1
Hawk
It had been more than a year since I’d come home.
The last time I stood in Copper Cove, Mississippi, I’d buried my mother—and said goodbye to my father in the same breath. Since then, we’d talked often by phone, but phone calls couldn’t replace the weight of familiar ground beneath my boots.
For the past year, I’d been moving nonstop—Asia, Europe, places that blurred together—working with my Brave Team and allied units to dismantle a global organ-snatching ring. It was dangerous work. Necessary work. But standing here now, staring at my father’s house, it hit me just how long I’d been gone.
Then the front door opened.
I held my breath.
Julia Marlow stepped onto the porch.
My secret crush from high school. Fifteen years later—and somehow even more striking than I remembered.
She’d changed, but not in ways that dulled her. If anything, the years had sharpened her. Her straight black hair was pulled into a long ponytail, exposing the clean lineof her jaw. A badge caught the light at her belt, and a shoulder holster hugged her side with practiced ease.
A cop.
Those big hazel eyes locked onto me, and for a split second, everything else faded. The world tilted. My heart flipped once… then again.
Dad had mentioned she was law enforcement, but seeing it made my pulse jump. Why was she here?
Was something wrong with him?
Her expression shifted as she recognized me—surprise first… then something tighter. Suspicion? Anger?
I stepped out of the truck. “Is everything okay?”
“Hello, Hawk,” she said, her voice calm but guarded. “Your dad had an accident. He broke his arm. I didn’t like the idea of leaving him alone.”
“An accident?” I was already moving past her. “Is he okay?”
Inside, my father stood just beyond the doorway—and my gut clenched.
A busted lip. A black eye. A cast on his arm.
“I’m fine,” he said quickly, pulling me into a one-armed hug. “Julia here thinks I’m an old man who can’t defend himself.”
“Jasper you shouldn’t have been alone,” Julia said flatly.
Dad waved her off. “Tell me why you’re home, son.”
“I’m taking some time off.” My gaze swept back to his injuries. “Why would you need to defend yourself?”
“Some punks thought they could rough me up,” he said. “Caught them trespassing out back—in the woods.”
My jaw tightened. “Why didn’t you tell me on the phone? I would’ve come home sooner.”
He sighed. “Because I know how busy you are. You and your Brave Team—saving the world and all that.”
“Dad,” I said quietly. “Youaremy world.”
Silence followed that.
I turned to Julia. “So… you’re a cop.”
