a cloud of dust.
Lena laughed wildly. “That was insane,” she gasped out, clambering out of the footwell and sinking onto the leather seats, pulling a tiny backpack from her shoulders before she sat back, her phone in hand.
“What the fuck were you doing?” Caiden hissed at her, the fury clear in his eyes.
Her thumbs flew over the keys as she sent a message, ignoring the rest of us.
“Lena!”
She sobered up as she took in Caiden’s expression and noticed the thick tension in the car, the adrenaline rush fading away. “I had to go back for my bag.”
“You were almost caught.” Cassius glanced at her in the rear-view mirror, grinding his jaw as he gripped the steering wheel tightly.
“I wasn’t caught, though,” she pointed out.
“That’s beside the fucking point!” he roared, and even I shrank back in my seat.
Lena wisely shut her mouth, slumping back with her eyes closed. I was desperate to ask her questions—had she been the one to save me? Now was most definitely not a good time, though. My questions would have to wait.
Back at the house, the tension kicked up another notch, if it could possibly get any higher. Lena disappeared off down the driveway pretty much as soon as the car came to a stop, muttering something about needing to try and get hold of her contact.
We sat in the lounge, waiting. Tense, silent.
“What happened at the docks after we went back to the car?” I climbed into Caiden’s lap, speaking low in his ear.
He bent his head, his breath hot against my skin, making me shiver, even though this most definitely wasn’t the time or the place. “I waited, and watched her. All she fucking did was peer in the windows of that warehouse we were hiding behind.”
“That was it?” I raised a brow.
“Yeah. I stayed back—I’m trying to learn from your example.” He met my gaze, his stormy eyes boring into me. “I know you don’t like me interfering. I’m…I’m trying, baby. But she’s not you. Cass would’ve killed me if anything happened to her. I kept eyes on her the whole time.”
“I’m glad you stayed behind,” I told him honestly. I recognised a kindred spirit in Lena, but there was also a recklessness to her. I couldn’t help feeling like she didn’t take things seriously, and that worried me. A lot.
While we were waiting for Lena, Caiden tried to get hold of Zayde, but he wasn’t replying to calls or messages. After the fifth try, he threw his phone down on the sofa in frustration.
I couldn’t bear the tension in the room, and I turned to Weston and Cassius. “Let’s trust Lena, okay? She knows what she’s doing.” Actually, for me, the jury was out on that one, but I wanted to give her a chance. “While we’re waiting for her, let’s talk about code names. I want mine to be Snowflake, since that was Caiden’s original nickname for me.” I laughed. “Even though it started out as a total insult.”
His arms tightened around me. “Sorry, baby,” he muttered in my ear.
“Good thing you came to your senses in the end, huh, King Caiden?” Smiling, I turned to kiss him again, sliding my hand up over his hard chest, feeling his muscles flex under my palm.
“That wouldn’t work as a code name.”
The tension in the room was suddenly broken at the sound of Cassius’ voice. I smiled to myself. My plan for distracting everyone from their thoughts was working. “Why wouldn’t it?” I stared at him, a brow raised, and he rolled his eyes.
“Oh, Winter. You have so much to learn about code names. The whole point is to use a name no one will recognise so they can’t guess who you are. Everyone knows that Cade calls you Snowflake, so it would be obvious.”
“I see.” I smirked at him. “We’ll just ignore the fact that you wanted to call this whole thing Operation Snowflake at one point, shall we? What would you pick, then?”
“For you?” He frowned, taking a moment to think. “You’re gonna have to give me some time to think about that, babe.”
“Well, don’t keep me waiting too long.”
“I already have a code name,” Weston announced.
“You can’t use the same one you use on the dark web. That’s not allowed,” Cassius told him.
“Says who?”
I tuned them out as they continued bickering about names, and Caiden bent his head, running his nose along my cheek. “Today has been so fucked up. I don’t even know what to think right now.”
“Forget