“They’ll be back,” she said.
“Yes,” Cole agreed. “But not like that again.”
Tanner poured water into a glass and handed it to her. “You all right?” “I am,” she said honestly. “Because now I know what they want.” “And what’s that?” Adrian asked.
She met his gaze steadily. “To remind me that leaving would be easier.”
Cole’s jaw tightened. “Then they’ve miscalculated.”
She didn’t argue.
Because standing there, surrounded by men who hadn’t panicked, hadn’t dismissed her, and hadn’t made the decision for her, she understood something with complete clarity.
The threat wasn’t the vehicle.
It was the choice it represented.
And she had already made hers.
**CHAPTER TWELVE.
The night didn’t return to normal.
Not fully.
Dinner was quieter than usual, the clink of cutlery subdued, conversation sparse but not strained. No one pretended the drive-by hadn’t happened. It lingered in the air like a low electrical hum — unseen, but present.
She helped clear the table without being asked.
Tanner watched her for a moment, then nodded. “You don’tneed to do that.”
“I want to.”
That was enough.
Later, when the house had settled and the lights were dimmed, she found Cole alone in the kitchen, rinsing a mug beneath the tap. He didn’t turn when she entered, but his posture shifted — awareness without tension.
“You said earlier,” she began, “that if things escalated, we’d talk.” He shut off the tap. “We are.”
She leaned against the counter opposite him, folding her arms loosely. “There’s more I haven’t said.”
He didn’t interrupt.
“I wasn’t in danger because I was careless,” she continued. “Or because I needed rescuing.”
“I assumed as much,” he said.
She let out a breath. “I said no. Clearly. Repeatedly. To something that was meant to be settled without my consent.”
Cole’s jaw tightened. Not with anger directed at her — with restraint aimed elsewhere.
“They didn’t like that,” she went on. “They assumed I’d come round. Or be pressured into it. That eventually I’d stop resisting.” “And when you didn’t,” he said quietly, “they escalated.” “Yes.”
Silence stretched between them, heavy but not uncomfortable. “I didn’t come here to be hidden,” she said. “I came because I wanted space to stand my ground without being worn down.”
Cole studied her for a long moment. “You’re not a problem we’re managing.”
“I know,” she said. “But I needed you to hear that from me.” He nodded once. “Thank you for trusting us with it.”
