Page 170 of Finish Line

It’s one of the newer houses on the block. A gate with a code box to open it blocks a long driveway. A separate three-bay garage stands on the left of the house.

Cin will be spending a lot of time in that garage.

My eyes move to the house itself. Brown stucco covers the top, and river rock decorates the first floor. It’s larger than I thought, but it would have to be for us to live here comfortably.

I walk to the small porch with a rocker on it, then open the door with the key they gave me on my birthday.

The boys stay behind, watching me take in everything. They want me to form an idea of what furniture I want to buy for the living room and dining room.

“This reminds me of your house, Nick.” I step forward.

“Yeah, I can see it. With the open floor plan, you save space because of the lack of hallways, but the openness is like Dad’s,” he says.

The dream kitchen has a large center island with a sink and a breakfast bar where we can eat or watch whoever’s cooking.

“Oh wow, the view is amazing.” I step over to the left side of the room where a wall of windows and a sliding glass door goes out to our deck.

“Come on, I want to show you upstairs.” Mav bounces up and down.

He takes my hand and runs me to the second floor. “This will be your room.”

He opens the door and lets me step through.

I can tell right away it’s the master. It’s bigger than my room at Peter’s house. I’ll be able to fit all of my bedroom furniture in here, no problem. The room opens up to a deck with a view of the city. Below the deck is a bean-shaped pool.

“There’s a pool,” I say.

“Of course. We enjoy swimming.” He walks over to the far left. “This is your bathroom. It has a shower and a tub, like your last one.”

I peek in the bathroom. The shower is enormous with floor-to-ceiling white marble. A jacuzzi tub I can’t wait to lie in sits in front of it.

Mav grabs my hand and pulls me out of my room and down the hall to the right. He opens the door and walks in. “This is my and Cam’s room.”

“It’s nice. Since you’re sharing with Cam, why don’t you two take the master, and I’ll take this room?”

It’s smaller than the master, but not by much. “I don’t need so much space.”

“Yes, you do. You need your own place where you can go and relax.” He smiles. “Come on, I’ll show you the rest.”

Luke and Dom each have a bedroom about the same size as Mav and Cam’s room.

We walk back downstairs.

“What do you think?” Luke asks.

“I love it. I never thought I’d ever live in something so grand. When are we moving in?” I ask.

It’s our last night in the mansion. We ate dinner with Chad, and now we’re relaxing in the boys’ living room.

After dinner, Nick returned to his computers. I haven’t seen him much. He’s been so busy trying to find Roger.

We’re in the living room watching a movie when Nick rushes in. “I found him! He’s staying in an abandoned warehouse in St. Mary’s City.”

Dom jumps up. “Call Frank, and let’s get ready.”

“Already called me.” Frank walks through the door. “Once you’re ready, meet down in the armory.”

My eyes go big. “You have an armory?”

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