“I love you, too,” I said, my voice sure, even as my chest ached. “I’ve fallen in love with you. Not just because you protect me, but because you see me. And you let me choose.”
His forehead came to rest against mine, his breath uneven. One of his hands slid into my hair, holding me like he was memorizing the weight of this moment.
“Then whatever happens,” he murmured, “we face it knowing this is real.”
I nodded, settling back against his chest, listening to his heartbeat—steady, strong, real—beneath my ear.
This wasn’t distraction.
This was anchoring.
Waiting for midnight didn’t feel like waiting anymore.
It felt like gathering strength.
And whatever came next—whatever Victoria thought she was pulling us into—I knew one thing with absolute certainty:
I wasn’t stepping into it as the girl I’d been.
I was going as a woman in love—chosen, awakened, and choosing back.
And I wasn’t alone.
27
MICAH
We prepped for the flight like we were gearing up for an op.
Which, in a way, we were.
Except this time, the objective wasn't clean. The intel wasn't solid. And the asset we were protecting—Joy—shouldn't have been anywhere near the line of fire.
But here we were.
The armory at Dominion Hall was quiet, efficient. Silas had already laid out what we needed—body armor, lightweight but rated for small arms fire. Comms units. Sidearms. Nothing heavy. Nothing that would drag us down if we ended up in the water.
Because that was the real risk.
Deveaux Bank was a sandbar. Exposed. Surrounded by tidal marsh and open ocean. If something went wrong—if Victoria decided tonight was the night she finished what she'd started with my mother—we'd have nowhere to go but into the water.
And drowning in body armor wasn't how I planned to die.
My brothers were already gone.
Some in the air, circling at altitude in helicopters with doors open and shooters ready. Others on boats, drifting through the marsh channels close enough to respond but far enough to look like weekend fishermen enjoying the night.
Dad had coordinated it all with Silas and the Charleston Danes—men I still couldn't quite wrap my head around. Half-brothers I'd never known existed until a day ago, now risking their lives to back a play they had no stake in except blood.
Family.
The word still felt strange.
But it was real.
I checked my gear one last time, the familiar ritual grounding me. Magazine seated. Chamber loaded. Holster positioned at my hip where I could reach it without thinking.
Joy stood a few feet away, watching me with those dark eyes that saw too much.
