The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice. It is conformity.

Rollo May

JENNIE

It's all sorts of wrong, but I find myself laughing under my breath when the cops come and some of their eyes bulge at the ridiculous amount of bodies that lay strewn around the building.

Apparently, Lisa's perimeter guards killed fifteen of their men in the garage. Along with the fourteen I watched die on the security cameras, the thirteen that were already dead before that, and the guard whose throat was slit, the body count is a mindboggling forty-three.

Jiyong didn't just hire a few men.

He hired a small army.

And they failed.

I learned that Mino and the other twelve men that were in the hallway with them were able to get to us so quickly because they live on the floor below ours, which is another security measure that's need-to-know. They didn't even explain that to the cops.

Nor did they discuss their bulletproof clothes.

Instead, Lisa and the entire security team put on clunky bulletproof vests over their shirts before the cops arrived, then put on a convincing show of explaining how the attackers only hit their vests. They even had all the bullets that were shot at them tucked away in a Ziploc evidence bag before the police arrived.

"So, none of these cameras picked up a thing?" a female detective asks Lisa.

Again.

She sighs, clearly irritated. "They wiped them and shut them off before I killed them all."

"Okay," she says, but she clearly doesn't believe him. "And all these weapons?"

"Legally owned. I have licenses, if you would like to see them."

"You can forward copies to the email listed on my card."

Lisa nods, her arms crossed. She's undoubtedly over this interview already, and I can't blame her. I would be, too, if I endured the same level of scrutiny. Instead, when they arrived, the officers took one look at the throw up on the floor, which Mino rudely pointed out is mine, and inched further away from me.

Because the panic room is also need-to-know, I told them I hid under the bed and didn't see anything until Lisa called me down when it was over. After eyeing the vomit again, they didn't question my story. Mino thought it was hilarious, of course.

The cop finally nods for Lisa to leave, and she joins me on the couch, where I've been not so subtly eavesdropping.

I lean my head on her shoulder and breathe in her familiar scent. "What do we do now?"

"I'm taking you to Vince's."

I immediately sit up straight. "No. Absolutely not."

"Why not? He can protect you."

"While you do what, exactly?"

"The cops went to Jiyong's house to bring him in for questioning, but he's gone. It's only Sandara there with their kids. I'm going to track him down."

"And when you catch him?"

"I'll hand him over to the police." It's supposed to be a statement, but she says it like it's a question.

"You will?" I ask, dubiously.

"Yes," she says with more certainty. "I'm leaving to find him. That's nonnegotiable. You won't be safe until he's dead or behind bars." Her eyes glint dangerously under the light. "While I would prefer him dead, I know you don't want that. I'll compromise on that, but I won't compromise on this. I'm going after him."

"Fine. But I'm not going to Vince's."

"Why not? His house is the safest place for you right now. You can't stay here. It's an active crime scene. Mino will come with you."

"I'm not going to the Romano family, Lalisa."

"Vince isn't just a Romano. He's my family, too."

"I know that, and I have nothing against him, but it doesn't change the fact that he's a Romano. And turning to a Romano after an attack like this will look bad to the board."

"Fuck the damn board, Jennie. It's you I care about."

"But you care about your company, too."

"Not as much as I love you."

I don't think I'll ever get sick of those three words.

And it's because I feel the same way that I notice what she's feeling right now.

"Lisa… Are you scared?" I ask, surprised.

"No, I'm rationally concerned."

I sigh, because that's as close as I'll ever get to an admittance. "I'll be safe with Mino wherever we go. It doesn't have to be Vince's place. Jiyong's too busy on the run to come after me again."

"You don't know that."

"Then, I'll hide out until you find him, but it won't be at Vince's. It won't be at the expense of your future at Black Enterprises."

"Where else would you go?"

"Vaserley."

She scoffs. "That's too obvious. You've lived there before."

"There aren't any records of that, thanks to you. And the only people there that know I lived there live in my hall. I'll sneak in, and they won't even know I'm there."

"And you'll stay in the dorm despite the chance that Jiyong might have interviewed your hall mates in the past and found out you've lived there?"

I consider it. "If he was going around asking about me, Doyeon would have told me. Half of the girls in the hall are Team Doyeon. She has informants everywhere."

"It's still a risk."

"It's my risk to take."

"No, it's not. Not when I love you."

I sigh happily at her words but still manage to say what needs to be said, "Fine, but that means going after Jiyong isn't your risk to take, because," I mumble quickly, "Iloveyou,too."

"What?"

I groan and say louder, "I love you."

This isn't how I pictured my first time saying those words would be like, and judging by the shocked look on Lisa's face, she didn't either.

"You love me?"

When I nod, she closes the gap between us and kisses me roughly.

She pulls back and demands, "Say it again."

"I love you." My voice is stronger this time, confident.

She rests her forehead against mine, stares into my eyes, and says, "Fine. You can stay at Vaserley, but I'll have three guards on you at all times. I'll have a security team access security footage from Vince's, and there will always be one breach team and one extraction team less than sixty seconds away. Your three guards will be Mino, your night guard and Bastian."

"Bu—"

"Nonnegotiable. I compromised, so you'll have to, too."

I sigh but say, "You know, you're really hot when you speak to me in your boardroom voice."

Lisa throws her head back in a carefree laugh, and despite the gravity of the situation, my heart races and my soul warms.

We take about a dozen cars, and when each of the cars exit the garage, they split up into different directions. If Jiyong is tracking us, he'll have to guess where we're going. One of the cars is headed to Jersey, another upstate, and the rest to random motels and Romano businesses.

I lift a questioning brow when our car stops at a red light and Lisa opens the door for me. She gestures for me to get out, and I notice that we're surrounded mostly by giant trucks, so no one can see us. One of the trucks is actually a massive moving truck, and I'm ushered into the back of it, with Mino, my night guard, and Lisa following closely behind me.

There's no light in the back of the truck, but I can make out the outline of several boxes. I tap on one of them, testing it for sturdiness, before I take a seat on top of it. Someone turns on a light, and the back of the truck becomes dimly lit.

There's an amused look on Lisa's face when she says, "You did well on your first bait and switch."

"Second," I correct. "Technically, the whole Caroline and Damien thing was a bait and switch, too."

Lisa nods. "You did well, then, too."

I grin and shrug, remembering Lisa's accusation a few months ago. "I've been told I'm one part mafia spy and one part corporate spy."

"You forgot honeypot."

"That, too."

"Well, aren't you guys cute?" a deep voice says.

I screech, almost falling off of my perch on the box when a figure emerges from the shadowed corner.

So much for being a spy…

Lisa reaches out to steady me, and I let her, my body tense. When the car lurches forward, the light no longer red, I'm able to lean on Lisa to prevent another fall. Her body doesn't even sway with the jerky movements of the vehicle.

"Don't worry," Lisa murmurs. "He's with us."

"My name is Niccolaio, but you may call me Nick," the man introduces himself.

I look at him, taking in his tan skin, dark hair, and dark brown eyes. He's dressed in all black—black sweats, black shoes, and a tight black shirt that hugs his trim, muscular frame quite closely. There's something about him that looks dangerous, lethal. It's the same something Lisa has, except I don't trust it on Nick.

I press closer to Lisa and hope my voice doesn't betray my wariness when I say, "I'm Jennie."

"I know. Jennie Kim," he says, a brief smile flashing across his face.

A frown tugs heavily on my lips. "Yet, I don't know you."

It's bothering me that he knows my last name, and I don't know his… even though my last. Speaking of which, I should tell Lisa my real name sometime.

There's a rumble of laughter before Lisa wraps an arm around my shoulders, squeezing me against her in an openly affectionate side hug. "That's Niccolaio Andretti."

My jaw drops, practically unhinging itself from the normalcy of its socket. "Andretti?"

"Yes. I spared his life when I took his uncle's," says Lisa, casually, and I think she's referring to the capo she went into Andretti territory to kill. "We're… friends."

Niccolaio scowls, "We won't continue to be if you keep spilling my secrets to everyone you know."

Lisa rolls her eyes. "Don't be dramatic, Nick. Jennie isn't everyone. She's one of mine." She turns to me. "Nick will be with me while I track down Jiyong."

I'm immediately relieved to learn that she has back up. Even though I neither know nor trust Nick, Lisa seems to, and I trust Lisa with my life… until the car screeches to a halt, and Nick gestures to the box I'm sitting on and says, "Get in."