras and they all came up empty. Every feed, every angle.” He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “Unless they tunneled their way over, no one came to the house.”

The guys looked at each other. Maddox raised an eyebrow. “You know what that means.”

Kane nodded again. But now I was confused.

“What?” I demanded. “What does that mean?”

“It means whoever came here,” said Austin, “lost all interest after you were gone.”

My eyebrows came together. I still didn’t get it.

“Why would they lose—”

“Because they’re after you, Dallas,” said Maddox. “You’re their primary goal. They followed us to New Orleans, and they’re sure to follow us back.”

Confusion turned to realization. I felt suddenly sick.

You’re endangering them.

The words were chilling, but they were also the truth. These men who I suddenly cared about so much… I was putting their lives at risk.

Whatever these people want, it has to do with you.

“What do they want from me?” I pleaded. “They already got Connor. Why would they keep coming after me, even after my brother was dead?”

“Revenge?” Austin offered. But Kane shook his head.

“It’s not revenge.”

“How do you know?”

“Trust me,” said my biggest protector. “I just do.”

Austin didn’t seem convinced. He wrinkled his nose in disbelief. But it was Maddox who slid his chair over in my direction.

“Think, Dallas,” he said, and not for the first time. “They want you… or they want something from you.”

I was fighting hard to maintain control, to prevent the stronger feelings from taking over on either end of my emotional spectrum. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to cry. I wanted to punch a hole in every wall of the house.

“What could you have that they might want?” Austin jumped in. “Something. Anything…”

“I have absolutely nothing!” I shouted, breaking into tears. “Or don’t you remember?”

The three of them went silent now, looking back at me with pity. I didn’t want their pity. I wanted to crumple their pity into a ball and shove it right back down their throats.

“You were there, all three of you. You saw me lose everything! My house, my things, every last possession I owned!” I sniffed hard, trying to breathe. “There’s nothing left,” I went on. “I lost my phone, my computer… even my family’s photo albums.”

That last part was like an ice pick to the heart. A searing stab of pain, reminding me of something I’d tried so hard to forget.

“I… I don’t even have pictures of them anymore,” I cried. “My mother, my father — they’ve been gone so long they’re fading in my head. Fading in my heart.” I swallowed hard. “I don’t want that to happen with Connor! I need to remember my brother. And you guys need to help me. But I… I guess…”

All the helplessness left abruptly. Anger flooded in. I was absolutely infuriated about everything, all at once. I stood up so fast I knocked down my chair.