“Better yet,” Titus said evenly, “show me.”
He hauled Miles to his feet and shoved him toward Viper, waiting in the doorway.
“Come along, John.”
Out in the hallway, Rip took position along with Memphis and Law. All were standing watch over the perimeter.
“One cocky motherfucker,” Memphis muttered, noting the lack of security for a man running an operation like this out of his own estate.
Titus agreed silently as they moved toward the study. He’d wondered earlier why John hadn’t brought him into the room—and now it made sense. Miles had claimed it as his own.
Viper headed straight for the desk. Memphis and Law held the hallway. Rip stepped inside the room as backup.
Titus shoved Miles forward. “Get them.”
Viper lifted the laptop from the desk.
“Don’t touch that!” Miles snapped.
“Too late,” Viper said coolly, already plugging his phone into the side of it. He tapped his comms. “Sage, I’m connected to a laptop. I need access.”
“On it,” Sage replied instantly.
“Get. The. Document,” Titus said.
Miles hurried to the safe.
Titus stayed tight to him, close enough to see every move—no room for surprises.
“No,” Titus said sharply, snatching a compact handgun from the top of a stack of papers before Miles could grab it.
Miles growled, then lunged for the documents and shoved them at him.
Titus juggled papers and weapons—and that’s when he realized too late that Miles had pulled another gun from the inside of the safe.
The shot cracked through the room.
The burn in his gut was immediate.
White-hot.
The room went dead quiet.
At least, it felt that way to him.
The gunshot detonated the room.
“No!” Viper shouted—
The trigger broke anyway.
For one impossible beat, time collapsed inward. Sound didn’t echo—it vanished. The world narrowed to a single, violent certainty: he was too late.
Titus—
The thought struck before reason could stop it. Blood on tile. Weight gone slack in his arms. The end of something he hadn’t even let himself name.
Viper’s heart seized so hard it hurt.
