Page 47 of Hidden

“Oh, no,” Rachel said, already sounding done with whatever I was about to do. “Vienna—”

Too late.

I lurched to my feet with Axel tucked under one arm and the toy car in my free hand, stomping around the bar in exaggerated, clumsy steps.

“Raargh!” I bellowed. “I am Godzilla! Destroyer of cities, ruiner of small vehicles!”

Axel laughed so hard he nearly snorted, clutching at my shoulder as I pretended to crash through the stools and tables, making engine noises and explosion sounds with absolutely no shame.

“Vienna!” Rachel snapped as I deliberately knocked into one of the chairs and sent it scraping loudly across the floor. “If you break something, I’m billing you for it.”

“You can’t bill Godzilla, woman!” I shouted back. “He doesn’t believe in capitalism!”

“That’s funny, because you seem very interested in everyone else paying your bar tab.”

“Lies and slander!” I cried, ducking behind one of the tables as Axel cackled in my ear. “You hear this, boy? This is character assassination.”

Dante huffed out a laugh then, shaking his head and dragging a hand down his face as though he had long since accepted that this was just his life now.

Still, when my gaze flicked his way, I caught it.

That look. That brief flicker of concern that was easy to miss if you didn’t know him. But I did. I knew him better than anyone. And I knew what that look meant.

Dante was watching me.

Not the Godzilla routine. Not Axel.Me.

Me, and the fact I’d gone from face-down on the floor to stomping around the bar like an overgrown idiot with just a little too much energy, just a little too much noise.

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to.

Dante had always seen more than most.

And I had always been very good at pretending there was nothing worth seeing.

Thankfully, before he could decide to poke at that particular bruise, the bar door opened.

The shift in the room was instant.

Hacksaw stepped inside, his expression grim enough to kill whatever remained of the laughter in the air. Chris was right behind him, Riley trailing after them both.

I lowered Axel to the floor and straightened automatically, every trace of Godzilla gone in a blink.

Hacksaw looked directly at me. “Brother, can I have a word?”

And just like that, the hangover, the noise, the act… all of it fell away.

I rolled my shoulders back, my expression hardening, the familiar comfort of the VP role slipping into place, grounding me, giving me purpose.

“Of course,” Dante said, shooting me a small look. “Let’s hear it.”

“Axel!” Rachel beamed, scooping the boy out of my arms. “How about we go find Heather and Bee and see what mischief we can cause?” She grinned at him, booping him on the nose.

Dante inclined his head towards the office at the back of the bar.

The office door clicked shut behind us, sealing out the noise of the bar and leaving nothing but the low hum of the overhead light and the quiet scrape of chairs as we took our seats.

Dante moved straight to the head of the table, leaning back slightly, one arm hooked over the back of his chair as he looked between Hacksaw, Chris, and Riley.