“Denton,” he spits. “Denton coordinates routes, but he answers to someone else.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
I believe that he doesn’t know. I also don’t care. I drop him. He hits the floor and drags air in like it’s a gift.
Logan steps into the doorway, gun lowered but ready. “Alive?”
“For now.”
He looks at the man, then back at me. “Good.”
The warehouse settles in pieces.
Landon is bleeding from the arm, already being wrapped by Carter with a strip torn from someone’s shirt. Logan limps, knee twisted from taking a fall behind the van. Blaze has blood on his cheek that isn’t his and a split across his knuckles that probably is. Hammer’s nose is bleeding. Joker looks untouched, which means he probably enjoyed himself too much. No one comes out clean. No one dies. Good enough.
The men who attacked us, who moved women, who touched the same system that touched Olivia, are lined up on their knees near the center of the warehouse.
Five alive.
Hands bound. Heads lowered. Breathing hard. Scared now.
Good.
Fear makes men honest if you cut away the lies fast enough.
I stand in front of them with blood on my hands. Not mine. Not mostly. My breathing is steady. No roaring. No shaking. No blind fury. This is better. This is what waits after control.
The first man looks up at me and then looks away immediately. Smart.
Logan steps beside me. “Five.”
“Enough.”
Cain drags the intake man from the office and throws him down with the others. “Six.”
“Better,” Joker says.
Blaze crouches in front of the man who tried to run. “You boys are about to have the worst fucking night of your lives.”
The man starts crying.
Joker’s smile widens. “I love when they understand quickly.”
Logan looks at Dom’s live feed on his phone. “Matteo has Olivia secure?”
Dom answers over comms, “Confirmed. Collar removed. She’s alive.”
The words hit the warehouse.
She’s alive.
Collar removed.
For half a second, my body tries to move toward the exit. To her. Now. But my eyes drop to the men on their knees. Alive. Useful. The path upward is here. If I leave now, I get her back. If I stay long enough to make them talk, I make sure no one comes for her again.
Logan sees the split in me. “She’s coming home,” he says. I look at him. He holds my gaze. “Let’s get them to the basement.”
