James

“Ben,” I snap, fingers dragging through my hair, nails biting into my scalp like pain might help. “Just say it.”

I can’t stop moving. Fingers raking through my hair again. Then again. Like if I keep motion in my body, the panic won’t spill out all over the goddamn place.

I pull in a breath that barely reaches my lungs.

Try again.

Still not enough.

“He wants the exchange to happen tomorrow,” Ben says. “Truck stop off I-84. Near Greenville.”

Tomorrow?

My body reacts before my mind can catch up. I’m on my feet, adrenaline slamming through me hard enough to make my hands shake. The room goes quiet, charged, like everyone’s bracing for impact.

“What time?” Zeb asks.

“Nine a.m.”

A sharp, broken laugh tears out of me before I can stop it. “Greenville’s six hours away. That gives us—what—ten hours to mobilize, plan, get eyes on the location?” I start pacing, too much energy trapped under my skin. “That’s not enough time, Ben. Not even close.”

“I know,” Ben says, too quietly. “But it’s the window he gave us.”

“No,” Zeb cuts in. “There’s no way you’d agree to that. What aren’t you telling us?”

The silence stretches, heavy and pressurized. Every one of us holding our breath as Ben stares down at the table in front of him, like the answer might be written there.

“If we’re not there,” he says carefully, “he made it clear Tyler won’t survive the day.”

The room tilts.

Lucas doesn’t soften it. He couldn’t, even if he tried.

“They’ll kill him,” he says flatly. “Leave the body there for authorities to find.”

The words slam into my chest.

Something inside me gives way. Not loud. Not explosive. Just a clean, violent collapse, like a structure failing all at once.

Sound drains from the room, replaced by a roar in my ears. My vision narrows until all I can see is the floor beneath my boots as I bend forward, palms braced against my knees, fighting for air that won’t come.

Tyler.

My little brother.

The only blood I have left.

“James.” Annelly’s voice cuts through the noise, soft but urgent. She’s at my side before I realize I’ve stopped breathing. Her hand presses against my back—steady, grounding. “Hey. Look at me. Breathe. Please… just breathe.”

Zeb moves in without being asked, a solid presence at my other side. Between the two of them, I’m guided back into the chair. I let it happen because I don’t trust my legs not to give out completely.

I sit there, chest heaving, trying to wrap my head around how we got here.

How is this real? 

How the fuck do we survive this?

“And the FBI?” Dominick asks, like we’re discussing inventory instead of my brother’s life. His tone is precise. Clinical in its detachment. “What’s their role in all this?”

Ben doesn’t look at me when he answers.

“Agent Hunt will be on site with a small team. Five agents total. Two snipers positioned nearby. Two acting as civilians. The fifth is Agent Maxine Halder.” He pauses. “She’ll impersonate Annelly during the exchange. She volunteered.”

Annelly’s breath catches beside me. Soft—but I hear it.

“And Annelly?” Zeb asks. “Who’s staying with her?”

“In order for this to work,” Ben says, “Victor has to believe this is being handled in-house. OTS staff only. Owen and I will remain in Ruby Creek as Overwatch. We’ll relocate to Lucas’s compound. With Pastor David’s help, we’ll secure Emilia, Jen, Aunt Rosie, and the kids there to centralize resources.”

Lucas nods once. “Nero and I will head out to Greenville shortly. Recon the site. Make sure we’re ready.”

“Lucas will be the lead on-site,” Ben adds. “He’s the only one authorized to speak on behalf of OTS. All communication runs through him. Victor knows this. It’s non-negotiable.”

“And the rest of us?” Zeb presses.

“Zeb, Dom, James—you travel together. Meet Lucas at the rendezvous point.” Ben finally looks at me. “Annelly will stay behind at the safe house. Hunt is coordinating with state and local law enforcement. A detail will be assigned to stay with her until one of us can make it back.”

The room tilts again.

“No.” I’m on my feet before I register the movement, heat detonating in my chest. “Absolutely not.”

Every head snaps toward me.

“I’m not leaving her here with people we don’t know,” I say, the words coming fast and sharp, barely contained. “Either I stay, or she goes back to Ruby Creek. To Lucas’s. That’s it. That’s the only way I leave her.”

Dominick lets out a short, humorless laugh. “Oh, now you want to send her back. Convenient.”

I turn on him, rage flashing hot—

“Enough.” Ben’s voice cuts clean through the room. Not loud. Not angry. But final nonetheless.

He holds my gaze this time, and I see it—the exhaustion etched deep beneath the control. The weight he’s been carrying longer than any of us want to admit.

“We don’t have the time or manpower to move her safely,” he says. “And you have to be present for the exchange. It’s the only way Victor buys the decoy.”

Something inside me snaps.

“How did this happen?” I bark at him. “How dare you negotiate all of this without me? Like my say doesn’t matter. Like I don’t have the most to lose here?”

“Which is exactly why he had to do it,” Dominick fires back. “You’re compromised, James. You’re too damn close to see straight.”

I surge towards him, anger blazing hot.

But then I see her. 

From the corner of my eye—a flinch. A tightening of her shoulders. The sudden hitch in her breath.

The room rushes back all at once. The low, animal sound in my chest. The collective gasps as everyone braces for me to lose control. And that it’s happening in front of her yet again… 

The shame flares to life, burning hotter than the rage. 

I stop. 

Force air into my lungs. Hold it in. Then let it out slowly. 

For her, I have to stop this. 

For her, I have to do better.

I take a step back, dragging a hand through my hair, over my face, grounding myself in the friction. The monster is still there—pacing, snarling—but I lock it down. Contain it. Because she’s watching. Because she deserves better than this twisted, broken version of me.

“James,” Ben says into the silence, his voice steady, dangerous in its restraint. “Victor called. He dictated the terms. And as the leader of this team, I made the call to negotiate on your behalf.”

He doesn’t raise his voice. Doesn’t soften it either.

“I won’t apologize for it. I’ll take full responsibility for the consequences, no matter the outcome. But hear this: he wants you off balance. He’s betting he can push you into a mistake. Into isolating yourself. He wants this team to fracture under the weight of what’s at risk. And I refuse to give him that. We cannot give him that.”

Lucas nods once, his gaze steady on mine. “And we won’t. This team is better than that.”

My chest still heaves, pulse racing—but I’m back inside myself now. Back under control.

Annelly’s hand finds mine again. Firm. Certain. A quiet reminder that we’re still here. Still standing.

“This is it,” she says softly. “This is how we get Tyler back.”

I look at her.

She’s calm—but the fear is there too, threaded through her courage.

Something in my chest caves.

I swallow hard, forcing air back into my lungs, letting the love I feel for her dissolve what’s left of the rage simmering beneath my skin. I don’t answer right away. I just study her face. Commit it to memory. The strength she’s showing. The cost she’s willing to pay. All the things that make her so damn perfect for me.

“Okay,” I say finally, my voice lower now, meant only for her. “Then we finish it. We get Tyler back. And we end this.”

Zeb exhales slowly, like he’s forcing himself back into motion. “All right. Then what do we know about the cops Hunt’s bringing in? If we’re leaving her here, I want full dossiers on all of them. Full vetting. No blind spots.”

“On it,” Ben says. “Everything Hunt has, Owen will send your way. Anything else?”

Dominick shifts his weight. “Are we sure we can trust the FBI on this?”

“Yes,” Lucas says immediately. “Hunt proved that when he put his career on the line to save my family.” His jaw tightens. “But there’s still risk. Bastille has friends in high places. If the right person connects the right dots, it could all unravel fast. Our only hope is that time’s on our side—that Bastille rushing this works to our benefit.”

“Unless,” Dominick says quietly, “he already knows she’s here.”

Annelly inhales sharply.

My heart slams hard against my ribs.

“We don’t have another option,” Ben says. “This is our only shot at getting Tyler back. The only way to keep her safe while we do it.”

“You’re letting him control the board,” I say, my voice rough now, stripped of heat but not the fear underneath. “You’ve let him back us into a corner.”

“There was no other way,” Lucas says, trying to reassure—but even he doesn’t sound convinced. “All we can do now is play better than him. Beat him at his own game.”

Silence settles over the room, heavy and suffocating.

“This is a trap,” I say finally. The words feel inevitable the moment they leave my mouth. “Everything about it screams trap. He’s not going to be there—but he’s making damn sure we all are.”

I shake my head, a breath slipping out of me that sounds too close to defeat.

“I can’t leave her. Not like this. Not without one of us here to watch her back.”

Dominick nods once, a rough exhale following like it costs him something to say it. “I agree with James. One of us should stay behind. It can’t be James—so that leaves me or Zeb.”

“I agree,” Zeb says immediately.

Lucas nods. “Me too.”

Ben drags a hand down his face, resignation carved deep into the lines around his eyes. “Fine.”

“It should be Dominick,” Zeb says after a beat. “He’s got the tactical training, the close-quarters combat experience. If something goes sideways, he’s our best shot at keeping her safe.”

I hate how easily it makes sense.

Hate the way my chest tightens with relief and resentment all at once.

Dominick meets my gaze. No smugness. No challenge. Just a hard, unspoken understanding.

He’s got her.

Whether I like it or not, I have no choice but to trust him.

I look at Annelly.

She’s watching me closely now, brow furrowed, eyes bright with worry that guts me as she waits for my answer.

Leaving her behind feels wrong on a cellular level. Like every instinct in my body is screaming against it. Like even considering this is breaking some unspoken vow. Like I’m choosing one impossible loss over another—choosing between the two people I love most in this world—all in the name of strategy, in a game that’s been rigged for us to lose.

But Ben is right about one thing.

Victor has left me no choice.

I squeeze her hand once, then look at Dominick, nodding. Sharp. Final. “Dominick, it is.”

Lucas straightens, his gaze moving over each of us. “Then we’re agreed. We all know what’s at stake. From this point on, there’s no room for hesitation. We move. We execute. And we don’t stop until Tyler’s home.”

The words land—but they don’t comfort.

Under the circumstances, nothing could.

I’m walking away from the woman I love to save the brother I can’t live without.

And the worst part?

With the way Victor has set this up, there’s a very real chance I might lose them both.

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