He looks around the circle at each of us.
"And we have something Callum doesn't."
"What's that?" I ask, setting down my coffee mug.
"Each other." He spreads his hands to encompass the kitchen, the house, the four of us standing here in the early morning light. "A pack. Callum has money and influence, but he's alone. He's always been alone."
I think about all the years I've known Callum. All the friendships I watched him burn through. Guys who started out as his buddies and ended up avoiding his calls. A trail of broken connections stretching back to middle school.
Jessica isn't the first person to run from him.
She's just the one who matters most.
"So what's the plan?" Pedro asks.
Sergio takes a deep breath. "We handle this smart. Carefully." He straightens. "First, we tell Jessica about the texts. About Friday. She deserves to know what's coming."
"And then?"
"Then we ask her what she wants." His eyes are fierce now. “Whatever answer she gives us, we support her completely."
"Even if she doesn't want us?" The question scrapes out of me, raw and vulnerable. I start fidgeting with my coffee mug, turning it in circles on the counter. "Even if she says thanks but no thanks, you're all very nice but I need to handle this alone?"
"Even then." Sergio nods. "But I don't think that's what she's going to say."
I stop fidgeting and look up. "What makes you so sure?"
"Because I saw her face last night. When I told her we weren't going anywhere." The ghost of a smile touches his mouth. "She looked like someone who'd been treading water in the middle of the ocean and finally spotted land."
I think about the kiss in her flooded bedroom. The way she grabbed my shirt with both hands. I set down the coffee mug and lean against the counter.
"We're really doing this," Pedro says, and he sounds almost awed. "Choosing her. Over years of friendship with Callum."
"The friendship ended the moment he started treating her like property," Nacho says, his voice hard. "We just didn't want to admit it."
"I saw it." The admission costs me something. I push off the counter and start pacing again, slower this time. "Every red flag. I saw all of it, and I did nothing because he was my friend and she was his girlfriend."
I stop and face my brothers.
"That ends now. Whatever happens with Callum, whatever Jessica decides, I'm not standing on the sidelines anymore."
"Agreed." Sergio moves toward the kitchen door, then stops. "We're done being passive. If Callum wants a fight, he's going to get one."
"And if he backs down?" Pedro asks, moving to rinse his coffee mug in the sink.
"He won't." Nacho's certainty is absolute. "Men like Callum don't back down. They escalate."
"Then we make sure he loses," I say, cracking my knuckles. It's a nervous habit. Pedro hates it. "Decisively. Publicly."
"Carefully," Sergio corrects, holding up a hand. "We do this carefully. By the book. When Callum goes down, it's going to be because of his own actions, not ours."
"Friday." Nacho checks his watch. "That gives us three days to prepare."
"And Jessica?" I ask, abandoning my pacing to face them all. "Does she get a vote in any of this? Or are we just deciding things for her the same way Callum always did?"
The words land hard. I see Sergio flinch. See Nacho's jaw tighten.
"She gets the final say," Sergio says firmly. "On everything. We tell her what's coming, we offer our support, and then we ask what she wants. Whatever she says goes."
