“Did you make contact with anyone new in the network? Anyone who might have reported back to someone?”
“No.” I thought about it again, harder this time. “Just Rafael.”
“Then that's where we start.” He picked up his coffee mug, realized it was empty, and set it back down with more force than necessary. “I want you to think back over every conversation you had with him. Every detail. What he asked, what you answered, what he didn't ask that he should have.”
“You think he was fishing.”
“I think a man in his position doesn't run into people by accident.” Luka's expression was flat. “Think about it. Take your time. Write it down if you need to. I want everything.”
The fight had drained out of me somewhere in the middle of it. He was right. I hated it, but he was right.
“Okay,” I said. “I'll go through it.”
“Good.” Luka moved toward the window. Checked the street. “Dmitri stays here tonight. Tomorrow he'll bring more equipment and set up proper security across the approach points.” He looked over his shoulder at me. “Declan will deal with it.”
“I know.” I sat down finally, feeling the weight of the morning settling into my legs. “He'll deal with it.”
Ash stood and moved toward me quietly. “Can I get a minute? Outside?”
I looked at him, then at Luka, then back. “Yeah.”
We headed through the kitchen to the back door. The garden was small, just a patch of grass and a few overgrown bushes that Declan probably meant to trim and never got around to. Istood there looking up at the sky, gray and heavy with clouds that threatened snow. Chicago in winter looked exactly like I remembered. Cold and unforgiving and still somehow beautiful in a bleak way.
Ash stood beside me and didn't say anything at first, just let the silence settle.
“He's worried about you,” Ash said finally. “That's why he's being intense.”
“I know.”
“I'm not sure you do.” His voice was gentle. “Luka doesn't know how to love people halfway. It's all or nothing with him. And when someone he cares about is in danger, he goes into protection mode. Which looks like control. Which looks like him being an asshole. But it's just fear wearing a different face.”
“You defending him?”
“Explaining him. There's a difference.” Ash smiled slightly. “Luka can be overbearing. He can be controlling. He can make you feel like he's trying to run your life. But underneath all that is genuine care. Genuine fear of losing the people who matter to him.”
“I get that. I do. But sometimes his care feels suffocating.”
“It is suffocating. That's one of his flaws.” Ash turned to face me fully. “But it's also one of his strengths. Because when Luka commits to protecting someone, he doesn't half-ass it. He goes all in, uses every resource he has, burns bridges if he needs to. And he doesn't stop until the threat is neutralized.”
“That's a hell of a way to love someone.”
“It's the only way he knows how.” Ash's expression was serious. “You understand that better than most. You've worked with him for years.”
“Doesn't make it easier when he's in my face.”
“No. But it might help to remember he's doing it because he cares. Not because he thinks you're incompetent.” Ash paused.“And Troy? He's going to need you to extend him some patience on this one. The same way he's extended it to you over the years, every time you pushed him away or tested the limits or made his life harder than it needed to be.”
“You're good at this,” I said. “The making-people-see-reason thing.”
“I've had practice.” He smiled. “Luka's not easy to love. But he's worth it. Same way I suspect Declan isn't easy, but you're figuring out he's worth it too.”
“How do you know about Declan?”
“Dmitri texted me updates. Said you finally stopped being an idiot about it.” His smile got wider.
“He's such a gossip.”
“Yes, he is.” Ash looked back at the house. “Come on. We should go back in before those two start planning without us.”
