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She looked over at him. "I told you tonight that I loved you."
His heart started racing. "Yeah. I heard that." He wanted to tell her that he loved her and Annie too, but he could tell she wasn't finished. She needed to speak.
"I meant that. If things kept working with us, I'd want to stay here with you. I think you would thrive with us, Annie would thrive here, and so would I."
He heard the conditional tenses she was using, and he hardened himself for what was coming next. "But?"
"But I can't raise my kid in danger. As long as your father is alive, you bring with you a danger that's terrifying. You can't be with us all the time, and I don't want either of us to live with a bodyguard following us all the time."
He flexed his jaw. So much for not having an actual shadow team. "I'll have men trail him all the time. He won't be able to do anything we don't know about."
"What about people who work for him? People who are inspired to help him because of the amount of money at stake represented by your bank accounts? You're worth so much risk because of your money, Jacob. He's not going to stop. He's just going to find another way."
Jacob ground his jaw. "I have resources."
She looked at him. "As soon as he realizes that Annie and I exist and you care about us, he'll know we are his path to you. What would you give up to keep us safe?"
He swore. "Anything."
Her face softened, and her eyes filled with tears. "This is why I'm falling in love with you," she said. "I was talking about money, but you were talking about anything."
"Because it's true." He took her hand and tangled his fingers with hers. "I didn't keep my sister safe, and he sold her. Every day of my life, I will carry that guilt that I didn't protect her."
She tightened her fingers in his. "I know. I'm sorry."
He nodded. "We'll find out soon where she ended up. I'm hoping for a miracle, but in the meantime, my entire focus is on protecting you and Annie. As soon as Dylan told me about you and Annie, I knew that it's my calling to protect you."
She smiled. "And it didn't take me long to realize that we were meant to inject such chaos into your life that you couldn't stay the same."
"It worked." He rubbed her palm with his thumb. "I'm falling for you and Annie, and even your crazy dog," he said.
She looked over at him. "I can't stay," she said quietly. "We can't stay. Not with your father out there somewhere, looking for a way to get to you."
Resistance flooded Jacob. "We'll find a way."
"And if we make one mistake, one tiny mistake, and Annie gets caught in the crossfire, neither of us will ever forgive ourselves." She pressed her hand on his. "I think I've been lucky to be living as freely as I have, but your dad showed me that there are some risks that I need to take more seriously."
Jacob tightened his grip on her hand. "I love you, Phoebe. You and Annie and Cupcake. The Harts believe that we never let evil win. We fight until we find a way. Stay and fight."
She bit her lip. "I can't," she whispered. "Annie's my entire world. I can't take that chance. I saw your father, Jacob. He's too much." She touched his cheek. "And you know it, too."
He put his hand over hers, holding her hand to his cheek. "He isn't too much," he said again. "He doesn't get to win. To steal happiness from us. The Harts are an unstoppable force."
"How many of your siblings have guns?"
He paused. "All of us."
"Why?"
"Because we have pasts."
"Which means that even if your dad goes back to prison, all the rest of your siblings could have their version of Ivan coming for them. So anyone who is with your family is at risk."
He swore. "No, that's not how it is."
She met his gaze. "There's no risk from your past? And your siblings' pasts?"
"There's always risk," he said. "But you know that. You're the one who told me that you have to find a way to live, no matter what."
