Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 125248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
“Okay, um. I don’t wanna push you,” he said, voice barely holding. “I just wanted you to know that I love you. I love you more than anything, Corbin.”
Syn’s shoulders moved with one breath.
Furi turned away and went back into the house.
Ro was standing in the kitchen leaning against the island with a beer in one hand and his phone in the other.
Furi walked to the opposite side of the island, set the canvas bag down and opened it with hands he had to force to stop trembling. The moisture in his eyes gathered hot and stubborn, but he held it back.
“Um.” His voice broke anyway. “Ro, please make sure he’s taking his blood pressure pills.”
He took out the refilled prescription bottle and placed it on the counter, then the multivitamins.
“And I brought his vitamins because…”
He stopped.
The kitchen blurred.
Ro set his beer down.
Furi squeezed the edge of the counter. “He doesn’t eat right when he works too much. Or when he’s stressed. He forgets vegetables unless I put them on the plate and stare at him until he eats them.”
Furi tried to smile but it didn’t work.
“Has he been eating any fruit?” Furi coughed back the tears. “He likes bananas, and kiwi. Not the green ones, the golden ones.”
Ro came around the island and pulled him into his arms.
Furi gripped Ro’s shoulder and buried his face against him. The flood was right there, rising behind his eyes.
Ro’s voice was low near his ear. “I’ll cook a stir-fry tonight. Make sure he gets some vegetables. And I’ll put bananas and golden kiwi on the grocery list, okay?”
Furi dipped his head, then pulled back before he shattered.
He wiped under one eye quickly and pointed to the bag.
“There’re protein bars in there. The chocolate peanut butter ones he likes. And the electrolyte packets because he’ll drink more water if it has flavor. There’s also Tums and peppermint tea for when his stomach gets bad.”
Ro looked sadly at the bag.
“He left in such a hurry,” Furi whispered.
Ro touched his shoulder as he walked him to the front door. “I’ll make sure he gets it.”
At the threshold, Furi stopped and glanced back, but he couldn’t see the patio from where he stood.
“Call me if…”
Ro’s voice was gentle. “I will.”
Furi walked back to his Harley. He swung his leg over his bike and sat there, helmet resting on his thigh.
For a long moment, he didn’t start the engine. He didn’t want to go home.
He just stared down the street through burning eyes trying to convince himself that leaving didn’t mean he was giving up.
Cassidy
Cassidy learned fast that movie sets didn’t know how to be normal especially when something was wrong, and now Xander was back in the middle of it.
Stage 8 had been partially reset since the attack, but Cassidy could still feel the memory of what had happened clinging to the walls.
The production crew dressed the space to look like the interior of a weathered ranch house with rough, plank flooring, a half-open bedroom door, dusty curtains, old family photos, an oak sleigh bed, low amber lamps, and a wide fake window with a painted night beyond it.
Xander was back on set but under a tight new protocol.
Yesterday had changed things. After Ruxs and Green lost their only active lead and irritated the LAPD, God required that everyone tighten up.
No more casual risks or assumptions.
The rest of Xander’s meeting had been finished over Zoom from the hotel. Jesse didn’t like being on a ‘need to know’ basis with her client, but she understood his safety was priority.
Afterward, they’d used the hotel to run countless simulations.
Day charmed hotel management into cooperating, as they ran drills through the lower level, executing lobby crossings, restaurant exits, public approach, paparazzi clusters and split-second evacs.
He could tell Xander hated it, but he’d listened, asked intelligent questions, and never once complained or pulled an entitlement card.
By the end, Xander was exhausted, but he’d still sat with Free and Tech for another two hours while they walked him through the new security system being installed at his house.
State-of-the-art didn’t cover it. Free had designed a system that was sophisticated enough to protect the White House.
“I just wanna feel safe in my own house again,” he’d said quietly.
Tech leaned forward, voice gentler than Cassidy expected. “You will, I promise.”
Later, they’d eaten a late dinner together in the suite.
Xander wore loose lounge pants and a pale cashmere sweater that made him look younger as he’d sat with one leg curled beneath him in the oversized chair.
He asked him about his embassy work, why he’d chosen security, and why he’d chosen a cat instead of a Doberman or Rottweiler.
He’d told Xander more about himself— the nights overseas, the thanklessness of security work, the quiet nights alone—than he’d told anyone else in his life.
Not everything. But enough.