Chapter 13 #2
“We burned a very powerful man. We also humiliated a District Attorney who ran for Senate and lost because of us. This isn’t just about Miami anymore, Bells. You don’t get to walk back into your old life like we didn’t start a war.”
“Vince doesn’t know that was us, Zeke. And, the lake house is—”
“It doesn’t matter,” Zeke snaps, then lowers his voice again. “It’s not about where he is. It’s about who he is to you. And if someone finds out, if they connect the dots, he’s leverage. And you’re exposed. You could be putting him in danger, not just yourself.”
“I’m not asking to go back. I’m not trying to run away and play house,” I whisper, voice shaking. “I just want to see him. That’s all. Just once. I just want to see my Dad.”
“I know,” he says. “But it’s not time yet.”
My throat tightens. “Will it ever be?”
He’s quiet for a long moment. “I hope so,” he says honestly. “If the network holds. If we can find Vince and eliminate that threat.”
I nod, lips pressed tight to hold back the emotion trying to claw its way out. Zeke brushes a knuckle down my cheek and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. Then he leans in and presses a kiss to my forehead.
“I’ll get you there one day.”
He pulls back, and I see it, all the weight he’s carrying. All the pain he doesn’t let out. Every wall he’s built around both of us to keep us breathing. He walks away, footsteps silent as he vanishes up the staircase without looking back.
I stand there for a while, letting the firelight flicker across the floor until it doesn’t feel warm anymore. Then I turn off the lights and head to bed.
???
ZEKE
The next morning
Tex is at the coffee machine, watching it as if it’s going to pull a weapon. Nate’s already locked-in at the table, sleeves rolled, files open, and dissecting the op like it’ll confess if he presses hard enough. I take the first mug.
Nate breaks the silence. “We need to talk about the city.”
“Fucking hell. Here we go,” I say as I sip my coffee.
Tex doesn’t even look surprised. “We’ve been dancing around it for weeks. Maybe New York was too much of a risk.”
I exhale through my nose, lean against the window, eyes on the skyline as it flickers to life behind the fog.
“This was never about comfort,” I say. “We didn’t pick Manhattan because it’s safe. We picked it because it’s a lion’s den.”
“That’s exactly the problem,” Nate snaps. “We are in his lion’s den.”
“Exactly. He’s here. Which means we can keep eyes on him. Track every move he makes while he’s too busy chasing ghosts to see what’s right in front of him.”
Tex crosses his arms. “And what if he stops chasing ghosts, Zeke? What happens when he starts looking in his own backyard?”
I set the mug down hard, before I break it in my hand. “Then we finish it.”
I take in a deep breath.
“He doesn’t know she’s alive,” I say, voice low. “Doesn’t know I’ve got his book. He doesn’t know a damn thing.”
Nate leans forward, eyes locked on mine. “But if he connects the dots. If he finds out Bella’s alive and—”
“I know,” I cut in. “Trust me. I know.”
No one moves.
“He isn’t going to find anything. Isabella Marie Harrington died in a car explosion at a private airstrip near Fort Myers. Years ago. We made sure of it.”
My voice stays level. Cold. “And that’s if he ever found a trail to Bells as a Harrington in the first place, which he didn’t. There’s never been a single fucking breadcrumb. No one was ever sent to Arkansas to find her. Not by him, anyway.”
“Fine. How’s she doing?” Tex asks. “How was she after we went to bed last night?”
I pause.
“She asked about Henry,” I say, quieter now. “We were by the fire, and she just looked at me. Dead in the eye and asked, ‘Can I see him?’”
Tex mutters a curse under his breath.
“I told her no. Because it’s not time.”
“Maybe it should be,” Tex replies, voice low. “She’s not a little kid anymore, not really. She’s earned that much. Survived more shit than half the people on this team.”
I shake my head. “Not with Vince breathing, and sure as hell not with you know who walking free.”
I look up, eyes burning. “Fayetteville’s the first place he’d look if he even suspected she was alive. You think he wouldn’t go after Henry? You think he wouldn’t kill him just to pull her out of hiding?”
My voice dips lower. “What do you think that would do to her?”
Nate’s voice cuts through the fog, quiet but sharp. “So what? We keep her locked in this tower forever?”
“We keep her alive,” I snap. “That’s the job.”
“You’re not the only one protecting her, Zeke,” Tex says. “We’re in this with you. She’s our family too, you both are.”
I nod. “I know. But if something happens to her?” I glance between them. “It won’t be on your conscience. It’ll be on mine. She’s been my responsibility ever since she got dumped by Krolek’s agents in Miami.”
The silence hangs. Heavy.
Nate drops his gaze to the laptop. “Shit,” he breathes spinning the laptop toward me. “Looks like Krolek’s been busy.”
New file. Surveillance photos. Timestamped calls. Encrypted transfers. One headline blinking at the top:
OPERATION GHOST: KROLEK MOVEMENT
Confirmed. 22 minors. Target: Newark.
Tex whistles low. “That’s not a shuffle. That’s a fucking shipment.”
Nate scrolls. “Intel confirms them tagged for an offshore sale. Private plane out of Newark. Two nights from now. Midnight.”
“Where’s the plane headed?”
“Unclear,” Nate says. “Logs say Dubai. Red Silk’s intercepts say Poland.”
“Money’s on Poland if Krolek is involved,” Tex adds.
“Twenty-two kids,” I repeat under my breath. My throat tastes like rust. “This one’s ours.”
Tex nods. “We need the full team for this, or at least half of them.”
“Call in Khoza and Ivan,” I say. “O’Malley, too”
Nate looks up. “We pulling Bella in?”
I hesitate. “No. Not for this one. We don’t know what we’re walking into yet. She stays grounded. We can’t risk Krolek seeing her. Or Vince if he’s somehow involved in this one.”
“She’ll fight you on that,” Tex says.
“She can fight me all she wants,” I mutter. “She’s not going anywhere near that plane.”
A long silence. Then Tex pipes up, “Twenty-two.”
I nod. “Let’s bring them home.”
“Bella may not be the mission,” Nate says, voice softer now. “But she’s why it matters.”
I glance toward the staircase. Then at the skyline. Then down at my phone. There’s a photo on the screen. Me and her on the field at St. Lyra’s right after her Homecoming game halftime show. She’s still in uniform, glitter on her face, ponytail swinging, grinning like she just took over the world.
Ellie’s somewhere in the background yelling about lighting or angles, I don’t remember. All I remember is her. Bella, flushed from the performance, eyes wild and bright, dragging me out of the shadows like I wasn’t actively trying to avoid every camera on the East Coast.
I told her no. She took the picture anyway. Brat never listens.
Made some poor senior take it while I stood there in a Vixen t-shirt, arms crossed like a bouncer at a princess party. Hoodie ditched for once because she asked me to. I looked completely out of place and I didn’t give a shit. Not this time. Because she was glowing and I was proud as hell.
She’d danced like she owned that field. Like everything we’d been through—the pain, the blood, the nightmares—it hadn’t touched her. Like the fire hadn’t carved her hollow.
And in that second, standing beside her with stadium lights in our eyes and glitter stuck to my damn arm, I didn’t feel like a bodyguard. Or a ghost. I felt like her brother. And it was enough.
I stare at the photo. The grin. The glitter. That moment. I don’t get many of those with her. Not anymore. Now it’s blades and bruises and black site raids. Rigs and recon and revenge.
The girl in this photo? She’s still in there somewhere. But she’s tired. She’s scarred. And she’s carrying way too much shit I should’ve protected her from.
Maybe it’s time.
Not for normal. That ship sailed along time ago.
Not for safety. That’s a goddamn fairy tale.
Not even for closure. She knows too much for that.
But maybe if I can give her him, just once. Her dad. Her safe place. Her real anchor before all of this. Maybe she’ll keep going. Maybe she’ll believe she still deserves a little light. And maybe, if I’m lucky, she’ll be okay.
There’s just one problem. If I give her him, I risk losing her.
And I don’t know if I’m ready for that.