I stared down at the coffee between my hands. Steam curled up toward my face, warm, comforting, grounding—something simple in the middle of everything that wasn’t.
“I’m tired,” I admitted. “Of chasing shadows that might not even be hers.”
AB cleared his throat. “Then you don’t have to keep chasing it.” His tone was steady but not forceful. “We can stop. We can shift. We can reroute. You’re in control of the pace.”
I let that sit. My heart thudded hard against my ribs—slow, heavy, unsure.
“I don’t want to… quit,” I said finally. “But I don’t know how much further I can push without losing myself in the process.”
“Then say that.” Bones’ voice softened—not gentle, but solid. The kind of voice that made you feel like if the floor gave out, he wouldn’t. “Tell us where you want the line.”
My throat tightened. “I don’t know where the line is yet.”
“Okay,” Voodoo said simply. “Then we’ll help you find it.”
No pity. No pressure. No one jumping in to fix things for me.
Just… support. Plain and uncomplicated and terrifyingly steady.
Legend stepped closer—not crowding, just easing into my orbit like he’d been keeping pace with my heartbeat. “Grace,” he murmured, “you don’t have to decide today. Or tomorrow. Or anytime soon.”
My eyes burned, but I blinked it back hard. Until I decided, we were out here burning through their resources, their networks, their time—time they didn’t owe me. They’d already done so much more than anyone ever had.
Legend held my gaze. “But whatever you decide—we’re not letting you face it alone.”
Something in me loosened. Not fully. But enough that I could breathe again without feeling like my ribs were made of wire.
“I don’t know what I want,” I repeated, quieter now. The truth sat heavy on my tongue until another truth pushed past it. “Except you. All of you. I want all of you in this with me. I want to…”
The words jammed in my throat. Tears caught behind them like gravel. I couldn’t let go of Am. Couldn’t let myself imagine the world where she was… gone. But I didn’t know where to look next.
“Do we have any other leads?” I asked, though my heart already braced for the answer.
As my gaze moved from one face to the next—Voodoo, Bones, Legend, AB—I read it clearly. The answer wasnot really.Not cleanly. Not anymore.
“We’re not done here,” AB said firmly. “There are still some stones we can kick over.”
But his eyes told the quieter truth, those stones might not hide anything.
I closed my own eyes and leaned back into the warmth of Bones’ hand at my nape.
“Firecracker.” Voodoo’s voice was soft enough I almost missed it. When I opened my eyes, he’d moved—kneeling beside my chair, level with me. “We can finish up with Dvorak. Turn everything over to the Feds. Let them take the hammer to Madrina’s side of the wall. Then we regroup. That’s not the same as giving up.”
“No?” I whispered. Wanting so badly to believe it.
“No,” Bones answered, as unshakeable as bedrock. “It means we’re giving ourselves breathing room. We rest. Recover. Restock. Get our feet under us. Meanwhile, Alphabet keeps digging, we keep our contacts in the loop, we tug threads and watch what shakes loose. And when we have intel…”
We move.
That promise lived bright and certain in their eyes.
“Until then… we go back to Base?” I asked.
Montana. The mountain. Their quiet place. Our safe place.
“Yes,” Legend said, sliding his hand over mine on the table. “We take you home, Gracie.”
Voodoo set his hand over Legend’s. “We let you heal.”
