Rhae continued down the hallway, high heels clicking on the floor. When she opened the door to the bridal suite, Crew caught a glimpse of the ladies clustered inside. Their breezy laughter trickled out.
Then he spotted Fern woven effortlessly into a knot of women. She was gripping a bouquet of yellow flowers while she laughed at something Honor said, her hand lifting to her mouth in that way she had when she was genuinely amused.
She looked like she belonged.
The sight filled him with warmth knowing that she’d found her place. She wasn’t hovering on the edge of life anymore. She wasn’t watching from the sidelines.
They’d pulled her in without hesitation, and she’d stepped right into their world.
Crew let himself watch for another heartbeat, then turned when someone clapped a hand on his shoulder.
“You disappear back here to brood?” Gray asked.
Crew huffed. “Just catching my breath.”
“Good, because we’re almost ready.”
Carson and Denver drifted by them, ribbing each other about seating and whether Carson’s son CJ or Navy, Denver’s little girl, would be the first to disrupt the ceremony.
Gray waited until the others wandered off, then squared up in front of him.
“I know this is my big day.” He pitched his voice lower now. “But it’s yours too.”
Crew studied him. “Meaning?”
Gray didn’t draw it out. That wasn’t how a Malone worked. “I want you at the training facility. Officially.”
Crew’s breath stalled.
Gray kept going. “As an extraction trainer. You’d be in charge of planning, contingencies, worst-case scenarios. You’d run the program.”
Crew felt his eyes burn before he could stop it. He blinked hard, jaw tightening as the reality settled in. This—this was it. The thing he hadn’t known he was hoping for.
A place.
A reason to be here.
A future that didn’t involve walking away from everything he’d built on the Black Heart and the people he had forged ties with.
“This is what I wanted.” He pinched the bridge of his nose to stave off the sting of emotion.
Gray nodded. “A way to stay.”
Crew wasn’t able to speak for a second. His chest felt too full, emotion crowding in.
“Thank you, man. I mean it. You’ve given me so much in my time here. All of you have.”
Gray gripped his shoulder once, firm. “Then it’s settled.”
Gray stepped away, pulled back into the orbit of his wedding day, leaving Crew standing there while his world permanently shifted.
And then he saw her.
Fern emerged from the bridal suite. She looked up, and when she saw him, her entire face lit up.
She started toward him, her dress swirling around her legs, hair loose around her shoulders. Her eyes were locked on his, a soft smile curving her mouth like she already knew something good had happened.
Everything else faded—the noise, the people, the lights strung overhead.
