Chapter 57
MASON
Icame into the kitchen of the main house to grab a snack before I went for a ride to clear my head and work off the memory of Lily coming apart in my arms last night. You’d think a full morning of chores would have cured me of my restlessness.
It didn’t.
I sit at the table, finishing my sandwich, feeling like I’m in some sort of twilight zone. Emma's been baking cookies—with cinnamon based on the scent. The kitchen at Blackthorn has a warm, domestic quality that doesn't belong in a house built on tactical operations and blood debts.
Shadow pads across the tile floor and presses his massive head against Emma's thigh.
Emma's hand drops automatically, fingers threading through the dog's fur with the kind of easy affection that comes from weeks of living together.
She's humming something I don't recognize and her other hand rests on her belly in that unconscious way she's started doing.
In a few months, there’s going to be a baby in this house. A baby. A small, fragile human who will depend on Jake and Emma to keep it safe. Who will grow up in this house surrounded by people who know how to kill and how to protect in equal measure.
The thought hits me sideways in a new way. I watch Emma's face soften as Shadow leans into her touch, and something in my chest tightens in a way I don't have a name for.
I've never thought about kids. Never let myself imagine that sort of future. It wasn't part of the plan—the plan was survival, control, isolation. The plan was being a weapon that didn't need anything, didn't want anything, didn't risk anything by existing.
But standing here in this kitchen, watching Emma's stacking a plate with cookies and Shadow's devotion and the morning light coming through the windows, I find myself imagining it.
A baby.
Not just any baby—a baby with Lily's eyes.
A child that would be half her—determined and brilliant and unbreakable.
That sharp, tactical intelligence that reads a room in seconds.
Her fierceness. The way she moves through the world like she's already calculated seventeen different escape routes. Her bravery.
The revelation detonates through me like a sniper round finding its mark.
I want that.
I want Lily like that—not just in my bed, not just as a mission, but as the mother of my children. As the woman I build a future with.
Wanting that means I have something to lose. It means I'm not just a weapon anymore—I'm a man with a future, and futures are fragile things that can be taken away.
The kitchen door slams open.
Luke stands in the frame, his jaw tight, his eyes sharp with the kind of urgency that means the operation just escalated. “Lily's at the Turner Ranch.”
“What?” I push to standing, the chair I was on falling backwards.
“I happened to catch one of the feeds. I caught her pulling up.”
Emma gasps. “What’s she doing there?”
Luke and I exchange a look. If Jake hasn’t told Emma about Lily’s past, I’m not either. “Keep an eye on the feed,” I tell Luke as I head for the door. “Let me know if there’s a situation.”
Luke catches my arm before I’m out the door. “Don’t go in half-cocked. That’d just piss Jake off.”
“I’ll be careful.” I hurry out the door, Shadow right behind me.
As I let Shadow into my truck and climb in after, everything I was just imagining—the baby with her eyes, the future I was just allowing myself to want—collides with the immediate, terrifying present.
Lily is at Turner's property.
What the fuck? My hands clench. I don’t know who I’m more furious with—Turner’s men for being close to my girl or Lily for breaking her promise to me.