The stitches held clean and tight.
“Try not to do anything heroic for at least forty-eight hours,” I said.
He shrugged.
“No promises.”
I sighed.Then looked directly at Archie.
“And if you get your knees blown out again,” I said casually, “don’t expect me to come to your rescue again.”
For a moment, the room was quiet.
Archie’s expression didn’t change.But something behind his eyes shifted—something warm and dangerous all at once.Then the corner of his mouth lifted in what looked suspiciously like the beginning of a smile.
“Noted,” he said.
His gaze lingered on me a second longer than necessary.
Long enough for something unspoken to pass quietly between us.
Then he straightened and turned his attention back to the room.But the air had changed.And judging by the way Gianni looked between us with sudden interest—I wasn’t the only one who had noticed.
4
Archie
Iknew it was going to be a problem the second she walked in and saw me.
Tone didn’t slow.She stopped just inside the room like she’d hit an invisible wall, her gaze locking onto mine, sharp enough to draw blood.
“What the hell ishedoing here?”She asked, as though I was the last person on this earth she wanted to share oxygen with.She was direct.Hostile.And thoroughly unapologetic.
I leaned back slightly in my chair, saying nothing, even as my chest tightened.I couldn’t understand the depth of her disdain for me.The way it flared so easily, so instinctively, every time she looked at me.It didn’t make sense.And yet—there was something about it that pulled at me.Something that felt too close to a challenge.
After I pulled her out of that situation where she and her brother’s now-wife were almost killed, I figured something would shift.
I wasn’t naive enough to expect gratitude, but a crack even.A pause.A moment where she didn’t look at me like I was just another problem circling her.
It never came.
She stayed exactly as she was.Cold.Guarded.Untouched by it.
Like saving her life hadn’t bought me a single inch closer—only proved she had no intention of letting me in.
Atlas didn’t even look up from where he stood at the head of the table.
“Sit down, Tone.”
“No,” she snapped, taking a step further into the room, her attention still fixed on me.“I want to know why he’s here.”
Around us, the others stayed quiet.
Gianni leaned back in his chair, arms folded, jaw tight.Marcello sat beside him, watching the exchange with careful neutrality.Raze—her brother—was already tense, like he knew exactly where this was going and didn’t have the energy to stop it.
They all knew.Tone had established a reputation for herself-when she erupted, it was not a small thing.
Atlas finally lifted his gaze.
