Liesel and I have always been a couple, even when we fought it, even when we hated each other, even when we were apart, even when we lost. It’s always been us—even when being together means a lifetime of pain. There is no stopping us.
We give each other a knowing look before I open the door without knocking and step into the three-story mansion. We don’t have to be holding each other’s hand to gain strength from each other. We don’t even have to be sharing the same oxygen. The strength we possess is from knowing that no matter how much we fuck up, lie, cheat, or kill, we are unstoppable together.
We don’t even have to say we love each other for it to be true. We just always have.
Kai comes fluttering into the hallway. I’m sure her security system notified her of our arrival.
“Living room, now,” I say, marching past her with Liesel right behind me.
Kai nods. She’s not used to taking orders from other people, but if she wants to help, Liesel and I will be the ones in charge, not her.
We walk into the living room, where I find Enzo, Zeke, and Siren already on the couches. Siren’s eyes are puffy, like she’s been crying. Zeke rubs her back in slow circles, like that is somehow going to bring my kids back. Enzo sits sternly, completely lost in thought.
Then I spot Beckett walking in from the kitchen. He looks like a wreck. Puffy eyes, pale skin, a slumped curve of his spine as he walks. The pain he feels is immense—good. He had the most important job. I trusted him. He failed.
He doesn’t apologize. He knows there is no use. There is nothing he can say that will bring my kids back.
Liesel walks over to him. I expect her to yell at him for failing. He deserves it. He deserves to be punched in the face and kicked in the balls. The suffering he’s feeling is nothing compared to what Liesel and I are going through.
Liesel wraps her arms around him. “We’ll get them back. It’s not your fault. We should have known not to trust Phoenix or Maxwell. We’ll get them back.”
He rubs her back with his arm. “No, don’t blame yourself. Blame me.”
“We do,” I say, answering for her.
She shoots me an angry glare.
“It’s okay. I can take it. Hate me, not yourself,” Beckett says.
She shakes her head and then pulls him into the living room. She chooses to sit next to him on the loveseat. Kai sits next to Enzo. I stay standing, looking down at them all.
“Tell me we already know where they took them. Tell me we already know where they are hidden. Tell me we already have eyes on them.” I look between everyone sitting in this room moping, crying, and emotional. The only people who have the right to feel that way are Liesel and me; everyone else has a job to do.
“St. Kitts,” Siren and Zeke say.
“Cancun,” Kai and Enzo say.
“Atlanta,” Beckett says.
I let out a breath. Thank god for them. They may have pissed me off and betrayed us before, but damn do they know how to do their jobs when we need them to.
I look to Liesel, who looks to be near tears at their answers. The question is, who do we go with? There are only two of us, and we have three kids to save. How do we choose?
“Good. Get a team and plan together to go with you. I want each of you to have a detailed plan in half an hour, then we move.”
I storm out onto the back deck, suddenly needing air to breathe as I realize I’m one person, and I can’t go after three kids myself at the same time. I’m not superman. I have to trust that others can do their jobs.
I hear the sliding door open and then close, and I know Liesel is standing out on the deck with me.
“How do we decide?” I ask her.
She steps next to me and then grips the railing like her life depends on it. She doesn’t answer right away. How could she? How do you choose between children?
“We don’t,” she finally says.
“What?”
“We let our friends go. We let them do their best. And then we go help the one who fails.”
The ocean crashes hard against the shoreline at her words. We both stare out at the sea, knowing that’s the best plan. But it feels impossible to stay put when my kids are in danger.
My kids.
They will always be my kids. I don’t care whose blood runs through their veins—they are mine. Just like the woman to my left, who is wearing my ring. She may have only married me because of a stupid quest, but I’m not giving her up.
I do know something that I can do while we wait to figure out which rescue team is going to need our help the most. I dig into my pocket and pull out the envelope that has the next task in it. I have to complete this task before we can head to Tokyo to get the final task and the location of the treasure. A treasure we can use to get the kids back if all else fails.
I open the envelop and pull out the note. Liesel notices me, but she’s content to just stare at the ocean.
I read the note.
Make her fall in love with you so deeply that nothing can pull you apart.
I read the words twice through, trying to ensure that I’m reading them correctly. Make my wife fall in love with me. I’m pretty sure she already is, even though she won’t admit it. She won’t say the damn words, not that I have either.
How do I prove we love each other so much that nothing will pull us apart? Especially if we won’t even say the words?
I’ve spent my entire life hating her, and she hating me. Hating her is easier, but you can’t hate someone without first loving them. The hate was more because we couldn’t be together than because we truly hated each other.
This should be an easy task, but it won’t be for so many reasons. Liesel is stubborn, and for whatever reason, she’s scared to love me and for me to love her. She won’t admit to loving me easily. Not only do I have to get her to admit it, but I have to be able to prove it to a stranger when we go to collect the next clue.
I fiddle with the edge of the crisp white paper before it slips through my hands. It dances high in the sky as the wind takes hold of it before dipping into the ocean.
Liesel and I both watch the piece of paper disappear into the water. Liesel could just as easily slip through my fingers.
Getting Liesel to truly love me is going to take everything I have. But that was my plan anyway from the second I said I do. There is no going back, not after she’s mine. Fuck the consequences.
No—there are no consequences of her loving me. If Liesel gives me all of her love, I will protect it with everything I have. I will give her the world. I will kill any man or woman who stands against her. Being loved by her would be one of the greatest honors of my life.
I just can’t love her in return. Not openly, not in the way she deserves.
The note didn’t say that I need to love her, though. It just said that she needs to love me.
I can make her fall in love with me so hard that nothing will break us up. We can be a family once we get the kids back, along with the new edition that I feel in her womb.
“Do you know what you need to do?” Liesel asks, still not looking at me.
“Yes, I can do it easily.”
“Good.” She nods.
Get her to love me without falling completely in love myself, that shouldn’t be too hard.
But I already know this is only half of the task. Last time she had to betray me, and I had to forgive her. So this time, I have to get her to fall for me, but what will she have to do?