Everyone is tense and coiled tight, waiting for the next shoe to drop, and they’re not the only ones.
If Cormac truly believes, even a little, that I’m capable of betraying him, then we’re already fractured, and I won’t live in that gray space where I’m trusted on good days and doubted on bad ones. We can’t be a team without trust, and if he can’t give me that, I need to know now.
I rehearse the conversation in my head three different ways before I even reach Kieran’s office, and none of them end well.
In the first version, Cormac listens. He takes my hands, looks me in the eye, and tells me he’s past it, that I don’t need to keep proving myself. I imagine the tight line of his jaw relaxing, the corners of his mouth turning up, a flicker of the man I fell in love with softening in the middle of all this chaos.
In the second, he doesn’t say much at all. He simply nods and changes the subject, which somehow feels worse. The silence lingers, a reminder that the past doesn’t just vanish because I want it to.
In the third, he gets angry and defensive and ends up saying something that cuts deeper because it’s rooted in truth.
I stop outside the door, my fist hovering as I consider walking away.
I know my timing is bad. I can feel it in my bones.
The house has been buzzing all morning with men coming and going, their footsteps muffled but insistent. But if I don’t say something now, I never will, and I can’t keep living with this knot in my chest, wondering if the next argument will be the one where everything comes back up again.
I knock once and push the door open.
Cormac is standing over Kieran’s desk, his phone pressed to his ear and his shoulders rigid.
Brennan is leaning back against the wall, his arms crossed, and his jaw tight.
Whatever they’ve been discussing, it’s clearly not good.
Cormac glances up when he sees me, then looks away just as quickly. “Can this wait?”
Something in his tone makes my stomach drop. “I—Is everything okay?”
He exhales sharply and pulls the phone away from his ear. “No.”
“Have you heard from Lorcan?”
Cormac shakes his head.
“Adrian.”
Adrian?
My heart starts to pound. “What does he want?”
Cormac decides to end the call and tosses his phone down on the desk before straightening. When his eyes meet mine, I almost stumble back at the rage flickering in them.
“He wants Scout. And not just visitation rights. He wants custody.”
The room seems to tilt.
“That’s…that’sinsane!” I manage. “He can’t just?—”
“He can. And he will. He’s already making moves to make it happen.”
Brennan pushes off the wall and comes to stand beside his brother. “We’ll deal with it.”
Cormac nods, but he doesn’t look convinced.
His hands curl into fists at his sides, like he’s holding himself back from breaking something.
I swallow hard, forcing my own fear down.
