The way my heart takes a nosedive into the pit of my stomach has me wondering why I let my guard down with this woman.
“I … I stole something from you.”
Wait a minute. This isn’t about her betraying me. Not in the way I thought, anyway.
She turns and walks toward me. “It’s nothing really, and I don’t know why I hid it from you. I should have just asked for it.”
I’m so fucking confused.
Serenity continues to explain as my mind scrambles to figure out what the hell she’s talking about.
“It reminded me of my brother.” She wipes her eyes with her closed fist. “I always thought we’d stick together, but then he fell further and further into …” She throws her head back. “I don’t even know what to call it. The madness, the life of a hustler. He was just like my mom but each were hustling for different things. Her for love and he for money. Both became addicted to it, and neither were willing to be patient and wait for it to come naturally. They jumped at anything that moved, ignoring all the signs from the universe they were going in the wrong direction. They never saw the patterns and the loop they created for themselves.”
“What have you been hustling for?” I ask.
Her head snaps up, and her watery eyes turn my direction. “Peace.”
The irony isn’t lost on me that her very name is Serenity. The universe’s cruel joke perhaps.
She turns the washing machine on before coming to stand in front of me. “I gave this to Mila earlier today. I forgot she had it in her pocket.”
When she opens her hand, I’m not sure what to think. It’s a tiny porcelain duck.
“This isn’t mine,” I tell her. “I’ve never seen it before.”
“It is. I found it at the Cage. It goes with the music box you gave me tonight.” She slides past me, and I follow her back to Mila’s room where she quietly retrieves the bag I gave her earlier.
We both give Peanut a few scratches before heading into the bedroom. She stands by the door nervously, clutching the bag to her chest. I walk over and sit on the bed, kicking my boots off.
“I’ll just show you and then …” She points to the room across the hall from us.
I shake my head. “No. I’m going to need you right here.” I pat the spot beside me.
“But I’ll sleep …”
“Also right here,” I say quickly, leaving her no room for argument.
“Rage.”
“Here at home, and around Mila, you can call me Chase if you want to.”
A small smile lights her face. “Wolfe told me using your government name could get me –” She draws a finger across her throat.
“Well, I’ve heard you use it a few times and look, you’re still kicking. Besides, I think my wife should be able to call me by my full name.”
Her head dips shyly, and I find myself desperately hoping this is not all an act. Tiff was easy to spot, but this woman …
She sits down beside me and begins to wind the music box. Her nearness instantly quiets my thoughts. When it begins to play, she drops the little duck onto it, and it slides to a hidden magnet underneath the porcelain pond.
We watch it spin until it slows and then freezes in place.
“My grandmother lived by a lake. My brother and I loved it there. It’s why it reminded me of him.”
And that is all she says about it.
“Anyway, I’m sorry I took it. Grief makes you do funny things.”
Here I am worried she’s working with my enemy, and all the while she’s been stressing over a little duck that one of my guys salvaged from an estate sale or a dumpster.