Aaron answers on the second ring. "Talk to me."
"Framework's compromised. I need a secondary."
He's silent on the other end because he knows what it means when my tone goes flat like this.
The mission has already slipped past the point of a clean extraction.
"How bad?"
"Bad enough that inside may not be an option anymore."
A slow exhale. "You're telling me you want to burn it down."
"I'm telling you I need options. Plural. And bodies I can trust."
"The assets?"
"Dark for now, but keep them close. I want them ready to move when I say move."
"And if the target catches wind?"
I watch the ocean hurl itself against the rocks below. "Then I have no choice but to start dismantling here."
"Tristan."
"Don't."
"You're not thinking straight?—"
"I'm thinking clearer than I have in years." My voice hardens. "He made her bleed, Aaron. On her knees. While I stood three feet away and did nothing."
"Fuck," he whispers.
"I'm not asking for permission. I'm not looking for your opinion." Each word lands like a nail being driven into wood. "Get me what I need."
The line crackles. When he speaks again, his voice has shifted. "Okay. I've got you. Forty-eight hours."
"Thank you." I end the call, wipe the log, kill the battery, and pocket the phone in one practiced motion.
Back in my room, I set the flowers on the nightstand and lower myself onto the bed. The ceiling stares back at me, blank and indifferent.
I count my breaths. Force my pulse to slow. Wait for the edge to dull just enough to let me think instead of act.
I came here for answers. To confirm she was alive. To see my son's face. To get them both out of here, if that's what Keira wanted.
But somewhere between watching her be abused and realizing my boy sleeps three floors above me—so close I could reach him in sixty seconds, so far it might as well be a different continent—the mission stopped being about extraction.
It became something more dangerous than revenge.
Calder thinks control means ownership. Thinks if he keeps her locked up long enough, isolated enough, broken enough, she'll eventually forget she was ever anything but his.
But he couldn't be more wrong.
The Keira I know doesn't break easily. She bends and hides, waiting for the perfect opportunity.
And so do I.
That's why we worked so well together.
