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languages—upset or concerned, she couldn’t tell.
    “Rounds!” Nathan snapped to Phillip, who fumbled with the glove box for more ammo. Nathan’s hand closed around the zipper of his hoodie and yanked it down.
    When the rhino ran off, all of the air drained from her lungs. What had she done? Giovanni hadn’t been aiming at the animal, he’d been aiming at the pair of poachers that had been moving in on foot. Everyone in the vehicle had been so quiet and still, and the tall grass and nearby brush had made them difficult for the poachers to notice.
    She’d forced Giovanni to shoot into the air and give away their position.
    The two men whose skin was as dark as coffee grounds focused their attention and guns on the vehicle. That was the last thing she saw before Nathan curled a rough hand around the back of her neck and shoved her head into his lap. Then he retrieved the gun holstered inside his open jacket.
    A shot whizzed overhead, slicing through a branch. Two more cracks ripped from a gun and hit the side of her door as leaves from above rained down.
    She had to be impressed with Giovanni, who reloaded with lightning speed and fired again before Nathan had his gun ready. There was a sharp noise of pain from just beyond the car and then hurried footsteps and branches rustled as one of them fled. As that faded, there were strangled sounds of gurgling from nearby. Giovanni had hit the man, but not killed him.
    The Italian asked Nathan something, and she could feel the shift go through the body beneath her hands, signaling Nathan was reluctant to do what he’d just been asked to. He placed his left hand on her shoulder, either steadying himself or preventing her from getting up. Then he fired a single shot, silencing the gurgling.
    Her whole body shook when he put the gun away and zipped his sweatshirt closed, his hands and breath steady. There was no physical reaction from him. You’d never know he’d just taken another man’s life, even if it had been to end his suffering. Her hands ached because she was gripping his thigh ferociously. It had to hurt, but he didn’t ask her to release him.
    “What are we going to do about that?” Nathan said to Phillip.
    “Hyena will take care of it. Tomorrow there will be hardly anything left.”
    Nathan’s hand hesitantly came to rest on her shoulder, and this time she flinched at his touch. Giovanni babbled and it seemed to annoy his bodyguard.
    “Enough, I get it,” he snapped at his boss. Then his voice softened. “Olivia, it’s safe now. If you want to sit up, keep your eyes on me.”
    She exhaled loudly. She wasn’t sure whether she’d prefer to look at the dead body instead of Nathan’s cold eyes. The engine of the Land Cruiser rumbled to a start and rolled in reverse toward the sandy path, and she sat up in time to see Phillip spit on the ground. It wasn’t like the murder left a bad taste in his mouth. It seemed this was a final sign of disrespect to the poacher.
    Nathan’s eyes weren’t cold. They were filled with chaos, and she didn’t understand. At least he wasn’t angry. If anything, he looked worried.
    “Are you all right?” he whispered.
    “I almost got us killed.” The adrenaline pumping through her veins made her unable to control her mouth. “I thought Giovanni was going to shoot the rhino. That’s why I went for the rifle.”
    Upon hearing his name, the Italian asked Nathan something, perhaps to translate, which he did.
    “No, no,” Giovanni said, then continued in his language. She was too overwhelmed to listen to the translation from Nathan. The landscape whizzed by. She didn’t know how she felt about what had just happened. Like last time she’d witnessed death, she was completely numb.
    “Olivia.” Nathan jarred her out of the fog. He must have asked her something, but she couldn’t fathom what it was. “He wants you to know he’s not angry.”
    “Great.” Like she cared what Giovanni thought. This is why he’d come to