I exhale shakily. “Dean,” I say, “if Serafina is targeting you and your network, why would she loop into Luka’s bounty board instead of just hitting you directly?”
“Because she wants a narrative,” Dean says. “Not just an outcome. She wants chaos. Distrust. Public spectacle. Fear.”
Knight lets out a low breath. “Classic villain PR strategy.”
“Don’t joke,” I say automatically.
He tilts his head toward me. “I’m not joking,” he says. “I’m naming the pattern so we can break it.”
That’s the Knight I know.
The man who turns emotion into strategy.
Then he looks down at the burner.
“Arrow,” he says, “get us that route. We’ll be outta here within the hour.”
“You got it.”
Dean’s voice softens just a fraction. “You two did well surviving the initial contact,” he says. “But don’t mistake that for momentum. If Serafina is involved, this isn’t going to stay small.”
“Understood,” Knight says.
“Lark,” Dean adds.
“Yeah?”
“Trust your instincts,” he says. “You’re alive because you do.”
I swallow. “Okay.”
The call ends with a clean click.
Knight sets the burner down like it weighs fifty pounds.
For a second we just stand there in this ugly hotel room, breathing the same air, hearing the same hum of the air conditioner, feeling the shape of our world tilt.
“Northstar,” I murmur.
He nods once. “Bigger board,” he says.
“Bigger monsters.”
He turns to me fully, hands sliding to my hips, steadying me. “We’re going to be okay,” he says.
I lift a brow. “That sounded like you trying to convince yourself.”
“Maybe.” His mouth twitches. “But I’m also very good at being right.”
I laugh once, short and shaky. “Do you think Gage knows about… any of this?”
“Gage knows enough to be dangerous,” Knight says. “Not enough to connect this thread yet.”
I chew on the inside of my cheek. “Because if Serafina is hunting Dean?—”
“Then everyone connected to Dean is a chess piece,” Knight finishes.
“And Luka just put a price tag on the board.”
