She crosses her arms. “I’m talking about going after the Syndicate leadership—the people who actually have the power to hurt us. My father is just a puppet, a useful idiot they put in the White House. But Dredyn’s father? James Steele? He’s the real threat.”
I clear my throat. “Okay, so we have three targets: James Steele, Edmund Mercer, and whoever eventually fills the DSN seat. But right now, it’s just two men we need to worry about.”
“Three,” Mara corrects. “Valen says there’s someone acting as the DSN proxy. He doesn’t know who yet, but they’ve been at the meetings. Three seats, three threats.”
“Then we need a plan—a real one. We can’t just walk up and shoot them,” Talon says.
“No… But we can create a situation where they’re vulnerable. Where taking them out looks like an accident or collateral damage rather than assassination.”
“Like what?” I ask.
She’s already typing on her phone. “I don’t know yet, but I know someone who might. Valen’s been inside this world his whole life. If anyone knows how to draw the Syndicate leadership out, how to make them vulnerable, it’s him.”
“You trust him?”Jasper signs.
“I trust that he wants his father dead as much as you want yours dead, and I trust that Milo wants to protect me. Between the two of them, plus Kade’s inside access to PTO security protocols, we have resources we didn’t have before.”
“I love when you talk strategy. It’s hot,” Talon says, reaching for Mara and pulling her into him.
I roll my eyes. “All right. So we have a two-pronged approach. Public: Mara makes a statement owning the relationship, refusing to back down. Private: we meet with Valen, Milo, and Kade, gather intel, and plan our strike against the Syndicate leadership.”
“And we do it all in forty-eight hours,” Mara adds.
“Ambitious timeline,” I say.
“They gave us the timeline, we’re just working within it. I’m texting Valen now. I’ll ask him to meet us at the OCK house at noon. That gives us five hours to prepare talking points and figure out exactly what we need from them.”
THIRTY
DREDYN
Iwatch from the front steps as they walk up the path from the street.
I lead them inside, through the main foyer with its wall of composite photos—decades of OCK brothers, all smiling, all successful, all part of the machine. My father’s photo is up there somewhere, so is Anthony Thorne’s.
Not for much longer.
We head to the library. Mara’s already there, standing by the fireplace in jeans and a sweater. Talon has his laptop set up on the massive oak table, and Jasper stands by one of the tall windows.
The moment Mara sees us enter, her posture shifts—less guarded, more relaxed. Talon immediately moves to her side, his hand finding the small of her back in an unconscious gesture of comfort. She leans into him slightly, and he presses a brief kiss to her temple before returning his attention to us.
“Make yourselves comfortable.” I gesture to the leather chairs arranged around the table.
“We’re good,” Milo says, but his attention is entirely on Mara. He crosses the room quickly, pulling his twin into a tight hug. “You okay, sis?”
“Better than okay,” she says, hugging him back.
When they pull a part, I cross to her, and she steps into my space immediately, her hand finding my chest as I wrap an arm around her waist.
“Of course.” Milo glances at the rest of us. “Though I have to say, publicly claiming three fraternity brothers at the inaugural dinner was ballsy as hell. Also, possibly suicidal.”
“More suicidal than the?—”
“Mention the leashing incident and I will throw up,” Milo says. “You’re my fucking sister. But now the whole world knows the breakup with Chase is official. The speculation about you and OCK is rampant, and our father is losing his mind.”
“How bad?” Mara asks.
“Bad. He’s been on the phone all morning with advisors, trying to figure out how to spin this. The Syndicate is in full damage control mode.” Milo pulls out his phone, showing us a screenshot. “They’re planning an emergency meeting—tomorrow night. All leadership in attendance.”
