"Yeah." She couldn't manage more than that.
"You're mine." He said not possessive in the cold sense but in the warm, absolute, load-bearing sense. The kind of claim that didn't cage. The kind that meantI will put myself between you and everything."You know that."
She looked at him in the dark. At his face, at the warm certain weight of his eyes on hers.
"Yes," she said.
“Say it.”
“I’m yours.”
He kissed her again, and this one was slower, deeper, his hand fisting the back of her head and holding it in place. He kissed her like she was something that mattered, that had enormous value to him. His chest was warm against hers, and she stopped holding anything back.
She kissed him with all she had. With the passion she’d been holding back every night she'd fallen asleep knowing he was there on the other side of the wall and wishing he was in bed with her instead. She put all of it into the kiss and felt him receive every bit, his arms tightening around her, pulling her fully against him until there was no space between them worth naming.
When they finally broke apart she pressed her forehead against his jaw and caught her breath.
"Daddy," she said softly.
His arms tightened.
"Yeah, baby girl," he said. Into her hair. "I've got you."
She believed him completely.
CHAPTER 20
RAMPAGE
Dozer called at two in the morning. He answered on the first ring.
"Ghost has him."
Three words. Rampage was fully awake before the second one.
"Clean?"
"Clean. Wichita property. Delling and two other network members. The feds are moving on the Denver connection simultaneously. Diaz coordinated the timing." A pause. "It's done, Rampage. The immediate threat is neutralized."
He sat on the edge of his bed in the dark.
"The network above them?"
"Still running. That's a longer operation. But Delling is out, the Wichita cell is out, and the Denver logistics point is being hit right now." Dozer's voice was level. "Emily is no longer a target. There's no one left in this cell who knows her name."
He breathed through that.
"The other women," he said. "The four."
"Three families are getting phone calls tonight. The fourth—" A pause. "The fourth victim's case has a different resolution. Ghost found evidence at the property. It's not good."
Rampage closed his eyes briefly.
"I'm sorry," Dozer said, which from Dozer meant something.
"Yeah."
"Tell Emily she did good. Her evidence was foundational. She gave more information than she even knew. Some of the little details she remembered helped make sure they caught him. Diaz made sure that went in the official record." He sighed. "She's got people looking out for her."
