Every instinct in me says no.
Every tactical instinct says she’s the bait.
She steps closer.
Close enough that everything else fades.
“I won’t be alone,” she says quietly.
My jaw tightens.
“You won’t be out of my sight.”
“Good.”
Blaze looks up.
“We do this—we do it fast.”
I nod once.
Cold.
Final.
“Then we end it.”
58
Ace
Idon’t like this plan.
Not one damn part of it.
“She’s not bait,” I say flatly.
“She’s the reason he comes,” Blaze replies.
Same thing.
“Not happening.”
Tessa steps into my space.
Close.
Steady.
“Look at me,” she says.
I do.
Reluctantly.
But I do.
“I’m not the same person I was seven years ago,” she says. “I’m not the girl who didn’t know what was happening. I’m not that scared young lady who didn’t know how to fight for herself. ”
