Orion’s quiet for a beat. Then he crosses the room and grips the back of my neck hard enough to ground me. Forehead to mine for half a second, just breathing.
It’s the kind of thing you don’t joke about after.
“You got here. You stopped it. That’s the only part that matters.”
“It’s not,” I snap. “She didn’t call me.”
Reid’s gaze sharpens. He’s cataloging. Understanding. “She didn’t call any of us. She wasn’t choosing you out. She was choosing the bat.”
Orion huffs a dry laugh. “Classic Juliet.”
“That’s not the point,” I say, but it is.
Reid tilts his head. “You were scared you’d get there and she’d already be gone.”
The words land too clean. Like he carved them out of me.
I stare at the floor.
“I got stuck at a red light,” I say. “Watching that dot move away from me. I’ve never… I’ve never felt that kind of nothing before.”
“You made it,” Orion says.
“I might not next time.”
“Then we don’t give her a next time,” Reid says. “We change the rules.”
“You think she’s gonna follow rules?”
“No,” Orion says. “But we will. We don’t let her go in alone again. Ever.”
Reid nods. “This isn’t about letting her fight. She’ll always fight. It’s about making sure she doesn’t do it alone.”
I nod. Swallow hard. The floor’s blurry for a second but I blink it back.
Orion swears under his breath. Steps in and knocks his shoulder into mine. “Hey. We’re not losing her. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not fucking ever.”
Reid joins us, folding his arms. “And we’re not losing you either.”
I blink at him. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good,” Reid says. “Then stop acting like you have to carry the whole family alone.”
I step back, wipe my face on my shoulder, and look at the warehouse.
One woman with a baseball bat.
The math doesn’t work.
“She walked in solo,” I say. “Armed guards. Oksana with a gun. And she came out the other side like she was fucking born for this.”
Orion’s jaw tightens. “She did what needed doing.”
“Yeah,” I say. “But that’s not the point.” I turn to them. “The point is she knew she could do it alone.”
Reid understands first.
I can see it click.
