This was fundamentally different.
This was bigger.
Much, much bigger.
The surveillance photos from multiple countries. The international reach and coordination. The professional operatives instead of just sadistic trainers. The resources to track nine highly trained men across continents for nearly two decades ...
That took serious money. Real organization. Global infrastructure and intelligence networks.
St. Paul's wasn't operating independently anymore.
They were part of something else now. Something with corporate backing or government connections or both. Something that made our old nightmare look small by comparison.
And that meant all of us—all nine of us scattered strategically across the world, thinking we were safe—were in immediate danger.
I needed to tell Connor.
Tonight.
Right fucking now, if possible.
Because the "meeting" wasn't the end of anything. It was the opening move.
I could feel it in my bones, in that old combat instinct that had kept me alive through situations that mathematically should have killed me.
They weren't going to just let this go. Weren't going to mark me down as "found but lost again" and move on to easier targets.
Fuck.
Three impossible problems.
Deal with the St. Paul's threat before they killed all of us.
Help Ella find answers about her sister without getting her killed in the process.
Keep her at arm's length emotionally so she didn't get caught in the inevitable crossfire when everything went to hell.
I wasn't sure I could manage all three simultaneously.
Wasn't sure I could manageanyof them successfully, honestly.
The world felt like it was closing in from multiple directions at once—walls moving inward, ceiling dropping lower, floor disappearing beneath my feet.
And somewhere in the middle of all of it was a woman with sad eyes and dangerous honesty who looked at me like I was something worth wanting instead of something worth running from as fast as possible.
A woman I couldn't stop thinking about even when I should be focused purely on survival and threat assessment.
A woman who deserved so much better than what I could offer her.
Better than violence and danger and a man who'd probably get her killed just by being near her.
A massive reckoning was coming.
From more than one angle.
St. Paul's hunting us. Ella's sister's secrets that had gotten her killed. My own complete inability to stay away from something I knew I should leave alone.
And I wasn't ready for any of it.
