Page 4 of Even if You Fall

“No?” I asked, quickly looking between the two again.

“Aunt Ada, you can’t,” Lainey chastised as she set the little girl on the floor to unsteadily toddle away. “You hired me to nanny without Asher’s knowledge. He’ll flip if you forcefully hire someone again.”

Ada scoffed and placed a heavily ringed hand on her chest in offense. “That you just assume I would do such a thing...”

Lainey gave her a pointed look.

“That was a one-time, emergency situation, my Ray of Sunshine,” Ada told her affectionately. “But Asher and I have been talking about this for months.”

Lainey’s head was shaking, her expression a mix of adoration and frustration as she studied her great-aunt. With a quick exhale, Lainey’s attention shifted to me. “I think it would be great if you worked for Asher, I really do, but talk to him about itwhen he comes to pick up Kaia tonight because this has disaster written all over it.”

“Does it?” Ada challenged.

At that, a hard laugh left Lainey. “Aunt Ada, I went through this. I’ve witnessed his frustration when you go over him.”

“And look how well that worked out,” Ada said smugly. “But, unfortunately for all of us, this isn’t one of those situations.”

“‘Unfortunately?’” Lainey asked suspiciously. When Ada hummed in question, Lainey prompted, “You said ‘unfortunately for all of us.’”

Ada gestured between Lainey and me. “Well, I had a fantastic ulterior motive for hiring you behind Asher’s back—bringing the two of you together. I wouldn’t have any of those with Chloe, now, would I? And before you go on wounding this old woman’s heart even more with your doubt, maybe just be thankful I’m here to inform our sweet Chloe since I’m supposed to start training her tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” I echoed, my smile impossibly wide at the possibility of this.

I loved being a teacher, but I’d made my peace with leaving teaching long before the last school year had ended. Well, at least until Owen Vance was no longer working in a nearby school district. But in the last six months, every application had gone unanswered, or I’d been rejected for being overqualified, or not qualified enough.

I hadn’t even been able to get a job at our local coffee shop.

To put it mildly, I was desperate. My savings was getting dangerously low, and I was racking up debt that I could no longer pay off every month. So, whether Ada was about to do what Lainey was worrying over or not, I was in. I needed this.

“Yes, ma’am. Tomorrow,” Ada responded with an encouraging smile. “Sorry for the late notice, but we can’t fully blame Asher.”

“At all,” Lainey cut in. “We can’t blame himat all.” She shot me a pleading look. “I’m telling you, he doesn’t know about this.”

Ada waved a hand at Lainey, her many bracelets jingling as they clashed together. “Oryour new fiancé’s mind was so preoccupied with a certain life-altering question and the back-to-back security details they had this weekend, that he forgot to call our sweet Chloe.”

Lainey drew in a long breath and let it out just as slowly, her expression equal parts amusement and worry as she lifted Kaia onto her lap when the little girl came back over.

As if sensing what Lainey was about to say when her lips parted, Ada all-too-casually spoke over her. “Ask Asher if you want; let him feel awful for forgetting. Makes no difference to me.”

Lainey’s eyes rolled, but she just shook her head at Ada’s clear attempt at dissuading her. “I know what you’re doing,” she said on a sigh. “But I also know Asher won’t let you retire unless you force it. So...I guess I’ll just see how this plays out.” With a concerned look my way, she added, “As long as you’re prepared. When Asher finds out, it isn’t gonna go well.”

“It’s gonna be great because he already knows,” Ada countered.

“If you say so,” Lainey mumbled, her tone not at all matching the exaggeratedly happy look she was giving Kaia. “Either way, I think it’ll be great if you work there, Chloe.”

“I seriously can’t wait,” I said as excitement and hope wound through me. I didn’t even know what the job was—I only knew that Ada had been working for Asher for six or seven years. But that didn’t matter, I would figure it out easily enough.

Whatdidmatter was getting a job, having a steady income again, and forgetting about the text still waiting for me.

Even though we were gathered outside, there was an edginess surrounding us and clinging to the air as we waited for the leader of our team, Asher Briggs. We’d just come off back-to-back security details, and while we always had meetings beforehand, there were never debriefings directly after. Those waited for work hours.

In all the years we’d worked at Shadow Industries—the high-profile, private security company Asher started after retiring from our Special Forces team—the meetings he’d called directly following a detail could be counted on one hand. They’d also been for obvious reasons, like when I’d prevented a government official from getting shot, or when Gray had punched an ambassador who’d tried getting handsy with Monroe.

Considering the details this weekend had gone flawlessly, the five of us were uncharacteristically quiet as we stood there, eyes darting between each other as if one of us might know what was going on.

“We have a Donut,” Briggs said as he stalked up to where we were loosely clustered, looking more annoyed than usual. Then again, it could just be how his face was now. I wasn’t sure.

“Mine,” Gray and Monroe shouted at the same time, trying to claim the lead on the special case without knowing what it was.

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