I've never thought about kids. Never let myself imagine that sort of future. It wasn't part of the plan—the plan was survival, control, isolation. The plan was being a weapon that didn't need anything, didn't want anything, didn't risk anything by existing.
But standing here in this kitchen, watching Emma's stacking a plate with cookies and Shadow's devotion and the morning light coming through the windows, I find myself imagining it.
A baby.
Not just any baby—a baby with Lily's eyes. A child that would be half her—determined and brilliant and unbreakable. That sharp, tactical intelligence that reads a room in seconds. Her fierceness. The way she moves through the world like she's already calculated seventeen different escape routes. Her bravery.
The revelation detonates through me like a sniper round finding its mark.
I want that.
I wantLilylike that—not just in my bed, not just as a mission, but as the mother of my children. As the woman I build a future with.
Wanting that means I have something to lose. It means I'm not just a weapon anymore—I'm a man with a future, and futures are fragile things that can be taken away.
The kitchen door slams open.
Luke stands in the frame, his jaw tight, his eyes sharp with the kind of urgency that means the operation just escalated. “Lily's at the Turner Ranch.”
“What?” I push to standing, the chair I was on falling backwards.
“I happened to catch one of the feeds. I caught her pulling up.”
Emma gasps. “What’s she doing there?”
Luke and I exchange a look. If Jake hasn’t told Emma about Lily’s past, I’m not either. “Keep an eye on the feed,” I tell Luke as I head for the door. “Let me know if there’s a situation.”
Luke catches my arm before I’m out the door. “Don’t go in half-cocked. That’d just piss Jake off.”
“I’ll be careful.” I hurry out the door, Shadow right behind me.
As I let Shadow into my truck and climb in after, everything I was just imagining—the baby with her eyes, the future I was just allowing myself to want—collides with the immediate, terrifying present.
Lily is at Turner's property.
What the fuck? My hands clench. I don’t know who I’m more furious with—Turner’s men for being close to my girl or Lily for breaking her promise to me.
58
LILY
Kelly's fingers dig into my wrist, his thumb pressed against the barcode tattoo like he's drawing information from it.
His smile is chilling. “So the little bird flew back home.”
For a second I can’t move or think, the fear is so bad. I force myself past it, reaching for what Wes taught me.
Make an assessment, he’d say.
I’m fucked. He recognized me, and it’s not like I can hide anonymously in town—I’m the damn vet.
This is bad—really fucking bad. I may be half in my truck, but he’s big—much bigger than me—and he’s got a solid hold of me. My knife’s in the bag I just tossed inside the cab, three feet away, which might as well be on the moon.
I can fight, but I know I’d lose. I could run, but then he’d alert Turner and I risk the chance that they’ll run before I can act. Or I can play along and buy time.
Time for what? I don’t know, because I didn’t tell Mason I was coming here.
Stupid, stupid,stupid.
