I hold her, watching the rise and fall of her chest, memorizing the way she looks in this moment—fucked out and peaceful and trusting me enough to fall asleep in my arms.
I should sleep too.
For the first time in days, I actually could—my back doesn't hurt, my body is sated, and I'm holding the woman I'm rapidly falling for.
But something keeps me awake.
A sound. Muffled voices, coming from somewhere above us.
I strain to listen, trying to identify the source.
It's coming from the air vent in the corner of the ceiling—sound carrying down from whatever room is directly above us.
The office, maybe. Or a meeting room.
The construction down here must have connected the ductwork in ways that weren't intentional.
I recognize Runes' voice first.
Low, serious, the tone of a man discussing club business.
The kind of tone that means something's wrong. "—thought we handled this when we handled Eddie."
"We all thought that." Fenrir's voice, older and rougher. "But the activity's picked back up. Someone's moving product through our territory again."
"Product." Runes spits the word like it tastes bad. "You mean people."
"Yeah. People. Young ones, mostly. Same profile as before."
I go very still, careful not to wake Dalla.
My training kicks in automatically—breathing shallow, body motionless, ears straining for every word.
Silence.
When Runes speaks again, his voice is cold enough to freeze blood.
"Eddie wasn't the head."
"No. He was a front. A figurehead. Whoever's really running this operation is still out there. Still working. And based on what we're seeing, they've got resources Eddie never had."
"How is that possible? We dismantled his network. Burned it to the ground. Killed everyone who touched it."
"We burned what we could see." Fenrir sighs heavily, and I hear the creak of leather as someone shifts in a chair. "But this... this is something else. Organized. Patient. Professional. Theywaited until we let our guard down, and now they're rebuilding. Maybe they never stopped."
"Three months," Runes growls. "Three months of nothing, and we thought it was over. Fucking idiots."
"We're not idiots. We acted on the information we had. Eddie was the face of the operation, and we took him out. We just didn't know there was someone else behind him."
"Someone else." A pause. "Do we have any leads?"
"Nothing solid. A few whispers. Someone new calling the shots—or maybe not new. Maybe they were always there, in the shadows, letting Eddie take the heat." Fenrir's voice goes quieter, harder to hear. "Someone with a grudge, maybe. Someone who knows how we operate."
"An inside source?"
"Possible. Or just someone who's been watching us for a long time. Either way, they know enough to stay out of our reach. They know our patrol schedules, our territories, our weak points. Every time we think we're getting close, they disappear."
"Like ghosts."
