Page 41 of The Coffee Shop

But I have to try.

I cannot bear to walk out of here knowing that I didn’t tryeverythingin my power to be with them.

When I hear their voices coming across the field, I wipe my tears and stand. Taking a deep breath, I go over in my head how I’m going to approach this, what I am going to say.

I start pacing, then hear them shouting again.But their tones sounddifferent. They’re not arguing or bickering, or laughing. They’re actually…yelling.

I step over to the edge of the porch and see them running towards the house.

Something’s wrong.

“Leena! Get. Into. The. House!” Sebastian yells. “We’re under attack!”

Chapter Twenty

LEENA

Istand in the kitchen and it only takes a few moments before the guys are bursting through the door after me.

Luke has his phone out, his eyes furrowed as he stares at the camera feeds on the screen. Sebastian slams shut the door and locks it, then closes every curtain.

“How the fuck did they find us,” Sebastain spits out.

“I don’t know,” Luke says, frustrated.

“How long?” Sebastian asks.

“They set off the perimeter sensor five minutes ago, so two? Maybe three?”

“Two or threeminutes?” I shout, my eyes going wide.

“How many?” Sebastian asks, rushing into the living room as we trail after him.

“How the fuck should I know? It’s two cars, so somewhere between two and I don’t know, ten?” Luke says, then jams his phone in his pocket, opening the hall closet and hauling out their duffle bag of weapons.

“Maybe it’s just more of dad’s guys?” I say hopefully.

“It’s not,” they both say in unison.

“How do you know?” I ask as Luke hands a kevlarvest to Sebastian, then one to me. We put them on immediately.

“Because no one is supposed to know where we are, which means it took a lot of digging to find us. Your father wouldn’t need to dig, he could have just asked where you were when we checked in today,” Luke says, dawning his own vest as both men tuck guns into the various holsters that are now strapped to their bodies. They are precise and methodical, but that doesn’t make me feel any better.

I’m used to seeing them with weapons. They’ve had them strewn about the house for days and Sebastian never steps foot outside without the one tucked in the waistband at his back.

But this is different. They’re preparing for a fight.

A twinge of panic hits as I remember that moment in the coffee shop, the moment I was shot. But I realize that I’m not afraid for myself anymore. I’m afraid for the men that I have grown to care about. Grown tolove.

I could not bear it if either of them were hurt.

“I want a gun,” I say definitively. They both look at me, surprised.

“You know how to shoot?” Luke asks. I’m surprised to find that the question isn’t condescending, not at all. It’s just a question.

“Yes. The paranoid daughter of a mob boss who’s already been kidnapped on three separate occasions decided it was probably a good idea to know her way around a weapon,” I say, holding out my hand. “I’m a good shot.”

“You want a nine or an AK?” Luke asks, digging through the duffle again.

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