Finn’s hand settles lightly on my lower back.
“Breathe,” he murmurs.
I do.
In.
Out.
Ryder’s gaze flicks to me once, assessing not just the perimeter but my composure.Are you sure?
I lift my chin slightly
Yes.
Iamscared.
I’m aware.
And I need to see this for myself.
Because when I decide to leave this town, when I drive away from pine trees and porch lights and men who look at me like I matter, I need to understand exactly what kind of storm I was standing inside.
“What was this place?” I finally ask. “Do I want to know?”
Ryder half shrugs. “Operations. Storage. Meetings.”
“That’s a very polite way of saying illegal things,” I reply.
A corner of Finn’s mouth lifts. “We love a rebrand.”
Zane exhales softly, but there’s no humor in it. “It was necessary at the time.”
I walk a little farther into the unit, my boots echoing faintly against the concrete. My fingers trail along the edge of the workbench, over grooves and scratches that feel… deliberate.
“Did you fix things here?” I ask.
Ryder finally turns then, fully this time, his attention locking onto me. “Sometimes.”
“And the rest of the time?”
A beat.
“Handled them.”
The way he says it doesn’t feel like a threat.
It feels like truth.
But I guess I don’t needallthe details, do I?
“This is… a lot.”
Finn steps closer, his hand brushing mine briefly before settling at my wrist. “Yeah. We’re a lot.”
“That’s one word for it.”
Zane and Ryder aren’t far behind. These men… they’re dangerous. Even if they’ve changed their lives now, they have been dangerous.
