Chapter 28

When Lucasand Maddie walked in, Lucas saw that Huck was waiting for them, armed and ready.

There was a steadiness emanating from Maddie"s dad, a focus that made Lucas nod. Maddie"s dad would be an asset, despite the still-healing injury.

There was no fear in his steely gaze, just focus. But, as always, and as would be expected, Huck had eyes only for Maddie. "How are you doing, Mads?"

"I"m ready."

The shades were already down, and the indoor lights were dimmed. "My guess is that Les"s team will move in after we"ve had time to eat and drink. Right when we"d be relaxing." Lucas had gone over this with Dylan a bunch of times, and they had a plan.

A plan that had not included the three men who walked down the stairs, stunning him. "What the hell?" He had help. His family had come. On their own.

Maddie"s eyes widened. "Tristan? Jacob? And who are you?"

Falcon was tall and imposing, in his jeans, black jacket, and boots. He was a man who didn't socialize. A man who was about the battle and survival. He was an enigma who slid in and out of the Harts" lives, but he was always available in an emergency. He wasn"t a Hart, technically, but he shared those teenage homeless roots with the Harts, and he was a part of their family…on the occasions he was around, which were less and less frequent.

But here today. Son of a bitch. Yes.

Falcon shook Maddie"s hand. "Name"s Falcon. Here to help."

"We are too!" To Lucas"s surprise, Bella came jogging down the stairs, along with his other sister, Meg, who hadn"t even met Maddie yet.

Meg was wearing pink camo pants, a pink bulletproof vest, and a black cowboy hat. "Hi, Maddie," she said cheerfully. "I"m Meg Hart. Nice to meet you."

Maddie"s eyes were wide. "Um, nice to meet you, too. Why are you guys here?"

Bella flopped down on the couch. "We snuck in so Les"s men wouldn"t see us! It was super fun. I feel so badass."

"Right?" Meg beamed at them. "Bella told me how she was feeling the need to be more and do more, and we thought it was time that our brothers stopped having all the fun." She patted her hip. "We"re both armed and dangerous."

"We couldn"t stay home and let you be the only girl here!" Bella beamed at them. "I overheard Dylan telling Jacob that he was going to have to pull coverage. We"re not idiots, right? We all figured that if Les was going to make a move, it would be when the coverage was off. Dylan"s men have been visible, and Les knows that the Harts killed Ivan, so he"s not going to take a chance by going for you when you were at the ranch. So, tonight"s the night."

Tristan sat down at the kitchen table and stretched out his legs. "Lucky for us, we have this thing called a private jet, so we got out here quickly."

Falcon grunted and remained standing. "I was in the area already."

Jacob wasn"t smiling. He looked intense and focused. On edge. But committed. "I didn"t get the chance to protect you when you were little, Maddie. This is my redemption."

Lucas felt the emotion in his brother"s words, and he walked over and hugged him. Jacob didn"t used to let family hug him often, but that had changed since he"d met Phoebe and Annie. A lot had changed.

Like the fact half his family was standing in Huck"s living room. Lucas looked around, stunned by the sight of his family. "Thanks."

"Thanks?" Bella rolled her eyes. "You"re thanking us for doing what we do? That"s ridiculous. Take that back right now."

Lucas felt his tension ease. He"d thought he was alone out here, but he wasn"t. Not at all. "I take it back."

"Good boy," Bella said. "You"re so trainable, Lucas. It"s so handy."

He started laughing. "Trainable?"

"Like every good man should be, right, Maddie?"

Maddie finally grinned, recovering from the shock of seeing everyone. "Absolutely."

"I have gear." A man"s voice echoed from her dad"s basement, and Lucas spun around to see Caleb Stockton walk up the stairs.

"Caleb?" Lucas was even more surprised. The Stockton clan was related to the Harts because a woman who had gone through the Hart camp, but never changed her name, had married a Stockton.

The Stocktons were like the Harts: family loyalty above all. For both clans, family had nothing to do with blood and everything to do with heart, so the bond had been instant.

Now they had businesses together, pooled resources, and celebrated holidays together.

But having Caleb show up for this situation was next level. Of any Stockton, Caleb was the one for this assignment, though. Caleb had spent years in the military and then in private ops employ. He was a highly trained military expert, and an absolute badass. The Harts were all trained, but nothing like Caleb. He"d been missing for years, and when he"d come back, he"d shocked everyone.

"And me." Behind him, emerging from the basement was Logan Stockton, a former CIA agent. Like Caleb, he"d retired to focus on the Stockton horse business and his wife and family, but the skills were in his DNA.

Lucas grinned. "Son of a bitch." He walked over and hugged Logan and Caleb, then turned to introduce them to Maddie. "These guys are family to us," he explained.

"Always family," Logan agreed.

"Two private jets make things so easy," Bella said cheerfully.

Lucas looked around the small kitchen, and he couldn't believe it. So many members of his family, immediate and extended, had shown up at a moment"s notice to help him. Unasked. They"d simply done it. It was how they operated, but out in Boston, he"d felt isolated. He"d expected to be on his own out here, except when he went home.

This kind of support was what he couldn't live without. He thought he"d have to give it up if he set up a life in Boston with Maddie.

Tonight showed him how wrong he"d been. He looked over at Maddie, who was now sitting at the table talking to Meg and Bella, and a sense of rightness settled over him.

The Harts had blended with the Stocktons. But he"d been blind…driven by fear and loss…thinking the Harts wouldn"t blend with Maddie and her dad, just because they didn"t make up a massive clan. He"d believed he couldn't have it all, that he didn"t deserve it all.

And his family had just made that so crystal clear that even he couldn't miss it: they were all together, no matter where he lived.

Maddie met his gaze, and he grinned at her, feeling lighter in his soul than he had in a very long time.

Her eyebrows went up, no doubt feeling the energy rolling through him. Then she smiled back, a private smile just for them, connecting them across the room.

"Let"s make plans," Meg said, lightly smacking her palm on the table to get everyone"s attention.

"I vote for pizza," Tristan said. "We"ll order in, and when we open the door to get the food, they"ll use that as an excuse to come in. We"ll have to make sure the delivery guy is gone before we open the door. No one else gets sucked into our battle."

Our battle. Because his whole family and the Stocktons had taken on Maddie"s safety as their own.

Lucas fucking loved that. Loved it. They accepted her, welcomed her, and that mattered to him.

"You think it"s that easy?" Lucas asked.

"They"ve been waiting for two weeks to get to Maddie and Huck," Jacob said. "They have no idea how long until Dylan"s guys come back. They"ll move fast."

"Agreed," said Caleb. "They"ll wait long enough to make sure it"s not a trap, but then they"ll take action. Maybe they won"t wait for pizza."

"I have vests, night vision goggles, helmets, and gas masks for everyone." Logan unzipped his bag and started handing them out. "We don"t know how sophisticated they are, but we"ll be ready. Anyone need a gun?"

Lucas looked over at Maddie as everyone went for their gear, laughing and chatting, clearly at ease. Maddie"s eyes were wide as she watched, so he walked over to her and leaned in close. "Maddie." He kept his voice low. "You okay?"

She looked over at him, and to his surprise, there were tears in her eyes. "All these people came to help me and my dad? They flew cross-country to get here as fast as they could."

He smiled. "Yeah, they did."

"What if one of them gets shot?"

"They won"t, but if they do, that"s part of the deal. It happens."

"I don"t want it to happen."

Lucas grasped her shoulders and turned her toward him. "We make our own choices, Maddie. There are a lot of us now, and we"re very good. We live for family, and doing this is part of what makes us whole. Allow everyone in this room the chance to do what they want to do."

She nodded, but her eyes were full of tears. "It"s beautiful."

He smiled and put his arm around her shoulders. "I know it is."

"No wonder you don"t want to leave the ranch."

"Yeah, but they made a good point that a couple of private jets makes the world very small. And they"re willing to do some of the work to keep us connected. And I"m willing to do the rest."

Her eyes widened as she looked at him…and then the lights went out.