Chapter Twelve
“So,” Kael said, leaning back in the chair like his spine hadn’t been stitched together by adrenaline and bad decisions for the last forty-eight hours. “Anyone else still seeing knives when they blink?”
Victor snorted. “I’m seeing trajectories. Perfect ones.”
Drew lifted his coffee mug in salute. “To Rangi and Alexios. May all my enemies die that clean.”
Laughter rippled around the conference room—low, relieved, the sound of men who’d survived something they’d expected not to.
Ethan sat at the head of the table, hands wrapped loosely around his own mug, listening more than speaking.
The room smelled like coffee and gun oil and the faint ozone tang of his servers humming behind the walls.
Keanu didn’t laugh.
He sat slightly apart, elbows on knees, gaze fixed on nothing in particular. Quiet in a way that wasn’t withdrawn—more ... coiled.
Ethan noticed. He always noticed.
His mind flicked back to the hangar an hour earlier.
Rangi and Alexios had been loading their gear with the same calm efficiency they’d shown in the estate—no rush, no bravado, movements economical and precise. Blood gone, adrenaline burned off, leaving behind that dangerous stillness of men who knew exactly what they were capable of.
Alexios had twirled one of his throwing knives once before sliding it back into its sheath, the motion lazy but precise. “Still balanced,” he said mildly. “Good night’s work.”
Ethan arched a brow. “You two put four blades in four men inside of two seconds. Different angles and trajectories, throwing with both hands.”
Alexios smiled. “They were standing where they shouldn’t have been.”
“Your definition of efficiency is disturbing,” Ethan said.
Alexios shrugged. “Our definition of efficiency is final.”
Rangi hadn’t said anything at first. He’d just leaned against the SUV, arms folded, watching Keanu with open interest and absolutely no attempt to hide it. Not predatory. Not cocky. Just ... assessing. Like he was looking at a problem he very much wanted to solve.
Keanu noticed.
Of course he did.
He’d stiffened the moment Rangi’s gaze settled on him, shoulders squaring like he expected a challenge. Instead, Rangi pushed off the vehicle and crossed the space between them with easy confidence.
“You move like a man who doesn’t hesitate,” Rangi said. Calm. Curious. “That’s rare.”
Keanu’s jaw tightened. “You watched me fight.”
“I watched you choose,” Rangi corrected. “Big difference.”
Alexios moved to stand beside Rangi. “He also watched you ignore three cleaner shots because they weren’t the right ones. That takes discipline.”
Keanu frowned. “You’re saying I missed.”
Rangi smiled—slow, knowing. “I’m saying you did, but on purpose. Again, big difference.”
The air shifted. Subtle. Charged.
Keanu scoffed, but there was no heat in it. “You throw knives. I carry a rifle.”
Rangi tilted his head. “Different tools. Same instinct.”
For a second—just one—something softer flickered across Keanu’s face. Recognition, maybe. Or something dangerously close to longing.
Then Alexios clapped his hands once, sharply. “Well. This is getting intimate. Perhaps you should think about sticking around.”
Keanu shot him a look. “You always interrupt like that?”
“Only when I’m interested,” Alexios replied cheerfully. “And I’m very interested in how this ends.”
Rangi stepped back then, giving Keanu space without disengaging. “When we cross paths again,” he said evenly, “I’d like to see how you drive.”
Keanu arched a brow. “When, not if? That an invitation or a threat?”
Rangi’s grin was all teeth this time. “Take it however you want, but I never forget how someone drives.”
Keanu didn’t answer—but he didn’t look away either.
Alexios slung his pack over one shoulder and winked at Keanu. “Careful, friend. He only flirts with people he thinks could kill him.”
Keanu snorted despite himself. “That’s a low bar.”
Rangi’s gaze lingered a heartbeat longer than necessary. “Yeah, but I think you’ll clear it.”
Then they were gone—walking away like they hadn’t just left something unresolved hanging in the air.
Back in the conference room now, Ethan watched Keanu sit slightly apart, coiled and quiet, and understood exactly why.
Some connections didn’t need names yet.
Some sparks were meant to wait.
There’d been a look exchanged. Brief. Curious. Charged.
Not subtle.
“You ever throw like that?” Drew asked now, shaking his head. “Both hands. No correction. No drift.”
Victor smiled faintly. “Can you imagine the time training to be that good? They are wickedly committed.”
“That’s a terrifying way to live,” Victor said.
“That’s a terrifying way to die,” Kael corrected.
Keanu finally spoke, voice low. “They knew exactly where they were standing. Three kills, but that blade to Gregory was retaliation pure and simple.”
Everyone looked at him.
He didn’t elaborate.
Ethan watched the moment stretch—saw Alexios’s grin in memory, heard Rangi’s quiet ‘Anytime’ as they’d parted. Saw the way Keanu had gone still when Rangi clapped him on the shoulder, had said something too soft to hear.
Interesting.
“Shame we didn’t get their numbers,” Drew said.
Victor smirked. “Pretty sure they’ve got ours.”
Keanu stood abruptly. “I’m going to get air.”
The room went quiet as he left.
Kael glanced at Luca, one brow lifting. “That wasn’t nothing.”
“No,” Luca said. “It wasn’t.”
They let it go—for now.
The room shifted as the laughter faded, reality creeping back in.
Gregory was dead.
Ethan felt the weight of that settle fully for the first time.
“I ran the numbers again,” Luca said, tapping his tablet and pulling the room’s attention back in. “Gregory’s death collapses at least three syndicate branches. His shell companies are already being eaten alive.”
“Vultures,” Drew muttered.
“Yes,” Luca agreed mildly. “But controlled ones.”
Ethan exhaled slowly. “He was a linchpin. Not the biggest monster—but a connector.”
Kael nodded. “And we need to find those connections.”
As if summoned, Luca’s tablet chimed.
He glanced at it, then smiled in a way that was all teeth.
“Well,” he said, “that didn’t take long.”
He turned the screen so they could see.
A message. No sender. No flourish.
You have interfered for the last time.
Our patience is not infinite.
We will be correcting the imbalance.
Breaker is ours.
Silence hit the room.
Then Drew leaned back and said, “Wow. That’s rude.”
Victor scoffed. “They always think threatening the smartest man in the room is a power move.”
Luca lifted his eyes. “I feel flattered.”
Kael snorted. “They’re posturing. Testing.”
“They’ll come,” Ethan said quietly.
Luca shrugged. “Let them.”
The room settled into agreement—not bravado, not fear. Readiness.
“We’ll move tomorrow,” Kael said. “Back to Hawaii. Reset.”
Ethan’s stomach sank.
Niko, who’d been silent until now, shifted in his chair.
Ethan felt it before he saw it—the look.
That quiet, searching pause.
For one terrifying second, Ethan thought: This is it.
That this was where they parted.
That Black Tide went home, and he stayed behind with ghosts and a house too big for one man.
Niko stood.
Ethan’s chest tightened.
Niko crossed the room, stopped in front of him, and held out his hand.
“Can we talk?” Niko said simply. No performance. No doubt.
Ethan stared at the hand.
At the man.
“Yes,” he said.
Ethan took his hand.
****
“Come here,” Niko said softly, already guiding Ethan backward toward the bedroom.
Ethan barely had time to register the movement before Niko was with him, hands warm and certain, pulling him into the space that smelled faintly of cedar and lake air and all the things Ethan had tried to make into a life. The door closed behind them with a quiet click.
Niko didn’t hesitate.
“Will you come with us?” he asked, the words tumbling out like he’d been holding them too long. “You and Poppy. And Lucy, if she wants. We can make it work—Hawaii, here, wherever. We can time-share. We can build something. I don’t care how it looks as long as we’re together.”
Ethan just stared at him.
So, Niko kept going, voice rougher now. “I already love her. I already love you. You’ve got my heart, both of you, and I’m not pretending otherwise. I want to be in your lives. I want to wake up with you every fucking day. I want to help raise her. I want—”
Ethan kissed him.
It wasn’t hurried. It wasn’t desperate. It was steady, certain, full of everything he’d never believed he was allowed to ask for.
“Yes,” Ethan said against Niko’s mouth. “I want that. All of it. I want you. I want her. I want us—here, in Hawaii, wherever the hell the world takes us. And I want to face what’s coming with you.”
Niko’s hands slid into his hair, holding him close, their foreheads resting together as they breathed each other in.
“We’ll raise Poppy,” Niko murmured. “We’ll build something. And then we’ll burn the rest of it down.”
Ethan laughed softly, emotion thick in his throat. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Will you give yourself to me?” Niko asked, holding her gaze.
“In every sense of the word,” Ethan answered immediately.
Niko didn’t need to be told twice and had them both stripped out of their clothes in seconds.
He sank to his knees in front of Ethan, hands sliding over his hips before he took him into his mouth, slow at first, reverent in a way that made Ethan’s breath catch immediately. It wasn’t rushed. It was like he was relearning him, reminding them both what this felt like.
“Christ ... baby,” Ethan breathed, hands coming down to rest on Niko’s shoulders. “You’re going to pull the world out from under me like that?”
Niko smiled around him, a soft, affectionate curve of his mouth as he drew on him again, letting his tongue glide along every sensitive place he remembered. “Where would the fun be if I didn’t?” he murmured before taking him back in.
His hands were warm and steady, one cradling Ethan, the other anchoring him close, paying attention to every sound, every shift of breath, every tightening of fingers. He wasn’t just touching him—he was listening to him, learning him all over again.
“Easy,” Ethan groaned, hips starting to move without his permission. “You’re going to make me lose it too fast.”
Niko didn’t stop. He didn’t want to. He held him there, letting him feel everything, until Ethan shuddered and gave himself over, warmth spilling against Niko’s tongue as he held him through it. Niko stayed with him, steady and gentle, until Ethan leaned down into him, breathing hard.
When Niko finally looked up, Ethan’s face was open and flushed, and so damn beautiful it almost hurt.
“I love you,” Ethan said quietly, his hand coming up to cup Niko’s jaw. “So much.”
Something in Niko softened at that. He rose, drawing Ethan with him, and guided him back onto the bed like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Niko leaned in and kissed him—slow, deep, full of everything they’d held back for three long years.
“I love you, too,” Niko whispered. “And I am going to make you and Poppy so fucking happy.”
The relief that crossed Ethan’s face was everything.
“Then come here,” Ethan murmured.
Niko prepared him with care, hands sure but gentle, murmuring little things only they could hear as he worked him open, watching the way Ethan responded, trusting him completely.
“You’re beautiful like this,” Niko said softly. “Open for me. Choosing me.”
Ethan arched into his touch, eyes dark with want and something deeper. “Always you. Only you.”
When Niko finally pressed against him, they kissed, breathing each other in as they came together slowly, deliberately, until they were both trembling with how right it felt.
“Oh God,” Ethan whispered. “You feel ... just like home.”
Niko held him there, forehead resting against his. “You are home.”
They moved together after that—not frantic, not wild—but with the urgency of two people who had waited far too long. Every touch, every kiss, every whispered word was a promise being kept.
“I love you,” Ethan said into Niko’s mouth.
That was all it took.
They came together, holding each other tight, as if neither of them would ever let go again.
Niko collapsed against him, breathing hard, arms wrapped around Ethan like he’d been missing this piece of himself for years.
And in that quiet afterward, with their bodies still warm and close, it wasn’t just release they’d found.
It was home.
Later, wrapped around each other in the quiet that followed, Ethan pressed his lips to Niko’s temple.
“You know what this feels like?” he murmured.
Niko smiled sleepily. “Tell me.”
“A controlled drift,” Ethan said. “Not chaos. Not surrender. Just the moment when you stop fighting the motion... and let it carry you where you’re meant to go.”
Niko tightened his arms around him.
“Then let’s ride it,” he said. “Together.”
And for the first time in his life, Ethan believed that the future was something he didn’t have to face alone.