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Weston woke up hours later to Kayleigh’s soft breaths against his chest as she slept. He could see the gentle curves of her face in the light they had on in the bathroom. This feeling of having her wrapped around him was something he could get used to.

He glanced over at his phone and saw that it was still early morning. The lack of windows in this place made it a little disorientating.

The merger was set to take place in ten hours at an office across town. They needed to keep Kayleigh alive and safe ten more hours, then the worst of the danger will have passed.

She was still going to need help picking up the pieces of her life—figuring out what was going on with Leo’s health, replacing everything destroyed over the past week—but at least no one would actively be trying to kidnap her.

Weston wanted the chance to have a normal relationship with her, one where they weren’t running or hiding out. He wanted to see how she took her coffee and if she liked to sleep in on the weekends. He wanted to take her to his favorite places and watch her eyes light up behind her camera.

He didn’t care what they did, he just wanted to be with her.

Ten more hours and then he could be.

Luke had brought by the materials needed for the darkroom yesterday and they’d set it up in the corner. But by the time Luke had left, Weston and Kayleigh had gotten caught back up in being with each other, and actually developing the photographs had been forgotten. But it would help pass the time today before going to the merger.

His phone vibrated next to him on the bed and he carefully separated himself from Kayleigh’s sleeping form to grab it.

Chance.

“Give me a second,” Weston whispered into the phone. He pulled his pants on and slipped outside so he could take the call without waking Kayleigh.

Even though he wasn’t far, he locked the door behind him just in case. Kayleigh could still get out if she needed, but no one else could get in.

“I’m here. Is everything okay? Leo?” The hospital would call if there had been a change but probably not as quickly as his brothers.

“He’s fine, no change. But we have a situation. There was an attack on Dean McClintock about an hour ago.”

“How bad?”

“Could’ve been much worse—they were trying to take him out. Attacked his car on his way into his office.”

Weston muttered a curse. “Why was he going to his office today of all days? We agreed everyone needed to hunker down and stay safe.”

“Yeah, it was a stupid move on his part. If he hadn’t had extra security, he’d be dead right now.”

“Anybody hurt?”

“Yes, but not on our team. Jasper was there and took a bullet. He’s in critical condition. Another one of his men was killed.”

Weston dragged a hand down his face. “Damn. I guess we know for sure what side Jasper is on now.”

“Last word was that he’ll pull through.”

“Good. We need to tighten everything.”

“Agreed,” Chance responded. “Brax has Dean locked away. Luke basically has all of Leo’s portion of the hospital on lockdown.”

“Ten more hours, Chance. We need to keep everyone alive for ten more hours then this should all blow over. We can figure out who’s behind it all after that.”

“I don’t think we’re going to have to wait that long to figure out who’s behind it. We caught one of the guys in the attack against Dean this morning. He’s got ties to Beau Kesler.”

“What?” Kesler was the man on the other side of the merger. “Let me make sure I understand. One of the guys who tried to kill Dean is connected to the son of Leo’s business nemesis?”

“Yep.”

Weston frowned, trying to put the puzzle pieces together and failing. “Couldn’t Kesler just walk away from the merger and stop it himself?”

“Evidently it’s a hostile takeover, just like what Leo did with his father. So, while it looks better for Brighton Pharmaceuticals if Kesler shows up and leads his people through the merger, it will happen with or without him.”

Weston heaved a dubious sigh. “Won’t Kesler be making a ton of money from this merger, even if it’s a hostile takeover? Why would he want it to fall through?”

“Revenge maybe? Leo tore apart his father’s company and Kesler doesn’t want him doing it again. Kesler’s going to make money on the merger, but it’s Leo who will gain the most. Kesler doesn’t want that.”

Weston grunted. Revenge would make sense. “Kesler would have firsthand knowledge of the contract too, including Leo’s conditions for the merger to go through and Kayleigh’s ability to stop it.”

“Exactly. So we’re digging into Kesler more, seeing if we can find anything concrete to back our thoughts up. For now, like you said...ten hours.”

“Do we have a plan to get everyone to the office this afternoon?” Weston asked. “If I was going to make one last move against Kayleigh, it would be on the way in. And they’ve already proven they’re willing to kill, so that takes it to the next level.”

Weston needed to know the safest routes to the office, entry points, blind spots in the cameras, everything. He wasn’t taking a chance on Kayleigh’s safety.

“Agreed. Luke and Claire are on routes and office safety to figure out what’s best. Our surest bet is probably to change the location at the last minute. We’ll still have to notify Beau Kesler, but he won’t have the chance to plan anything ahead of time.”

“And, unfortunately, until we have proof, he’ll be able to waltz right into and out of wherever we hold the merger.” Weston rubbed the back of his neck. “We’ll worry about proving he’s a murderer, attempted murderer, attempted kidnapper and the laundry list of other criminal activity after the merger. Today, we just keep everyone alive.”

“Agreed.”

“I’ll be waiting for an update from you guys.”

“You got it.”

“Hey, Chance,” Weston said before they could hang up. “Thank you. You guys have gone well above and beyond for a situation where we’re not even getting paid.”

Chance chuckled. “Brothers, man. You know what Mom says.”

“Family is forever,” they both said at the same time.

K AYLEIGH WOKE UP to the sound of Weston entering the building. “Everything okay?”

“No.”

She shot out of bed. “Oh my gosh. Dad?”

Weston rushed to her. “No, he’s fine. I’m sorry. There’s been no change.”

Her heart was still crashing against her ribs. “Okay. What happened?”

“There was an attack on Dean McClintock.”

“Is he okay?”

“Yes, although one of Jasper’s men was killed helping save him. Jasper was shot too.”

She lowered herself slowly back down on the bed as he told her what happened. “Oh my gosh. So, Jasper really isn’t behind any of this.”

“No. It looks like Beau Kesler is though. One of the men who attacked Dean has ties to Kesler.”

She couldn’t wrap her head around what all this meant. “I just want this to be over.”

“It will be in a little over nine hours.” He tugged her to standing and wrapped his arms around her.

She snuggled into him for a moment. He was right. Soon this would all be over.

She pulled back and lifted her phone from the chair serving as their bedside table. “I’m going to call and check on Dad.”

“Okay. And after the merger today, we can go straight back to the hos—” He broke off when her phone rang in her hand.

Her breath caught until she realized it wasn’t the hospital. “It’s Gwendolyn. She probably wants an update about Dad. The hospital isn’t giving her any info.”

Weston nodded and Kayleigh connected the call.

“Hello? Gwendolyn?”

“Kayleigh, thank God you’re alive.” Gwendolyn’s voice was high and thready, panicked.

“What’s wrong?”

Kayleigh turned to Weston, who mouthed speakerphone . She switched it on immediately, holding the phone between them so he could hear too.

“Gwendolyn, are you okay? What’s going on?” Her shoulders tensed at the soft sobs and shallow breathing coming through the line.

“Someone just rammed my car off the road. I’m not sure what to do. I tried to call Jasper but he didn’t answer. And I don’t know if he can be trusted anyway.”

She didn’t know Jasper was in the hospital.

“Are you safe right now? Is anyone after you?” They had shot at Dean. Kayleigh couldn’t stand the thought of anyone shooting at Gwendolyn.

“I don’t see anybody, but I can’t get my car out of the ditch. I’m outside of town, so there’s not very much traffic. What should I do?”

“Gwendolyn, it’s Weston. Where are you exactly?”

“I’m on Jarratt Road. I got a hotel out here because I wasn’t feeling safe at my house.”

Kayleigh rubbed the back of her neck. They’d been so worried about her and Leo, they hadn’t thought about Gwendolyn’s safety.

“Is there anywhere nearby you can get to?” Weston continued. “Somewhere with people?”

“There was a gas station about half a mile back.”

“Good. Go there. Start walking right now, but stay on the line.”

“Okay.”

Weston put the phone on mute from their side.

“Are you going to send someone to pick her up?” Kayleigh asked.

He frowned, dragging his hand across his chin. “Yes, but we’re stretched thin right now. Between you, Leo and Dean, we’re out of people I trust implicitly.”

Kayleigh tugged on her lip, trying and failing to think of a solution while the sounds of Gwendolyn’s panicked breathing rattled through the phone as the older woman walked. “She’s scared because of me, Weston. Someone tried to hurt her to get to me. I can’t stand that.”

He cupped her cheek. “This is not your fault. The safest thing for her would be to come here with us. We’re the closest ones to her. If I pick her up, I can minimize the potential risk of bringing a tail here.”

“Okay, yes. Thank you.” She pressed a kiss against the hand cupping her cheek.

Weston unmuted the phone. “Gwendolyn, send the address of the gas station. We’re closest to you, so I’m coming to get you.”

“Thank you.” Kayleigh could hear the relief bleeding out of the other woman. “Thank you so much.”

“Watch out for other cars. Hide if you see any. Get to the station as quickly as you can,” Weston said.

Kayleigh was glad he didn’t tell her what had happened to Dean. That would just make her more panicked.

“Be safe, Gwendolyn. I’ll see you in just a little while,” Kayleigh said, hanging up the phone. She looked up at Weston. “I guess that means no more sex in the supersecret safe house.”

He laughed, tugging her closer and pressing a kiss to her lips. “I’ll make it up to you after this blows over.”

“Mmm, I’ll hold you to that.” Kayleigh’s phone vibrated with a text—the address from Gwendolyn.

“You stay here and do your thing with the photos and I’ll go pick her up. This is the safest place you can be.” He lifted her chin, forcing her gaze to his serious eyes. “I’ll lock the door behind me. Don’t leave the building for anything, okay?”

“I won’t.” She looked up into his brown eyes. “Weston, thank you. I haven’t said that enough. You’re not only keeping me safe, but the people I care about the most.”

He kissed her quickly once more. “Thank me when we all survive to make it to the merger.”