A sound leaves Kayley—half breath, half broken laugh. “Deserve him? He’s a baby.”
“Not to them,” Silas says. “To them, he’s… an asset. A commodity. A payout. Whatever story they tell themselves to sleep at night.”
Kayley swallows hard, her eyes glossy.
I can’t take it anymore.
I move without thinking, stepping around the table until I’m beside her. I lower my hand to her shoulder—firm, grounding.
Her body eases slightly at the contact, like her nervous system recognizes me before her brain does.
I lean down, my mouth near her ear. “Breathe.”
She inhales shakily.
I keep my hand there. Keep her anchored.
Because if she fractures, I’ll burn the world trying to put her back together.
Silas shifts to the next screen. “We’ve looped in the local FBI field office. Not the whole bureau—select personnel, vetted contacts. The kind of involvement you call when local law enforcement can’t be trusted.”
Chase mutters, “Or is part of it.”
Silas nods once. “Exactly.”
Rhett’s voice is flat. “So it’s escalating.”
“It already escalated,” Silas says. “They tested your perimeter last week. Last night they hit it harder. The frequency is increasing. That means they’re either getting desperate… or they’re getting ready.”
My gut tightens.
Kayley’s fingers curl against Aidan’s blanket.
I squeeze her shoulder. “They’re not getting him.”
She looks up at me, and in her eyes I see terror—but I also see steel. “You promise?” she whispers.
I bend closer, my voice low enough that it’s only hers. “On my life.”
Her throat bobs. She nods once.
Across the table, Boyd’s hands flex like he wants to snap something in half.
Rafe’s eyes burn with that old command-fire. “So what’s the plan?”
Silas looks to me. Because I’m commander now. Because these men will follow me into hell if I ask. And because Kayley is watching me like her life depends on what I say next.
I straighten. “We stop playing defense.”
The room stills.
“We don’t wait for them to come through our fences,” I continue, keeping my tone controlled, precise. “We take this fight to them—with the FBI on the legal side, and us on the protection side.”
Wyatt nods. “We’ve got two likely hubs. One is a rental property tied to Renshaw’s cousin. The other is a warehouse leased under a shell company.”
Eli’s voice is quiet but lethal. “That’s where they stage transfers.”
Kayley’s breath catches.
