“Beckett came looking for me. Apparently I wasn’t as subtle as I thought.”
Lark snorted. “None of us are as subtle as we think. Emma literally climbed out a window once to avoid a conversation with Daniel.”
“In my defense,” Emma called from somewhere behind us, “he was asking about my five-year plan. I didn’t have a five-year plan. I barely had a five-minute plan.”
“And now?”
“Now, I have a ten-year plan. And all of it involves Daniel.”
Laughter rippled through the kitchen. I took a long sip of wine, feeling the warmth spread through my chest.
“It’s a lot,” I said quietly. “All of this.”
Audra’s expression softened. She glanced toward the main room, where Beckett was making faces at one of the twins, then back at me. “When I first got here, I kept waiting for someone to figure out I didn’t belong. Like there was a test I was going to fail, and then they’d ask me to leave.” She paused. “That feeling doesn’t go away overnight. But it does fade.”
“How?”
“You just…keep showing up. Keep letting them show up for you.” She shrugged. “Eventually, you stop being surprised when they do.”
Lark nodded. “It gets easier. Trusting that you belong here. That you’re not just tolerated—you’re wanted.”
The words hit somewhere deep. I looked at both of them—Lark with her nervous energy and fierce heart, Audra with her quiet strength and hard-won peace—and I saw understanding in their eyes. They’d been where I was. Standing on the outside, wondering if the warmth was real.
“I’m not just Coop’s girlfriend to them,” I said slowly. “Am I?”
“No.” Lark’s smile was gentle. “You’re Mia. That’s enough.”
I was still turning that over in my mind when Coop’s phone buzzed.
The sound shouldn’t have meant anything. Phones buzzed constantly in a room full of people. But I saw the way Coop’s expression shifted as he read the screen. The careful blankness that settled over his features.
“Travis needs me and Hunter to come over,” he said to no one in particular. “Looks like I may need to go back undercover with Oliver’s organization.”
The room didn’t go silent. Conversations continued, laughter still bubbled up from somewhere near the fireplace. But I noticed the way certain heads turned. The way Beckett’s posture straightened. The way Hunter was already moving, pressing a quiet kiss to Jada’s temple.
“I’m coming with you,” I said.
Coop hesitated. “Mia?—”
“I’m coming.”
He looked at me for a long moment, then nodded.
I hadn’t been back to Travis’s since the night Coop had carried me out of there, but it looked the same. Normal from the outside. The kind of place you’d drive past without a second glance. But I knew what waited inside.
We found Travis in his command center, surrounded by screens, fingers flying across a keyboard. Hunter had beaten us there. He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, face unreadable.
“Feds called.” Travis didn’t look up. “Oliver’s planning another sale. Big one.”
“When?” Coop asked.
“Day after tomorrow.”
I’d pieced together the basics over the past two weeks. Travis had been a federal agent once—CIA. The feds still came to him when they needed help, but he didn’t leave his house anymore. So when the opportunity to infiltrate Oliver’s operation came up, Coop had volunteered. Travis had the connections. Coop had the ability to actually go in.
Coop rubbed the back of his neck. “So soon? Fuck, I’m more than a little surprised. I wouldn’t have thought he’d regroup so fast.”
“The feds have had me watching the usual suspects pretty carefully, looking for any movement. Talk about this buy started popping up on multiple dark web places today.” Travis pulled up files on one of his monitors. “They’ve been looking for another opportunity to get back in with Oliver. This is it.”
