She stared down at the phone as if it were a grenade.
Then...
“You think this’ll work?” she asked. “That Erin won’t find me? Won't retaliate against Ava.”
“No,” I said. “I think she’ll be looking the other way when you’re already gone, and even if she catches on... figures it out, she'd be starting a war she can't win.”
A knock came at the door.
Gray stepped in, a nod toward Remi. “We’ve got a route. Two unmarked SUVs. One guard. One driver, for each. We’re clear for ninety minutes.”
Ava touched Remi’s arm. “You don’t have to go forever. Just long enough to catch your breath and for us to get a shot of getting ahead of Erin instead of playing defence.”
Remi hesitated.
Then whispered, “Will Mara be there?”
“If you agree, I can see if she’ll meet you at the clubhouse,” Ava said. “Her partner, too.”
Gray cleared his throat. “The Dawnbreakers are good people. We can have one of the guys from the club escort you. You can trust them. They all know who you are.”
Remi scanned the room again and then shook her head like she couldn't believe what she was about to do. "If I go... I am not going with an escort. It should look like I am a club girl or old lady or something... out with her man..." She looked like she was struggling when she said, "If I am going to do this... that will be the way."
CHAPTER 58
AVA - HOLD TIGHT
I packed her bag myself.
Just a few changes of clothes, some toiletries, her notebook, and a book from her nightstand that she never had the time to read. Little pieces of normalcy she might cling to, though they felt almost laughable now, like offering a bandage to someone standing in front of a firing squad. I laid a hoodie on top, hers, worn soft at the cuffs, and zipped it up before I could start crying again. My throat burned anyway.
Back at the precinct, the sky was turning gray. The kind of morning that made you feel like the sun had forgotten to rise, like even the light wanted no part of what was coming.
Jack stood near the SUV, arms crossed tight, jaw clenched. He was pissed, pacing in clipped little circles, snapping his gum like it owed him money. He wanted Remi close, where he could see her, not shipped off to a Clubhouse with a man she didn’t know and a crew he didn’t trust.
Harlan stood beside him, stiff with tension, that controlled kind of stillness that meant he was calculating fifty moves ahead. Gray was at the top of the stairs, leaning back against the building like he was casual, but his eyes never stopped moving, scanning the street like the wind itself might bring trouble.
When Remi stepped out of the building, the quiet was almost unnatural. Jack had warned them: no press, no gawkers, no circus.
If anyone was watching, this was just another morning. Just another woman walking out of a precinct. But beneath the surface, this was anything but.
Remi had cleaned up, but I could see the edges beneath her jeans,fitted tee, and boots. Her hair was braided loose, a few waves already breaking free and curling around her face. She looked steady. Strong.
But if you knew her, if you looked closely, you’d see it.
The tremor under the steel.
The way her eyes kept shifting, scanning shadows, measuring exits.
The way every sound made her flinch just a little too fast.
She walked straight to me and stopped short, like she wasn’t sure she trusted herself if she came any closer.
“I don’t like this,” she said, voice low but steady. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“I know,” I whispered. My throat was tight, my voice threatening to break, so I swallowed it back. “But I’m not the one they’re after.”
Her gaze slid past me, locking on Harlan, her expression unreadable but sharp.
