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She walks to the door, knocks twice, and nods to the marshal waiting outside. "Bring him in."

A few minutes later, the door opens, and Cormac is escorted into the room. His hands are cuffed in front of him, and a clean white bandage is taped securely over his left shoulder where the medic treated his wound. The moment his eyes land on me, his entire self softens.

"Oksana," he breathes.

"Sit down, Murphy," Reyes orders, pointing to the chair next to mine. "You've got three minutes to talk some goddamn sense into your wife before we process her for conspiracy."

Cormac sits, the metal chains rattling against the chair as he leans toward me. He looks at my tear-stained face, then down at the immunity agreement sitting on the table, and he understands instantly.

"She offered you immunity?" he asks quietly.

I nod, fresh tears hot against my cheeks. "I told her no. Cormac, I can't do it. I won't give them Declan, I won't give them you⁠—"

"Take the deal, Oksana."

I stare at him, stunned. "What?"

"Take the deal," Cormac begs, leaning across the small space between us until his chained hands press against the table right in front of mine. His green eyes are wide and bloodshot, filled with a desperation I've never seen in him before. "Sign the papers. Give them whatever they want."

"Cormac, no⁠—"

"Listen to me!" His voice cracks. "I'm forty years old, Oksana. I've lived my life. I knew what this world was when I stepped into it twenty years ago. I can survive prison. You can't."

He reaches out, his cuffed fingers closing over mine, squeezing gently. "You're twenty years old," he whispers, his throat working as he fights to keep his composure. "You have your whole goddamn life ahead of you. You're carrying my baby. If you go to prison, they'll take that child the second it's born. You won't get to hold it. You won't get to hear it cry. They'll put our baby into the state system, lost in some stranger's house, and we will never see them again. Do you understand what that means? It will destroy you. I'd rather be in prison than know that's what's happening to you and our baby."

A sob rips through my throat, so violent it shakes my entire body. "I can't destroy you, Cormac! If I testify, they'll lock you away for the rest of your life!"

"I don't care!" he snarls, tears glistening in his own eyes now, slipping down the hard angles of his stubbled cheeks. "Let them lock me away! Let them throw away the fucking key! As long as I know you're waking up every morning holding our baby in your arms, I can survive anything they do to me."

"Cormac..."

"Please, a chumann," he begs, his voice breaking into a ragged whisper as he presses his forehead against my trembling hands. "Please. Don't let them take our child. Take the deal. Be free. Raise our baby and give them the life neither of us ever had. Please."

The sheer weight of his devotion crashes down on me, shattering me to pieces. I look down at this dangerous man weeping over my hands, begging me to sacrifice him so that I can live.

I lean down, burying my face in the curve of his neck and breathing in the scent of his skin. "I love you," I sob against his throat, the words spilling from my lips for the very first time. "Cormac, I love you. I'm so sorry... God, I'm so sorry for everything."

Cormac freezes. A sharp, shuddering breath catches in his chest. Slowly, he grips my fingers tighter and pulls me in closer, and I can feel how badly he wants to wrap his arms around me. "I love you, Oksana," he murmurs fiercely into my ear, his rough voice thick with tears. "I love you with every beat of my heart. That's why you have to do this. Because I love you too much to let you suffer when I could do it for us both."

I cling to him, sobbing. The thought of signing the papers makes me feel like I'm dying, but the thought of our baby being torn away makes my heart stop completely.

He's right. I have to do what he's asking, even if it tears me apart.

I pull back slightly, my hands trembling as I look into his eyes, seeing the desperate, pleading hope there. "Okay," I whisper. "Okay. I'll⁠—"

The door opens, and Reyes steps back in. "Alright," she begins. "Your three minutes are up. Are you⁠—"

She's cut off by another urgent voice behind her.

"Agent Reyes? We need you. Someone just walked in with their attorney. Someone else is willing to make a deal."

29

CORMAC

Reyes's head snaps toward Brennan. "Who?"

"You need to see this yourself," Brennan says, his voice tight. "They're waiting in Conference Room B."