I set my mouth to the top of her head. "Good."
She stays against my chest until she settles.
Darla drifts closer, East moving with her. "I'm glad," Darla says, voice careful. "She deserves that."
Sloane lifts her head. "Yeah. She does."
East squeezes Darla's hand. "You hear that? Safe exists."
Darla's grip tightens around his. "It does here."
Frankie clears her throat. "Protections are up. Shop and clubhouse. Reinforced."
The room absorbs it the way it absorbs the sage.
Phoenix looks to Malachi. "I can add eyes. Discreet ones."
Malachi nods without hesitation. "Do it."
Arden says, "We're visible. They're watching how we move."
Phoenix nods. "We move as though we know it."
The silence holds. Sloane tilts her head up, eyes meeting mine. Her eyes are wet. Her jaw is set. She holds my eyes without blinking. I lower my forehead to hers, breathing her in.
Across the room, Phoenix rolls the blueprint tight and hands it to Malachi. Malachi takes it without a word and walks toward the war room. The rest of us follow.
Chapter 45
Knox
Theflowersaresittingon our doorstep when we get home the next morning. White roses. A dozen. Wrapped in expensive paper, tied with black ribbon. The kind of arrangement from a high-end florist. Professional. Calculated.
I see them before Sloane does.
My hand tightens on her hip. My eyes cut to the street, scanning parked cars and windows for the rental two streets south that Arden flagged last night. The sedan isn't visible from here, but I know it's there. Someone watched our house long enough to time a delivery while we slept at the clubhouse.
"Knox? What—"
She sees them. Her steps falter.
"Stay here," I say.
"Knox—"
"Stay. Here."
I move between her and the door. The flowers are pristine. Fresh. Delivered in the last few hours. Someone was on this porch while the sun came up.
I crouch, pull the envelope free. It's blank. Expensive cardstock.
The note is typed. Clean. Looking forward to seeing you again. No signature. None is needed.
My breathing turns even and controlled as my hands go still. My eyes start mapping exits, timelines, the distance between here and every resource I can reach in under ten minutes.
"What does it say?"
She's right behind me. I didn't hear her move.
