I force myself to breathe normally. My hands won’t stop trembling. “Yes,” I lie. “Just a long day.”
His eyes skim the tree line behind me, narrowing slightly. But there’s no way he saw Eric. Right? “You sure?”
I nod. “I’m fine.”
He studies me for another moment before nodding back. “Drive safe,shef.”
The title—or endearment?—hits me unexpectedly, softening something in my chest. Then he pulls forward to the upper lot, parking the SUV in a position that looks an awful lot like he’s blocking the main exit.
I stand there for a moment, gripping my keys so hard the metal bites into my palm. My mind races, trying to make sense of everything Eric said. Chicago. Debts. Cabins and land surveys. A syndicate he’s afraid to name.
One wrong move, and they’d come for him.
Or me.
My stomach drops.
No. I can’t involve anyone else in this. Not the staff, not Dima, not Jesse. If Eric feels cornered, he could lash out, do something reckless. He didn’t look far from it already.
Only one person can know. Only one person will know what to do. Makari.
The thought steadies me, even as it scares me, because I know exactly how he will react when I tell him someone threatened my daughter. And I know what that reaction will cost. He promised to pay back those men’s deaths in blood.
I unlock the car, slide inside, and rest my forehead against the steering wheel.
Everything is spiraling again. The forest. The bear. The trespassers. The stash. And now this—another syndicate, connected to Chicago, reaching its fingers into the life I’ve built and threatening to unravel it thread by thread.
I breathe slowly, letting the engine idle beneath my hands.
I can’t tell Eric’s story. I can’t ask for mercy on behalf of a man who lost his way and is now drowning. But I can tell Mak the truth.
He’ll keep us safe. Even if it’s wrong, even if it’s dangerous—I believe he will handle it.
And that belief terrifies me almost as much as the threat itself.
I pull out of the lot, leaving the amber glow of the estate behind me, and drive toward a night that suddenly feels much darker than before—my only thought the same one repeating over and over like a heartbeat.
Makari. I have to tell Makari.
Chapter 26
Makari
We’ve been out in the forest since dawn, following prints that cut through a stretch of land miles from anything populated. Whoever has been moving through our territory knows what they’re doing. Clean paths. Heavy gear. Not local.
And yet for the first time in weeks, something inside me feels like it’s aligning. The pattern is becoming clear, a shape forming beneath scattered pieces. The raids weren’t random. The stashes they hit first weren’t the most valuable, but the ones that fed into the larger operations, the ones they could learn from. They’ve been severing lines one by one, circling inwards, gathering information.
Destroying the small arteries so the heart bleeds slower.
A deliberate tactic. A patient one. It’s admirable, and infuriating, and I need to cut the head off the snake.
I crouch beside the newest set of tracks, fingers brushing the edges of a deep boot tread. Fresh. Within the last twenty-four hours.
Jesse comes to stand behind me. “They’re getting bolder.” He’s agitated, just as annoyed as I am at this snarl in our business. If the supply runs are compromised, that means thelegitimate side of the business is, too. We haven’t booked any guests in the past week—on my orders.
“They’re getting predictable,” I correct, rising. “And predictable men make mistakes.”
He gives a grunt that conveys agreement, though he keeps scanning the trees. The men have been tense for weeks—ever since the last encounter, ever since blood hit the dirt. But today, even with danger pressing in around us, the forest is vibrant enough to cut through some of that heaviness.
