“I trust him with my life,” I said. “With Danny’s life.”
Rawley held my gaze for a long moment, then sighed, shoulders dropping an inch. “It’s done now anyway,” he conceded. “But you make damn sure he understands how we handle things here. As a family. No lone wolf bullshit.”
I nodded, relief washing through me. I’d half-expected Rawley to order me to call Sterling back, to tell him to stand down. The fact that he hadn’t meant he understood the threat was real—real enough to warrant drastic measures.
“I’ll talk to him,” I promised, though we both knew controlling Sterling would be like trying to leash a hurricane. My brother operated on his own frequency, followed his own code. Always had.
Rawley picked up the clipboard again, a clear signal that the conversation was over. “Better go find Danny,” he said, not looking at me. “Warn him about what’s coming.”
I turned to leave, but Rawley’s voice stopped me at the door.
“Burke.” When I looked back, his eyes were deadly serious. “If Sterling crosses a line here—any line—he’s gone. Brother or not. Understood?”
“Understood,” I said, the word feeling like gravel in my throat.
I stepped back into the afternoon sunlight, squinting against the sudden brightness. The weight of what I’d set in motion settled more firmly on my shoulders with each step toward the house.
Sterling was coming—the most dangerous person I knew—to protect what was most precious to me. The irony wasn’t lost on me. I was bringing darkness to guard the light.
But as I approached the house where Danny waited, one hand resting protectively on his still-flat stomach as he gazed out the window, I knew I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I’d summon demons if that’s what it took to keep them safe.
Some prices were worth paying. Some decisions needed no justification beyond the fierce, primal certainty burning in my chest: they were mine to protect. And protect them I would, by any means necessary.
Even if those means had a name, a face that mirrored my own, and a reputation that made hardened killers nervous.
Even if those means were my own flesh and blood.
Chapter Fourteen
~ Danny ~
I followed Burke up the stairs, my hand caught in his like he was afraid I’d disappear if he let go. His knuckles were white, grip just this side of too tight. Something had changed since he’d come back from talking to Rawley in the barn.
When he’d first told me his brother was coming—this mysterious twin I’d never even heard him mention before today—his voice had been steady. Now, climbing these stairs, I could feel tremors running through him, tiny earthquakes traveling from his fingers to mine.
“Burke,” I said softly. “You’re scaring me a little.”
He glanced back, his green eyes catching the late afternoon light from the window on the landing. For a moment, he looked so haunted it made my chest ache.
“Sorry,” he said, his thumb finding my pulse point and tracing slow circles there. “I just... Sterling’s complicated.”
We reached the top of the stairs and moved down the hallway toward our bedroom. The word still felt strange in my head—our bedroom, our home, our future. After ten years of having nothing I could call my own, the possessive pronouns felt foreign on my tongue, like words from a language I was still learning.
Burke pushed the door open, then closed it behind us with a gentle click. He didn’t let go of my hand, just led me to the edge of the bed where we both sat, the mattress dipping beneath our weight. His thumb kept moving in those small, soothing circles, like he was trying to calm himself as much as me.
“Tell me about him,” I said, because sometimes the only way through fear was straight at it. “Your brother.”
Burke’s jaw tightened, a muscle jumping beneath the skin. “Sterling is... he’s like me, but not,” he began, eyes fixed on some middle distance. “We joined up together after high school. Bothended up in special forces. But where I stayed with the regular teams, Sterling went... somewhere else.”
The hesitation in his voice said more than his words. Somewhere else meant somewhere dark. Somewhere that didn’t officially exist.
“He’s good at what he does,” Burke continued. “The best, actually, but there’s a price for that kind of skill. Sterling’s paid it.”
I studied Burke’s face, seeing the worry etched around his eyes, the tension in his shoulders. “You’re nervous about him coming here.”
It wasn’t a question, but Burke nodded anyway, his free hand raking through his hair. “I’m not nervous about what he’ll do. I’m nervous about...” He trailed off, searching for words. “About what you’ll think of me, I guess. After you meet him.”
The admission caught me off guard. In all our time together, I’d never seen Burke care what anyone thought of him. It was one of the things I loved about him—his absolute certainty, his unwillingness to apologize for who he was or what he wanted.
