My cheeks heated, unhelpfully. I wasn’t going to unpack that line with him.
“I’ll be back,” I said instead.
As I stepped into the hall, Marcus straightened slightly from where he’d been leaning against the wall. One of the guards flicked a glance inside, checking Derek’s posture, his bindings, the angle of his head.
“Well?” Marcus asked.
“He’s in,” I said. “If you’re willing to let him live with his mistakes instead of die for them.”
The decision felt locked now.
The story I’d once planned to write—the one that would expose the Danes—wasn’t happening. Whatever I chose to publish from here on out would protect this family, not endanger it.
31
LEVI
Dad disappeared.
One moment he was sitting at the head of the war room table, pale and shaking after saying Victoria's name. The next, he was gone—slipping out through a side door while the rest of us were still processing.
The room fell into tense silence.
"Well," Atlas said finally. "That was ominous."
Caleb leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. "Anyone know who Victoria is?"
Heads shook around the table.
"Dad's never mentioned her," Charlie said. "Not once."
"Yeah," Silas added. "Whatever this is, it predates Dominion Hall."
I thought about the woman's voice in the dark. The way she'd spoken about my father like she owned him. Like she'd been waiting decades for this moment.
"She said he was one of theirs," I said. "That he built Dominion Hall on the bones of her operation."
"Revenge, then," Noah said quietly. "Personal revenge."
The words settled heavy in the room.
Gideon spoke up. "So, what do we do? Wait for him to come back? Go looking?"
"We wait," Ethan said. His voice carried that particular weight of command—the kind that came from years of leading men into bad situations and bringing most of them back. "He'll tell us when he's ready."
We waited.
Five minutes stretched into ten. The Charleston Danes pulled up files on their laptops, cross-referencing names and operations. My Montana brothers sat in that particular stillness soldiers learned—alert but patient, ready to move the second the order came.
When Dad finally returned, he looked different.
Grim. Determined. Like he'd walked into the past and dragged something heavy back with him.
"Had to call in a favor, but I know where she is," he said simply.
The room shifted. Every man straightening, leaning forward.
"It's time to suit up," Dad continued.
