Nobody spoke for several seconds after that.
Rain battered the farmhouse windows while Shadow Division files sat spread across my father’s kitchen table.
The same table where he used to drink coffee every morning.
The same table where he apparently uncovered a conspiracy big enough to get him killed.
My chest tightened painfully.
Hersh’s hand stayed firm against my back.
Steady.
Grounding.
Every time fear threatened to pull me under tonight, he touched me somehow.
Like he needed to make sure I was still here.
Still alive.
Still his.
Rook closed the folder slowly.
“We’ll handle Mercer.”
Simple sentence.
Terrifying promise.
Wolf leaned back against the counter.
“You say that like the man’s already dead.”
Rook’s steel-gray eyes lifted calmly.
“He is.”
Silence.
Trigger blinked once.
“Well okay then.”
Honestly?
That should’ve scared me more than it did.
But after everything tonight…
the certainty in Rook’s voice almost felt comforting.
Like Mercer had finally crossed a line even monsters answered for.
Ava stepped closer to the table again.
“What about the leak inside witness relocation?”
