Rain hammered the tavern roof.
And Vaughn finally smiled again.
Slow.
Ugly.
“You’re already too late.”
35
FELICITY
Rain hammered the windshield so hard I could barely see the road.
Lightning flashed across the Texas sky in violent white bursts, illuminating the trees lining the highway for half a second before darkness swallowed everything again.
I sat in the passenger seat of Hersh’s truck, gripping the door handle tighter every mile we got closer to where I grew up. The drive was long. Hersh insisted on driving because he felt it was safer.
It’s not my home anymore, it hasn’t been since I left for college.
It’s just the house now.
Beside me, Hersh drove one-handed.
Steady.
Calm.
But I could feel the tension in him anyway.
The kind that sat low and dangerous beneath the surface.
Trigger and Wolf followed behind us in Wolf’s truck.
Tate stayed back with Vaughn, and Ava stayed behind protecting Isabel.
.
Ava was trying to get information through federal channels without tipping off the wrong people.
Nobody trusted anybody anymore.
Not fully.
Not after tonight.
“You okay?” Hersh asked quietly.
The question almost broke me.
Because somehow after everything?—
the lies,
the danger,
the letters,
