“And Silas is … gone. As usual,” Charlie added.
There was a pause. Ryker stepped closer, brow lifting. “So … is she yours?”
Marcus cut in, half teasing. “Or are you still playing the stoic protector role?”
Charlie’s jaw ticked. “She’s mine.”
That sent a ripple through the room. Not shock. Recognition.
Atlas was the one who finally said it. “Then she’s one of us.”
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. Because these men weren’t just soldiers or brothers or even billionaires. They were a unit. A fortress. And I’d just been brought behind the gates.
But the weight of what we’d heard on the pier still pressed down.
Charlie turned toward the group, his voice all business now. “We’ve got a problem. Department 77 isn’t out of the fight. They’re coming, and they’ve made it personal.”
The air shifted again. Gone was the teasing. The room turned into a war room.
And I realized something else—something terrifying and thrilling all at once.
I wasn’t just along for the ride.Iwas in the fight.
26
CHARLIE
The ops room at Dominion Hall hummed with tension, the air thick with anticipation as my brothers and I circled the table, Sloane standing beside me. Marshall’s play at the pier—his claim that Department 77 wanted Sloane to secure the Carringtons—burned in my gut, a threat tied to Sylvia’s past with my father.
I leaned against the table, my knuckles white, and looked at my brothers—Ryker’s sharp gaze, Marcus’s cocky grin, Atlas’s quiet bulk, Noah’s steady calm, Elias’s calculating stare—knowing we had to unravel Department 77’s endgame.
“They want Sloane married to Marshall,” I said, my voice rough from the whiskey and rage of the night. “With her, they’ve got the Carringtons in their pocket for good—leverage, money, influence.”
Elias nodded, his fingers tapping the table. “Department 77’s been blackballed, run out by the CIA and the government. They’re ghosts now, operating in the shadows—so what’s their play?”
Atlas broke the silence, his voice a low rumble. “Survival.”
The word landed like a stone, and I felt it sink in, the truth of it chilling me—a cornered beast was a dangerous thing, and Department 77 was wounded, desperate, ready to claw its way back.
Sloane’s voice cut through, clear and urgent. “Can Dominion Hall protect my family?”
Ryker answered fast, his grin fierce. “Hell yes, especially with our family connection.”
The brothers started jibing, Marcus tossing a quip about old flames, but Sloane sliced in again, her tone sharp.
“I asked for a reason.”
They fell silent, giving her the floor, and I watched her, her eyes blazing, wheels turning, a new confidence radiating from her that took my breath away.
I braced myself, expecting fear or caution, but Sloane stunned me.
“If we can protect my family, we don’t wait,” she said, her voice steel. “We go after Marshall now—him and Department 77, they’re the same poison, and they need to be wiped out.”
Marcus let out a low whistle, his grin wide. “Damn, little brother, you sure know how to pick ‘em.”
I flipped him off, but when I glanced at Sloane, she was grinning, a fierce, intoxicating confidence transforming her, like she’d shed the polished heiress and stepped into something raw and unstoppable.
She wasn’t done.
