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I answer on video.
My father’s face scowls from the screen, a familiar tightness pulling at his dark eyes.
It’s the look he always wore when he stripped off his belt before a beating or called me to the training field with a whistle and a plan to run me to death.
This time’s worse because there’s no lecture. His disapproval is crystallized in his silence, leaving me to play guess the fuck up.
“How’s Lilah?” I ask, first priority.
“If you asked yesterday, I’d have a different answer.”
My fists bunch so tight my knuckles pop.
I swear to all that’s holy.
If the dads do anything to hurt her worse, I’ll—
Hunter clasps my shoulder, grounding me before I can loose the nasty growl rumbling in my chest. “What’s the news, sir?”
“Mission report,” Scorpio says, always business.
Make war, not love.
I don’t even know my mother’s name.
Doubt he does, either.
“No sight of Dom. We have the team working a prisoner.”
“Stay with it. Need him brought in. The Patricks are pressuring us to get this tied off. Government’s going to get involved if we don’t move.”
Fuck the Patricks.
Those politicians are the ones who hired us to assassinate Dom’s brother and started this epic clusterfuck. Wanted a drug-war win they could show off during campaign season. Now we have a body count, and it’s not ending before Dom’s death.
“We’ll bring him in if he’s here,” I concede, “but if he’s not, we’re on a plane back to Lilah.”
“How is she?” Hunter presses.
“How are they?” I add.
“We have it under control.”
Not long ago, I wouldn't have questioned. Things are changing. “Have what under control? Are they safe?”
“As safe as we can make them.” Scorpio gives a subtle, but out-of-character lip twitch that raises my alarms.
“What’s Lilah’s status? Is she still in the hospital?”
“She’s being discharged tomorrow.”
“The hell?” Hunter grabs my wrist, tilting the phone screen. “We need to be there.”
“Agreed.” Shit. All I wanted was to keep her safe. Eliminate the threat.
We shouldn’t have left.
“She’s going to the OCC,” Scorpio says. “She put herself on the rotation roster. Don’t worry. We’ll have her name removed.”
