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His jaw flexed. "It's keeping you safe."
"It is," she agreed, "And I appreciate that. But never at the cost of living." She could see from his expression that he didn't understand. "Never mind. But I do need to do my class today. What can we do to make that happen?"
He looked like he wanted to throttle her. "It's not safe."
The man was intractable, but she was used to negotiating with an intractable six-year-old, so the odds were in her favor. "Isn't Dylan a security guy?" She knew he was. He'd helped set her up originally, through Eliana.
He narrowed his eyes. "Yes."
"Let's ask him. See what he says." She paused. "This is really important to me, Jacob. It matters."
He stared at her, then swore. "I'll call him. But if he says no, then you need to let it go. You would hate yourself for life if you made a choice that resulted in harm to Annie." His voice was rough. "Trust me on that one, Phoebe. Nothing is worth that. Not even your soul."
Her heart turned over for his pain. He'd made that mistake. She could feel it in every word he spoke. Who had he lost? Who did he blame himself for? "Not your fault," she said softly. "Whatever it was, it wasn't your fault."
His eyes became haunted. "It was. And I will always have to live with that. Don't make that mistake, Phoebe. Just don't."
"I won't." He was right. She knew that. But she also knew that hiding wasn't the answer. Hiding made the danger get bigger and bigger, as if it could feed on her fear. "I will keep her safe," she said. "I will. We will," she added, because she could sense he needed it. "Together, we will keep Annie safe…and thriving. Brave. Capable. Able to take care of herself if we aren't here every minute of her life."
Jacob stared at her, and she could feel the tension radiating through his body. For a man who claimed not to like people, his need to keep her and Annie safe belied his claims. He pulled out his phone and put it on speaker.
His brother answered immediately. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah. Phoebe needs to get online to teach a class to her remote students. Assuming Annie's dad has access to the highest level and best technology available to track her, which we have to assume, can she do it safely from my house?"
"Yep. No problem. It's good."
Phoebe grinned as Jacob's eyes narrowed. "You'd risk a six-year-old's life on that answer?" he asked.
"Jacob. I'd risk your life on that answer. I set up your place to protect you from the same threat level. Everyone in the family is set up to that level of protection. Phoebe? You there?"
Jacob handed her the phone. "Yep."
"Eliana gave you the computer you have now, right?"
"Yes, she did."
"Then it has all the software I created for her to make sure her clients are safe. Between the two of you, you guys are good to go." He paused. "What kind of class do you teach, Phoebe?"
"I have an online community in which I coach women to develop the confidence they need to make whatever changes in their lives they want to make."
"Damn. Do you work with Eliana on that? Most of her clients could benefit from that."
Wow. The idea made electricity leap through her. "I don't think Eliana knows what I do. I started the community after I went into hiding the first time."
"She would love that."
"I would love that, too. Helping women like me? That would be amazing."
"I'll run it by her next time I talk to her. Maybe after this is over, you guys can connect. Right now, she doesn't want to talk to you directly in case someone has tapped her phone, but I'll pass the word on."
"Sounds great! Thanks." Phoebe hung up the phone and handed it back to Jacob. "That would be so fulfilling! I mean, I help women like that a lot, but to actually work directly with Eliana's clients would be fantastic. I know what they're dealing with. I've been there."
Jacob was frowning at her.
She put her hands on her hips. "What? You can't still be worried? Dylan said he'd trust your life with what he set up."
"I know." Jacob took a breath and ran his hand through his hair. "I would still prefer you not do it."
