Chapter 12 #2
Ian didn’t argue. He simply nodded once. “Bring Reid back in, alone.”
The door opened. Reid stepped back into the boardroom, shoulders squared, eyes sharp.
Ian waited until the door shut behind him.
Then he pressed, harder this time. “You’ve made it clear where you stand.
Can you lead your team and protect her without compromise?
Can you follow orders even when they cut against what you want?
Because, make no mistake, Claire is no longer just yours.
She belongs to this fight. And if you fail her, it won’t be her alone who pays. It will be everyone in this room.”
Reid didn’t hesitate. His voice rang like tempered steel. “Yes, sir. I can. And I will. My orders are hers. My responsibility is hers. My line holds.”
Ian studied him a long moment. Finally, he nodded. “Zach.”
Chief Executive Officer of the Domestic Law Enforcement Division Zach Wentworth leaned forward.
His tone was clipped, final. “Then here are your marching orders, Reid. Claire Bowman is now a protected asset under Chase Security. You are her primary detail until further assignment. She doesn’t move without you or without coverage you approve.
You’ll run Tree Town One, but your priority is her security.
Fail, and there won’t be a second chance. Understood?”
Reid’s jaw flexed. He gave a short, sharp nod. “Understood.”
Zach leaned back. Ian finally shifted, settling into his chair. His voice softened, but only slightly. “Then God help anyone who tries to take her from you.”
EXECUTIVE SUITE LOUNGE – 2105 HOURS
The lounge was quiet in the way hospitals are quiet, with muted footsteps, soft lights, and the kind of silence that wasn’t restful but waiting. Claire sat on the edge of a leather chair that probably cost more than her entire apartment’s furnishings, her hands locked together in her lap.
Tuck Hanlon was across from her, his big frame folded into the seat like the room had shrunk to fit him. Pete Walter leaned against the wall, arms crossed, eyes tracking the hallway that led back to the boardroom. Both men were steady, like anchors thrown into shifting seas. She envied that calm.
Her own hands wouldn’t stop fidgeting. She pressed them flat against her knees, then stilled them.
Thirty minutes ago, she’d been inside a room with Ian Chase, telling him things she swore she’d never say out loud again. Emberline. The anomaly. The orders to sanitize. The deaths. All of it. And now Reid was in with him and Chase Security’s power—alone.
Her chest tightened. They were pressing him. She could feel it, pressure building behind a wall she couldn’t see. Ian Chase wasn’t the type to hand out trust without grinding it to dust first.
She glanced at Tuck. He hadn’t moved, but his eyes were steady on her, seeing too much.
“You’re holding your breath.”
She let out a shaky laugh. “Feels like if I breathe too much, I’ll tip something over.”
“Reid’s fine,” Pete said from the wall, his voice calm, measured. “They’ll come at him hard. That’s the way they do it. But he doesn’t break. He never has.”
Claire swallowed. “That’s what scares me. He won’t bend, not even for himself.”
Tuck leaned forward, elbows on his knees, his gaze softer now, almost paternal. “That’s why they gave him a team, Claire. That’s why he’s in there.”
Her throat burned. She looked away, blinking fast. She’d fallen hard. Was it that he was her first? She wondered what he thought. Did he feel the same?
The clock on the wall ticked loudly in the silence. Claire closed her eyes, listening to it, and realized she wasn’t afraid for herself anymore. She was afraid for Reid. Afraid of everything they were laying on him. Afraid of what this fight would carve out of him if she couldn’t help carry it.
She pressed her palms flat together, whispering to herself so quietly, the men across from her couldn’t hear. Please, just come back out to me.
The clock ticked loud enough to cut into Claire’s thoughts, each second a reminder that Reid was still behind those closed doors. Tuck hadn’t moved, Pete hadn’t spoken in minutes, and she sat suspended between them. Then the door opened.
Reid stepped out, shoulders tight, jaw set, but his eyes immediately found her.
Whatever burden he’d been carrying in that room, he carried it out, his posture still, his face a mask.
But his eyes softened when they met hers, and the air seemed to leave his lungs, replaced by a fragile breath that made her heart stutter.
Claire rose before she knew she was moving, her body reacting faster than her mind.
He crossed the space in three long strides, and the moment he reached her, the walls she’d built around herself cracked.
He didn’t touch her—not here, not in front of Tuck and Pete—but the nearness alone steadied her pulse, grounding her in a way she didn’t expect.
“You’re alright,” she whispered, though the words felt hollow, a reassurance she wasn’t sure she believed.
His mouth curved slightly, faint but genuine. “I told you I don’t break.”
She swallowed hard, her chest tight, as if his words had shifted the world in her direction. It wasn’t just Reid carrying this anymore. She could feel it, him pulling her into it, and the burden was heavier than she’d imagined.
She searched his face, trying to see past the calm, the stoic lines. His eyes were hard, yes, but there was something else there too—a deep, unspoken resolve. He wasn’t just carrying the mission anymore but also her fears, even when she wasn’t sure she wanted him to.
“They’re putting a lot on you.” Her words came out more strained than she intended.
“Nothing changed,” he answered quietly. “Tonight just made it official.”
Now she was afraid she might be the one who’d break first.
Behind them, Tuck stood, his voice steady, offering a quiet but necessary grounding. “Claire, it’s one day at a time.”
Pete’s voice cut through the tension, simple but direct. “Stay close.”
She nodded, forcing herself to breathe, but it felt like she was holding on by a thread.
Reid leaned in, his presence a quiet promise, his voice a soft whisper meant only for her. “We’ll talk. But I want you to know… I’m still yours in this.”
Her throat tightened, but she nodded, her heart thundering in her chest. “Then I’m not afraid.”