PROLOGUE
Nick Murphy stared at the television, not wanting to believe what he was seeing: a picture of Leland Walker with a checkmark next to it announcing him as the projected winner of Massachusetts’ contested Senate seat.
“I don’t fucking believe it,” his brother Declan said, getting up from the sofa to join Nick.
Believe it.
He didn’t bother saying it. He knew what Declan meant. It didn’t matter that all the polls leading up to the election had pointed to Leland as the likely winner. Deep down Nick had thought some kind of magic might occur, that the universe would realize Leland was a violent criminal hiding behind the shiny facade of a preppy Boston blue blood. Deepdown he’d believed the election would be decided in favor of Leland’s opponent, a cosmic righting of wrongs that had so far eluded Nick — at least when it came to Leland Walker.
He reached for Alexa’s hand and found it cold and clammy. “I’m sorry.”
The words were inadequate, but he’d said all the other ones so many times they’d started to sound trite.
We’ll get him.
We’ll make him pay.
It’s only a matter of time.
He can’t escape justice forever.
After months of digging for new ways to bring down the man who’d crashed into Alexa and her best friend on a dark highway twelve years earlier, a man who’d left them to die, whose family had paid off the police to keep the investigation short and ultimately unsolved, Nick wasn’t sure he believed it.
Alexa’s best friend Samantha had died that night, and Alexa had barely escaped the same fate. It had taken her years of surgeries and physical therapy to come out the other side, and she was far from unscathed.
Alexa took a deep breath. “We knew this would happen.”
“It still sucks.” Declan’s eyes — the same blue as the rest of the Murphy clan except for Nick, who had their mother’s green eyes — flashed as he ran a hand through his dark hair.
“I second that,” Julia said, rising from the sofa.
She handed the baby in her arms, three-month-old John Thomas, to Ronan, taking a few seconds to remove her dark blond hair from the baby’s tiny fingers. Ronan’s dog Chief whined from her cushion on the floor, eying the baby with concern.
“Relax,” Julia said gently, dropping a hand to pet the top of Chief’s head before crossing the room to give Alexa a hug. “Can I get you some tea? Something stronger?”
Alexa smiled, but Nick could tell that it was forced. “Tempting, but no thanks.”
“I’d join you if I could.” Julia was breastfeeding John Thomas and never had more than a little wine with dinner. “Tea is a distant second, but it’s better than nothing.”
“I’ll take some tea,” Elise said, following her sister into the kitchen. She looked sympathetically at Alexa. “We’ll fill the kettle in case you change your mind.”
Nick felt a rush of gratitude as she walked past them to the kitchen. Alexa had had no choice but tomove into the Murphy house after the siege on the hotel that had almost killed her and Nick last summer. She’d been grateful for the offer — there was no place safer until they finished the business with the Walker family — but Nick knew she’d been nervous too.
Nick had lived with his brothers, Ronan and Declan, for years, ever since they’d started Murphy Intelligence and Security. It had been a way to make sure they had a secure place to talk outside of the office, one that was swept regularly for surveillance devices and that could be locked down under a state-of-the-art alarm system, necessary given the nature of their business.
But until Julia and Elise moved in, it had been nothing more than a convenient living arrangement. Ronan had kept to himself, busy with work and Chief, the dog who’d accompanied him into battle in Afghanistan. Declan had spent most of his time tomcatting on the town, looking for fresh conquests and sleeping off his exploits the next day.
And Nick, well, Nick had been all but dead, a warm body without a beating heart, something he hadn’t realized until he’d met Alexa.
Julia and her sister, Elise, had moved in after MIS rescued Elise from a transnational traffickingring known as Manifest. Julia and Ronan had been hot and heavy by then, and Nick had been worried about the dynamic in the house. He’d barely been able to communicate with his brothers. Letting two women he barely knew into their inner sanctum had felt dangerous.
But Nick and Elise had become fast friends, and Julia had become like a sister almost without Nick realizing it. Little by little, the atmosphere in the house changed from one of polite cohabitation to one that felt strikingly like family.
Nick knew Alexa hadn’t been sure how she’d fit into the equation, but after three months, she seemed to be settling in. She was reserved, but she seemed comfortable, and it had been heaven for Nick in spite of the lingering issue of Leland Walker.
Julia had been a big part of why it worked. She’d welcomed Alexa with open arms, integrating her into conversations and kitchen duty. When Alexa couldn’t sleep, she’d creep from the bedroom she shared with Nick, planning to wait out her insomnia in the living room. Nick often found her hours later, sitting with Julia as she nursed the baby, Julia and Alexa thick as thieves.
Nick missed Nora, their sister who lived in California, and he still couldn’t talk much about Erin,who’d died of an overdose when Nick had been barely out of high school, but Julia and Elise had become family.