That I didn’t expect.
I narrow my eyes slightly.
“Then what is this?”
“This is me making sure you don’t do something stupid,” he says.
“I don’t do stupid.”
“You do when you don’t think.”
That lands.
Because it’s true.
Because he knows it.
Because I know it.
I exhale slowly.
Force the tension down.
Lock it back where it belongs.
“She’s one of ours,” I say.
That part’s true.
Safe.
Simple.
Clear.
Russ nods once.
“Yeah,” he says. “She is, because we saved her once. That was eight months ago.”
But he doesn’t look convinced.
Not entirely.
“You keep it that way,” he adds. “You bring her back. That’s the job.”
“I know the job.”
“Then do it.”
Another beat.
Then—
“Not because you didn’t finish a conversation,” he says quietly.
That—
That hits harder than anything else.
