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“I don’t think we can make that decision for Max right now,” I say.

“I want to stay here!” Max’s face is covered in chocolate, and Scar hands him a paper napkin.

“We’re not going anywhere yet,” I say. “Can we stay here for a few days, at least until we come up with a plan to keep him safe?”

“Of course,” Nina says. “Does Max have any other relatives? We like to place kids with non-abusive relatives whenever possible.”

“His mother’s in France for the summer. Based on what I know, he doesn’t have aunts or uncles or any living grandparents. He’s all alone.”

Scar gives me a sharp look, then slides his gaze to Max before skewering me with another look. We shouldn’t be talking about this in front of him. I nod, letting him know I got the message.

“Let’s see what we’ve got for dinner,” Nina says, changing the subject. She opens the fridge, then the freezer. After riffling through the contents of both, she turns and beams at us. “How about spaghetti with garlic bread?”

“I love spaghetti!” Max exclaims.

“Me, too,” Scar says.

The camaraderie between them warms my heart. Despite being taken in by relative strangers, Max seems completely at ease with them. Although, considering the alternative, being stuck with his father, Max would probably feel comfortable with anyone who wasn’t threatening to hurt him.

As I watch Nina and Scar work together to make dinner, I can’t stop wondering about Scar’s story. He was taken in by Nina when he was fifteen. Was he in a situation similar to Max’s? I’m dying to know everything about him, which is crazy. I should be focused on figuring out how to help Max, which I am, to a certain degree, but I also can’t help but be curious about Scar. And not just because he’s hotter than sin.

After dinner, Nina gives us a tour of the rest of the house. There are fourteen bedrooms, not including the owner’s suite, where Nina sleeps. She opens the doors to show us inside each room. None are currently occupied, but they’re done up in a variety of styles, from boy’s rooms with superhero and airplane motifs to girl’s rooms filled with frothy pink bedspreads and curtains. Several rooms are clearly for adults because they’re devoid of toys. They each have a theme based on color, so there’s a blue room, a purple room, a cream room, etc. The colors are muted, and there are enough white and cream accents throughout to keep the rooms from feeling too overwhelmed with color.

Nina directs Scar to the blue room, which is actually mostly white with blue accent pillows. The king-sized bed has a white velvet tufted headboard. An overstuffed chair with a matching ottoman sits to one side of the room, and a small table covered with several paperback books is beside it. A lamp hangs over the reading space to give it more light.

“This is my favorite room,” Scar says before leaning to kiss Nina on the cheek. “Thank you.”

“You’re always welcome to stay here. You know that,” Nina scoffs while smiling. “Max, would you like to stay in a pirate ship tonight?”

“A pirate ship? With real pirates?” Max doesn’t look too excited.

“Not real ones. But if you’d prefer, there’s a race car room instead. It’s right next to my room, so if you need anything in the middle of the night, you can find me,” Nina says.

“That sounds better,” Max says, relaxing.

After showing him the room and getting his enthusiastic approval, we leave him to play with various toy race cars. We head back down the hall to the room next to Scar’s. When she pushes open the door, I gasp. It’s gorgeous.

Styled as if we were in the French countryside, pale pink wallpaper covers every wall, yet somehow, it’s not gaudy. The texture, as well as the lightness of the color, softens the look. A four-poster bed sits in the center of the room. A cream-colored duvet covers matching satin sheets. It’s so inviting and luxurious that all I want to do is crawl under the covers and forget about everything that happened today.

“I love it!”

“It’s right next to Scar’s room, and I’m at the other end of the hall. If you need anything, either of us can get it for you. It’s been a long day. I’ll make sure Max brushes his teeth and takes a bath before bed.” Nina smiles at me. “Consider anything in the house yours to use, eat, or drink. The only thing I ask is that you don’t go outside once I set the alarm.”

“The house has an alarm?”

“Yes. We have a lot of enemies, so we can’t ever be too careful,” she says. “Goodnight.”

As she walks back to Max’s room, I turn to Scar. “Should I be worried?”

“No. The others are stationed around the property tonight. We have prospects watching the highway in case anyone turns off onto our road.”

“Prospects?”

“Guys we trust who want to join the club. They have to stay prospects for at least a year and pass every background check Matrix could possibly run. And he can get into any database to check their histories. After the year is up, the patched members vote. If the prospect is worthy of the club and our mission, then he’s in, and he gets his own patches for his cut. Until then, his cut is marked with a ‘Prospect’ patch.”

“Your world is so interesting,” I blurt.

“And dangerous. Nina’s not kidding. If you leave the house tonight, alarms will go off, and the guys will come running.”