Page 21 of Offside Angel

But this comes first.

Mira squares her shoulders and walks to my four-year-old’s room like she's facing a firing squad. Outside the door, she gestures for me to go first.

“Aiden?” I knock on his door. “Someone is here to see?—”

Everything is lost in a high-pitched shriek.

A firing squad wasn’t far off from the truth, because Aiden leaps off of his lofted bed and rockets towards Mira like a speeding bullet. Mira drops to her knees in the hallway and Aiden throws his arms around her neck and squeezes tight.

“You’re back!” He draws back to look at her, the biggest smile I've ever seen stretched across his face. “I knowed you’d come back!”

I didn’t have a single moment of doubt about whether I should bring Mira home or not, and now I know why.

They belong together.

Mira cries, kissing his cheeks and squeezing his hands. She inspects every inch of him like she’s taking stock, making sure he has his fingers and toes and everything is in its proper place.

When she’s finally done, Aiden collapses back into the hug. He presses his face to her neck and sighs. She smooths a hand through his blonde hair the way she has during so many bedtime books and bad dreams over the last few months.

Aiden pulls back again and holds her face in his small hands the same way I was only a few minutes ago. He squishes her cheeks until her lips are pouty like a fish and it makes him giggle.

Then he schools his expression into his best version of stern. “If you go again, I want to come. I don't want to be left here. I want us all to come. Me and Daddy and you.”

Mira glances over at me, and I see the flash of panic in her eyes.

How do we tell him that Mira left for his safety?

How do we explain that Mira is being hunted by her own brother?

I kneel down on the floor and wrap my arms around both of them. “Mira isn't going anywhere, buddy. She isn't leaving again.”

Aiden tries to stretch his arms to hold both of us the way I'm holding them. “We’re gonna stay all together?”

“We’re gonna stay all together,” I assure him. “Forever.”

“Was it a big, happy family reunion?” Evan asks when I step into the hallway.

He’s posted against the opposite wall, a book open in his hands. He tucks it into his back pocket before I can see the cover.

“It’s been two hours. You didn’t need to stay.”

He shrugs. “It’s my job.”

It really isn’t. I keep Evan on retainer, but he wasn’t even on duty today. He just came to sit with Aiden for an hour.

The only reason I knew he was out here at all is because I heard him sneeze after Aiden went down for a nap and Mira wanted to take a shower. I feel bad, but it’s also more proof that he's the exact man I want to talk to.

“I actually wanted to run something by you,” I say. “I’d like to expand your role to full-time security.”

“For Aiden?”

I shake my head. “For Mira.”

He frowns. “Does this have something to do with why she ran off?”

Like everyone else, Evan knows the barest details. If he agrees to the job, I’ll tell him the rest. He needs to know everything if he’s going to be able to protect her from Dante. For now…

“I can tell you there’s a good reason I want her under close watch. Any time she’s out of the house or I’m not here, I want you to be with her,” I explain. “No one gets near her unless it’s been pre-approved and cleared. Not servers at a restaurant, not anyone on my staff, not pedestrians bumping into her on the street. Not a single fucking person touches her without her permission.”

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