We’ve already said our goodbyes, so she takes her seat saying nothing more, lost in thought.
When Maddox turns back to face us, I shove my hands in my pockets and open my mouth to speak. There’s a question I still haven’t asked him because I’ve been dreading it. But this isn’t what I do—I don’t fucking steer away from hard truths. It’s not who I am.
So I ask him now, because I need to know so I can prepare myself for what’s next. “Did you do it? Did David Foster take back his job?”
Myjob.
But to my surprise, he shakes his head, an amused smirk on his face. “Don’t be an idiot. Of course I didn’t give it to him.”
“Then what the hell did you do?”
He shrugs. “Threatened him.”
“Threatenedhim?” I scowl. “You. The president. Threatened David Foster.”
“With what?” Cole asks, his presence still something I haven’t gotten used to.
Maddox pins us down with his stare, not wanting the Secret Service to hear what Cole and I both know to be true. They might be on our side, but Maddox keeps a lot of our plans away from them. For precautions, he says. Which is a good thing, I guess, since Maddox is practically telling us he threatened to kill a man.
“You’re insane,” I tell him. “I can’t fucking believe he took you seriously.”
He scoffs. “Why wouldn’t he? Aren’t I the president? If anyone could do that, it’s me.”
I don’t even respond to it, as we both know how crazy that is. He’s thepresident, and he’s the only one out of the three of us who doesn’t get to have skeletons in his closet.
Silence passes between us, only the wind and the yellowed autumn leaves scratching across the pavement making a small noise. I still have my job. I’m still commander of the army, though it won’t mean much a few days from now. After a short while, Maddox is the first one to speak again.
“You don’t think the plan is going to work,” he says, looking at me.
I simply answer, “I don’t have the luxury of being uncertain this time.”
Dove’s image comes to the front of my mind, her hair draped over the pillow as her body lowers and raises with soft breaths. I carried her into our bedroom earlier, seeing how dizzy shewas. Desperation twists my gut knowing the state she’s in, and like always, I shove it down, down into a place so dark that any amount of light seeping through would instantly die.
Too much. I’ve failed too many people and disappointed them way too fucking much. I’ve fought hard and made sacrifices, but life has a funny way of showing you nothing you ever do is enough. Well,ha, ha, ha, motherfucker, I’m about to put everything on the line this time. Everything I am, and everything I could be, and everything that I hoped to be by Dove’s side… I’ll give it up with a smile on my face if that means saving her life.
Cole takes a few aimless steps in the alley, the stress of the past few days lingering in his system. He’s just come back to us. To Dove… to his family. I won’t make the same mistake as last time and lose him twice.
“Which is why I have another plan,” I say, stopping Cole in his tracks.
He drags a hand down his face. “Great. So everything we talked about in there, what the fuck was that for?”
It’s Maddox who answers for me, his voice barely audible as he says, “It was all for Dove… wasn’t it?”
I offer a nod, knowing full well this conversation is going to rock things between the three of us.
“Dove needs a clear vision to fight for right now. She needs to use all the anger and all the fear she’s gathered and empty them out into something meaningful. I know her… and without the plan we just talked about, she’d…” I wince, remembering the night I got her back and her eyes were void of life.
“She’ll make it.” I smile. “She’ll bring those motherfuckers down, and the three of you are going to help her. But this… what we discussed tonight… is not the plan that’s going to keep her alive. Because Salister doesn’t respond to blackmail.” My eyes shift to Cole, because he knows him better than any of us after what he’s been through.
“He just pulls out a bigger gun,” he answers, understanding. “If he loses the fight, he’ll bring her down with him. Just to spite us.”
Maddox clenches his jaw, his nostrils flaring as he rushes to get to the bottom of this conversation—of my new plan. “Rowan… what thefuckdid you do?”
“Will you come with me?” I ask Dove over lunch the next day.
The hand she holds the fork with freezes as she gives me a bewildered but hopeful look.
“Is that okay? I don’t want to disturb you at work.”
