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A knock comes at the door again. This time, Luka enters without anyone behind him. “The car is ready.”

Roman checks his watch. “I return to New York tonight.”

“You just arrived.”

“And now I have more to hunt there than here.”

I nod once. That much I expected. Roman’s power sits in networks, contacts, men who owe him, and men who fear owing him. If the answers are tied to New York, he’ll dig them out himself.

He finishes the whiskey and takes the folder. “Keep Ivy close. Keep Maggie closer. No shelter. No public outings. No routine they can predict.”

“Maggie will fight me on the shelter.”

“Then win.”

I give him a flat look.

Roman’s mouth doesn’t move, but amusement appears in the slight narrowing of his eyes. “You have handled worse negotiations.”

“Not with Maggie.”

That earns the smallest pause. Then he inclines his head once, as if conceding the point. “Then be honest with her.”

“I intend to be.”

“Do it before fear makes the decision for both of you.”

Roman doesn't waste time telling people how to live their lives. The fact that he's saying it now tells me he sees something coming that I don't.

“I’ll keep her safe,” I say.

Roman pauses at the door. “That was never in doubt.”

“Then what is?”

“Everything that comes after.”

He leaves me with that and steps into the hall.

I follow him through the house to the front entrance. Staff keep to the edges of the foyer, trying not to stare and failing. Roman’s men fall into position without command.

At the door, Roman pauses and looks back toward the staircase. “She’s good for Ivy.”

I follow his line of sight. Maggie’s presence lingers in the house in ways I can’t ignore.

“She is,” I reply.

Roman looks at me then. “And for you.”

I don’t answer, and he doesn’t wait for one.

A minute later, he steps into the waiting SUV. The convoy rolls down the drive and disappears beyond the gates, leaving behind the certainty that whatever is coming for my family has already found the edge of my walls.

I remain beneath the entryway until the last of Roman’s taillights disappear beyond the gates.

Armed patrols continue across the grounds, exterior lights brighten the long drive, and men speak low through earpieces as they take positions near the hedges, doors, and stone pillars. To anyone outside these walls, the house would appear secure enough to survive a siege.

It is secure.