Free Aligned: Volume 4 by Ella Miles

me jump the first time the slick handgun backfires in my hand. I look at the paper with an outline of a man hanging opposite me. I hit the target right in the middle. Right in the heart.  
    I fire over and over, getting more precise with each shot. Each backfire seeming less and less extreme. Each shot making me feel more and more confident as I hit the target’s heart over and over. Never missing.  
    I smile after I stop. I won’t miss. When the time comes, I won’t miss.  
    My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I answer it.  
    “Hello.”  
    “I can meet you in ten minutes at the coffee shop on Fifth Street.”  
    “See you then,” I say hanging up the phone. I hate being secretive, but it’s the only way. Nick agreed to meet me. He agreed not to speak of this to Ethan or Laura. I told him I was in trouble and needed him to come. I told him I thought somebody else might be after me, but I didn’t want Ethan to worry. So he agreed to meet me and to keep it a secret. That’s why we didn’t agree on when or where until now.  
    I put the gun in my purse. I won’t need it today, but soon. I know my time is running out, and I will have to use it soon to save my life. But I have to figure out how to save James first.  
    I get to the coffee shop five minutes late. I walk in and get a coffee, but I don’t spot Nick anywhere. I take a seat at a table near the back and wait.  
    I wait for over an hour, but he never shows. I’m tempted to call him, but I’m afraid if he didn’t show it’s for a reason. Someone contacted and told him not to show. Ethan.  
    It just proves Ethan is tracking me or my phone or both. God, what the hell am I doing? I don’t know how I’m going to do this. I don’t have any skills. One day at a gun range doesn’t suddenly make me a sharpshooter. I don’t know how to protect myself. I don’t know how to find the evidence. At this rate, he’ll kill me before I even spot him, and then knowing him, he will blame my death on Landon or some other innocent person.  
    I can’t do this. Not alone. I need to tell Landon. I need help. I need protection.  
    I look up deciding I’ve stayed here long enough when I see him walking straight to me. A frown on his face. Ethan.  
    I try to glance around the coffee shop for an exit, but the only exit is in front of me. Past Ethan. I’m fucked. I can’t leave. I’m going to have to talk to him. I reach inside my purse and feel the gun there. I don’t pull it out, but I leave my hand on the trigger all the same ready to use it if I have to.  
    When he reaches me, his frown turns to a smile as he takes a seat in front of me.  
    “I’m glad you haven’t left yet.”  
    “How did you know I would be here at all?”  
    “Nick told me.”  
    Fucking asshole , I think. “What exactly did Nick tell you?”  
    “He said you were worried that James wasn’t the only one after you. That you needed his help. You needed protection.”  
    I take a deep breath, trying to remain calm. I didn’t tell Nick anything. I didn’t tell him that Ethan is the monster not James. I just told him I was scared. And I am.  
    “I’m scared,” I say my voice shaky adding credibility to the lie. Except it isn’t a lie. I am scared.  
    Ethan reaches his hand across the table and touches my hand. My gut reaction is to pull my hand away, but I don’t. I let him touch me. I can’t let him know he is the person I’m afraid of.  
    “I’m afraid James isn’t the only one out there who wants me dead. So many people have targeted us. I must be missing some bigger picture. What if someone has been hiring all of these people to hurt me? To hurt us? What if he is still out there? What if he is hiring someone else right now to kill us?”  
    Ethan squeezes my hand harder. “That’s why I want you home. So I can protect you. I can hire all sorts of protection to protect you.”  
    “I can hire my own protection,” I say. “But that’s why I went to