She looked back at the screen. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. It’s just… organized.”
“So,” Liam said. “What happens now?”
Killian cleared his throat with the air of a man about to deliver quarterly earnings. “Housekeeping,” he said.
Several heads turned. Mateo looked offended on principle. Jax looked delighted.
Killian's gaze swept the room, "Jax verified everyone's status today. Records are current."
Her eyebrows shot up. Jax had asked her privately, quietly, giving her the choice. Killian had announced it like quarterly earnings.
His hand had felt anchoring before. Now it felt like pressure, trying to keep her from reacting too strongly to something she hadn't agreed to. He caught her look and his expression flinched."And," Killian added, "lube is still required. We're considerate men." His eyes flicked to April, "April deserves the best."
April pulled her hand free from Killian's and turned away, leaning toward Jax, purposefully giving Killian her back.
Jax leaned toward Arthur, smug as sin. "Hear that? We have standards."
Arthur gave a single approving nod.
"You," she murmured, "are the least standard man I've ever met."
Jax's grin widened. "Thank you."
Arthur and Don Dante gravitated toward the windows without a word. Two men who understood enforcement from different angles but shared the same principle: protection through overwhelming competence. They stood with drinks in hand, cataloging the skyline like it might try something.
“The policy document,” Don Dante noted, voice barely a question.
“Effective,” Arthur replied.
“Laminated?”
“Obviously.”
Jax and Liam had found each other like magnets.
“The velvet rope was inspired,” Jax said. “I’ve already seen three posts about it. #VelvetRopeJustice’ is trending.”
“I didn’t do it for the trending topic.”
“No. You did it because you’re a petty genius with excellent taste in symbolic barriers.”
“And the digital lock on his accounts?” Liam asked.
“Still active. He can’t access his email, his cloud storage, or his LinkedIn. Every password reset sends him in a loop that ends with a customer service number that doesn’t exist.”
Liam let out a real laugh. “Beautiful.”
In the kitchen, Killian appeared in the doorway, watching Mateo open cabinets.
“Your pantry is tragic,” Mateo said. “You have seventeen types of whiskey and no fresh herbs.”
“I have a chef.”
“You have a service. It's not the same.' Mateo pulled out ingredients. “April will be hungry later. I'm fixing this.”
On the couch, Caleb and Jiro sat like two performers who were deeply relieved to finally be off-camera.
