“He’s kind of scary.” Her lips curve. “And sexy, which is intimidating.”

I laugh. “Hmmm. Yes. I can relate.” We both end up smiling and there’s a connection between us. “Where’s your mother?”

“She died of cancer when I was ten.”

Cancer. The word slides inside me, and finds an open wound that has my mother’s memory all over it. I know it as familiar and horrible, just like I know sympathy can be painful. So I don’t offer it. “Tell me about her.”

She starts talking and we both end up lying down on the couch, while I clutch the phone and will it to ring. Better yet, I just want Kayden to walk through the door.

Loud knocking on the street door wakes us up, both of us jolting to a sitting position where we’ve fallen asleep on the couch. The throb in my head is instant. “Oh God,” I murmur, pushing through the dull ache to grab my phone and check it to find no calls.

“Good grief,” Giada mumbles. “Some customers don’t take no for an answer.”

I stare at the time on my phone in disbelief. “It’s six o’clock. We’ve been asleep for hours!”

“I feel better,” she says. “I needed the rest Adriel wouldn’t allow me.”

“And I needed to take pain medication a good hour ago.”

“You’re hurting?” she asks.

“Yeah.”

My phone rings and I see Nathan on the caller ID. “Nathan,” I answer, hoping he can tell me where Kayden and Adriel are. “Is something wrong? Where’s Kayden?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute. I’m at the door knocking.”

“I’m at the store.”

“Right. Adriel said you might be, so that’s where I am. Are you going to let me in?”

“Yes. Coming now.” I end the call and stand, only to have a dizzy spell hit me that forces me to call on Giada for help. “Get the door, please. It’s my doctor.”

Giada’s eyes go wide. “Yes. Of course.” She crosses to the door while I’m pathetically forced to sit. When she opens it I’m able to stand again, steadier now.

Nathan speaks to her in Italian, and I’m fairly certain they know each other. Then he walks in my direction, looking exceedingly handsome and preppy in khakis and a white button-down, along with a tan leather jacket.

“What’s happening with Kayden and Adriel?” I ask.

“They’re fine,” he says, shrugging a brown leather bag off his shoulder and motioning for me to sit. I comply and he perches on the edge of the stone table across from me.

“What does ‘they’re fine’ mean?”

“Yes,” Giada chimes in, sitting next to me. “What does that mean?”

“Gallo arrested them.”

“What?” Giada and I say at the same time.

“Why?” I ask.

“Yes, why?” Giada echoes.

Nathan sets his bag on the table. “He says they threatened him. Kayden says that’s bullshit and I believe him. He’s too smart for that.”

“We have to go get them,” I say, trying to stand.

His hand clamps down on my arm, holding me in place, the look in his eyes sharp, hard, unlike anything I’ve seen from him before. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you the many reasons why that’s a wrong decision. Besides, Kayden is a very rich, powerful man, and his attorney is a beast when he has to be.”

My stomach knots. “I feel like I brought this on them.”

“The Underground brought this on them,” Giada says, bitterness lacing her tone. “It’s dangerous, and Kayden is the ringleader.”

Nathan releases me and cuts a stern look at Giada. “Gallo’s bitterness over something personal brought this on. And ever since your father died, Kayden has been allowing his people to take fewer jobs and doing all the dangerous ones himself. Why do you think you have this store?”

“Adriel wanted it,” she says. “He didn’t want to work for The Underground anymore.”

“Right,” Nathan says, clearly meaning “wrong.” Then he focuses a probing look on me. “You’re hurting.”

“I fell asleep and missed my pill.”

“Take it now.”

“I left it in the other tower.”

His look is pure reprimand. “The medicine has a cumulative effect. I didn’t say four times a day for no reason.” He reaches for his bag. “Good thing I brought some with me.” He digs out a prescription bottle and glances at Giada. “Do you have some water?”

She nods and hurries away, and Nathan lowers his voice. “It kills me not to tell her that Kayden fired Adriel so he wouldn’t end up dead, but it’s not my place. He wants her to believe Adriel left on his own, to protect her.”

“So Kayden remains the monster.”

“Yes. He believes he deserves that title—but I’m hoping like hell you’re the one who’ll ground him. No one else has.”

“In five years,” I supply.

He arches a brow. “You know. I’m surprised he told you this soon.”

“Gallo told me. That’s why Kayden went after him.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. But neither would Kayden taunting Gallo into an arrest in order to be there when he ran your prints.”

He offers me a pill I take from his hand, and I give him a curious look. “You sure know a lot for someone who isn’t with The Underground.”

“I’ve become the doctor to The Underground, and a friend to Kayden. I was with him when he found Elizabeth and Kevin.” His expression tightens. “I couldn’t help them. They were already dead.”

My stomach churns with the certainty that although he and Kayden might have barely known each other before that night, the unlikely pair were deeply bonded from that point forward.

“Here you go,” Giada says, offering me a bottle of water.

“Thanks,” I murmur, opening it and sucking down my pill and half of the water. Afterward, Nathan checks all my vitals while Giada hovers. “How’s your memory coming along?” he asks.

“Improving, but it’s coming back in confusing pieces.”

“I predict that will continue until a trigger brings it all back.”

A trigger. Like I am to Kayden. Like he was afraid he’d be to me. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad for either of us.

Once he’s repacked his bag, Nathan stands. “You need to rest: that’s the key to everything. Call me if you need anything. Kayden and Adriel should be back before bedtime.”

I walk him to the door, and he gives my chin a brotherly nudge. “It’s all going to work out.”

I shut the door and lock it, then Giada sets the alarm. “It’s going to be a long few hours waiting for their return, and I really don’t want Marabella watching over me like a child tonight,” she says. “Can I hang out in your tower with you?”

“Yes. Sure.” We go out the back entrance, and when we’re in the main foyer and I need to punch in the code, I have the oddest sense of unease. I actually find myself blocking her view as I press the numbers to ensure she can’t see them.

We enter the tower foyer, and she surprises me by saying, “I’ve never been in this tower,” as we walk up the stairs. Does Kayden not want her here? “Kayden’s a bit of a hermit,” she adds.

“Interesting. I haven’t thought of him that way.”

We reach the main floor, and when that odd sense of unease expands in my chest, this time I know I’m not taking her to my room. I motion her to the living area. “The kitchen is this way. We can eat. I’d say we could watch TV, but I won’t understand it.”

She snorts. “Are you kidding me? Kayden has the place set up with Netflix.”

We enter the kitchen and I grab a couple of sandwiches from the fridge. “I didn’t know you could get Netflix in Italy.”

“This is Kayden we’re talking about,” she reminds me. “He’s got a way around everything.”

Translation: Matteo has Netflix magic in his fingers. Giada gets us bottles of water and we settle at the table to eat, planning a shopping trip together. Later we move to the living room, where she turns on the TV.

“I’m obsessed with Breaking Bad right now. Do you like it?” she asks.

“I don’t know it. What’s it about?”

“Good guy who gets cancer, and starts dealing drugs to take care of his family.”