“Mara—”
“No. Fuck. That.” I stand, facing all three of them. “I didn’t go through everything we’ve been through—the penthouse, the escape, going viral, burning every bridge with my family—just to run away if you don’t make it. We’re in this together—all of us. If you die, I’m not living in hiding for the rest of my life wondering if I could’ve helped.”
“You can help by surviving,”Jasper signs.
“You can help by trusting us to do this,” Dredyn adds.
“I do trust you. I just—” My voice breaks. “I can’t lose you … any of you.”
Talon crosses to me, pulling me into his arms. “You’re not going to lose us.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“No. But I can promise we’re going to fight like hell to come back.” His hand cups the back of my head. “All three of us. We’re not leaving you alone in this world, Mara. That’s not an option.”
“Okay. I’ll be at the rally point, with the radios, ready to extract if needed,” I whisper against his chest.
“Good girl,” Dredyn says, and the praise shouldn’t make me feel better, but it does.
We spend the next hour going over contingencies. What if the fire spreads too fast? What if DSN doesn’t show? What if the Syndicate leaders don’t go to the meeting?
What if. What if. What if.
By the time we’re done, it’s almost five p.m. The party starts in two hours. The attack in four.
Four hours until everything changes.
“We should eat something. Can’t commit murder on an empty stomach.”
“Is that actually a saying?” I ask.
“It is now.”
Jasper orders pizza—four large pies, because even impending violence doesn’t stop college boys from eating like they’re personally trying to bankrupt Harry’s pizza. We eat in the library, sitting on the floor with paper plates and cheap beer, trying to pretend this is normal. Just another night at OCK.
“You know what’s fucked up?” Dredyn says, halfway through his third slice. “This is probably the last time we’ll ever be in this house.”
“Don’t,” Talon warns.
“No, I’m serious. After tonight, whether we succeed or fail, we can never come back here. OCK house will be ash and we’ll be fugitives. This …” He gestures around the library. “This is the last time.”
We finish eating in silence, each lost in our own thoughts. Then Jasper starts collecting plates, Talon checks his phone for updates from CJ, and Dredyn heads upstairs to change for the party.
I stand in the library alone for a moment, looking at the books, the furniture, the composite photos on the walls. All these brothers who came before, including their fathers. All of them part of something that looked noble from the outside but was rotten at its core.
“You okay?” Talon’s voice comes from the doorway.
“Just thinking.”
“Dangerous habit.”
“Yeah.” I turn to face him. “What time do I need to leave?”
“Six thirty. That gives you time to get to the rally point before the party really gets going.” He moves closer, and I can see the tension in his shoulders, the fear he’s trying to hide. “But we have ninety minutes before then.”
“What do you want to do with ninety minutes?”
His eyes meet mine. “I want to spend them with you—all of you. One more time before?—”
