10. Killian #3
"They've been inside," Gabe concludes, pointing to a subtle manipulation on the back-door hinges. "Recent entry. They must have gotten the intelligence they needed and moved to the next phase."
Ellie stares at the black pouch on the counter. "What do we do now?"
"We have options," Gabriel says, looking to me for confirmation. "Leave the devices in place and feed them misinformation. Remove them and let them know we are on to them. Or—"
"We put them in the ground," I interrupt. "All of them."
Gabriel doesn’t react, but I know he gets it. He's known me long enough to recognize when I've passed the point of no return.
"I'll make the calls," he says simply. "Jackson should be here by nightfall. Kai, well, he should be here by morning."
He heads outside to make his calls, leaving Ellie and me alone in the kitchen. The atmosphere between us has shifted. What happened in her office, the new threat we are facing; too much has changed in too short a time.
"You're really talking about fighting the Order?” She asks softly.
"I'm talking about protecting you," I correct. "By whatever means necessary because you're my…" I trail off.
"Because I'm your... what, exactly?" Her direct question catches me off guard. "Your assignment? Your fuck piece? Your responsibility? What am I to you, Killian?"
The question deserves a better answer than I can give her, one that doesn't involve the years I spent watching her. One that stays away from her father’s murder.
"You're mine, and I protect what's mine."
Rather than offense, I see something soften in her expression. "That's not an answer, Killian. That's ownership."
"Then I don't know what to call this," I admit. "I just know that I would burn the world down before I let them hurt you."
She looks at me, and I wonder what she sees. My past, or the man currently in her kitchen.
"Show me," she says finally.
"Show you what?" My brows knit in confusion.
"How to fight back. If they're coming for me, I want to be prepared. You said you'd teach me self-defense, real self-defense, not the gym flirtation version. Now's the time."
Of course. Ellie isn't built for hiding. She wants to be ringside in her own survival.
"Are you sure?" I try to gauge her unreadable facial expression. "Real combat training isn't like those self-defense classes you've taken. It's brutal, intensive, and it requires a willingness to hurt people."
"I'm willing to learn," she says with determination. "I won't be a victim, Killian. Not for the Order, not for anyone."
Pride hits me. This is the woman I've been watching, the one who faces challenges head-on, who refuses to be diminished by fear or intimidation.
"Alright," I agree. "We'll start tomorrow after Gabe secures the place and the others are here."
She nods, then hesitates, her hand reaching out to touch my arm. "And what happened between us... in my office..."
"Doesn't have to happen again," I say, though something in my chest tightens. "If you regret it, or you need space to process everything that's happening—"
"I don't regret it," she interrupts, her fingers tightening on my arm. "I know I should, probably with my job. But I don't. I need to know if it was…if I was…"
"A conquest?" I finish for her. She thinks I’m playing a game.
She nods, unable to meet my eyes now.
"I've read your file. You were in the Order. You're trained in psychological tactics, in finding vulnerabilities and exploiting them. And I've been... vulnerable to you from the beginning."
"What happened between us was real," I tell her, lifting her chin with the crook of my finger so I can meet her eyes. "Whatever else I've done, whatever lies I've told or truths I've kept, that was real. You were never a game to me, Ellie."
The tension in her shoulders eases slightly, but doubt still lingers in her expression. "How can I know that? How can I trust anything when my entire world has been turned upside down in the space of a day?"
It's a fair question, one I don't really have a good answer for. How can she trust me when I'm still hiding the truth about her father?
"You can't," I admit finally. "All I can offer is my protection and my promise that whatever happens, whatever you learn about me or my past, everything that's happened between us has been real."
She searches my face, looking for the lie. I don’t look away. I let her see as much of the truth as I can without destroying us both.
"Okay," she says finally. "I believe you. At least about that."
Before I can respond, Gabe returns, his expression ominous. “Perimeter’s temporarily secured, but we need to move soon. From what I hear, Cell 7 is mobilizing. Forty-eight hour window.”
“Target?” I ask, though I already know the answer.
“Dr. Hart,” Gabriel confirms, his eyes flicking to Ellie. “Primary objective is elimination. Secondary is the recovery of all research materials related to the Order.”
Ellie’s hand grips the edge of the kitchen counter, her knuckles white. I watch her process the information, as it hits her. I watch her breathing quicken before she forces it back under control.
“So they’re really going to try to kill me.” her voice trails off. “Within two days. Professional killers are coming to my home to murder me.”
“Yes,” I say, because she deserves honesty.
She’s quiet for a long moment, staring at something only she can see. Then her shoulders straighten, that steel spine I’ve come to recognize asserting itself. “Then what’s the plan? How do we stop them?”
“They’re going to try,” I correct, moving closer to her. “But they’ll have to go through me first. And unlike your father, I saw them coming.”
The moment the words leave my mouth, I realize my mistake. Ellie's gaze sharpens, her analytical mind connecting dots I never intended to lay out for her.
"My father," she repeats slowly. “What exactly do you mean, Killian?”
Gabe stiffens slightly, but I catch the warning in his eyes. He knows my history, knows about Hart's murder. He knows I've been hiding the truth from Ellie.
"Only what you've told me," I lie. It’s the easiest one I’ve told all day. "That the Order might have been involved because of his research."
She doesn’t look away, searching my face for the lie, and I can't tell if she believes me or not. But the immediate crisis demands her attention more than her suspicions about her Fathers death. She nods once, accepting my answer for now.
"So what's the plan?" she asks, looking between Gabe and me. "How do we fight something as powerful as the Order?"
"One step at a time," Gabe answers before I can. "First, we secure this place as much as possible. Then we prepare you for what's coming, both physically and mentally. When Jackson arrives, we'll have better intel and can formulate a more specific plan."
"And if they attack before then?"
“Then they’ll discover why Cell 7 has always been afraid of Killian Blackthorn,” Gabe says, and he sounds almost satisfied. “And why those of us who served with him would still follow him into hell itself.”
Gabriel's loyalty still runs deep. After everything. After the years of silence, the betrayal of the Order. He came anyway.
"Thank you," I mouth to him when Ellie turns away.
Gabe shrugs his massive shoulders. "Family isn't about blood, it's about who you'd bleed for. And you've bled for all of us at one point or another."
He’s right. Whatever else I’ve done, whatever monster I’ve been, the bond with my brothers remains unbroken. They're coming, all of them, to stand with me, because family protects family.
And Ellie?
She doesn’t realize it yet, but she became part of this family when I chose her over the Order.