Page 296 of Broken Oath

Two knives strapped where she could reach them.

She wasn’t trying to look ready.

She was ready.

Her father lifted his head from the map.

His expression changed immediately.

“No.”

Sarah continued toward the weapons table.

“What do you mean, no?”

“You’re not going.”

Several operators suddenly became fascinated with their equipment.

Sarah stopped beside the table, checked a magazine, and slid it into her vest.

Calm.

Unbothered.

“Wade is my brother.”

Her father folded his arms.

“Sarah.”

“No.”

She shoved a knife into the sheath inside her boot.

Her voice wasn’t angry.

It was tired.

Five years tired.

The kind of exhaustion that settled inside the bones.

“I searched for him for five years.”

The warehouse slowly grew quiet.

“I buried an empty coffin.”

Her voice cracked.

Barely.

But everyone heard it.

“I stood beside a grave while people told me he was dead. I watched Mom fall apart. I watched you disappear for months at a time because you couldn’t stop searching.”

Her father’s face tightened.