24. TRACTION
TWENTY-FOUR
traction
Hudson
Completing normal tasks at the office feels like a sigh of relief after the chaos of the past couple of weeks.
The mundane distraction is more than welcome.
I clear emails, sit through a briefing that could’ve been an email, and skim a report I already know by heart.
Muscle memory takes over, giving my mind something to hold onto.
Last night was heavy.
Sisters.
Maribel Island.
Jared fucking Whiteman and that cunt Sophie Delacroix, who is even more evil than I realized.
Young girls raised in the shadows of society’s worst sins, inheriting baggage no one should have to carry. Choosing to make those predators pay when no one else would.
As heavy as it all is, I can’t shake the sense that something fundamental shifted last night. Like a fault line finally cracked wide open, too big to ignore any longer, and the earth has reluctantly settled in its new place.
Written in the fucking stars, if I were to be poetic about it.
Waking up with them—both of them—easy, content…
felt fan-fucking-tastic. Life-altering. It’s taking concentrated efforts to avoid wearing the biggest smile of my life on my face all day today.
I managed to fall for two very complicated, stubborn, guarded people.
But last night, walls came tumbling down.
And now we have a chance. That’s more than I want to think about.
It’s too good and in my life good things have been few and fleeting.
It’s hard to believe any of this shit is real.
So yeah, work. Even if I’ve come to hate working at the FBI. Same corrupt fuckers the mafia services, just dressed up as public servants—at least the mob doesn’t lie about what it is.
I wait until just before lunch before approaching Luna. “SCIF?” I keep my voice casual as I step into her line of sight.
She studies my face for half a second, then nods.
We don’t speak as we walk.
Our friendship was cemented over many long hours in these halls. I know it can bounce back from its recent fractures, and I intend to make that clear.
We stop at a reinforced door marked SCIF, Authorized Personnel Only. I scan my badge and the lock gives a soft, electronic chirp. The door seals shut behind us with a heavy click.
We remain silent as I move with practiced efficiency, opening an app on my phone to scan for bugs.
I do a slow sweep of the space, methodical, scanning the vents, ceiling corners, even the baseboards.
The faint pulse of blue light from my phone screen bounces across the walls as I move around the room.
Just because a room says it’s secure, doesn’t mean it’s not bugged.
Luna stays out of my way, drifting toward the far corner I’ve already inspected.
“We’re clear,” I say once I’m done, pocketing my phone.
Her shoulders relax, if only a little.
I lean against the table. “I wanted to check in. On you.” I make deliberate eye contact, looking into her big blue eyes behind even bigger glasses. I wait.
She considers me for a beat, then relaxes her shoulders and says, “I’m better. Now that it’s out. Lighter, I think, even if everything else feels heavier.”
That fucking resonates. “I’m glad you don’t have to carry it alone anymore.”
She meets my gaze. “Me too. And—” She hesitates. “I’m glad you know. You, Eva, Enzo. The whole truth.”
“Me too.”
She gives me a faint smile.
“I’ll be honest…I thought my childhood was rough. You make having a single mom who worked as an escort seem fucking beige.”
Luna laughs. A genuine smile crosses her face. “You? Beige? Not possible.”
“Phew. I was worried.”
“How was Pippa after we left?”
Now it’s my turn to smile. “I’m afraid to say this out loud, but…” A pause.
“The two people you want most in the world might be figuring their shit out?” Luna finishes.
That makes me laugh. “That’s what I’ve always loved about you, Steele. You see the truth.”
She stiffens and her smile falters a bit.
“Shit, sorry, what did I say?” I ask.
“No, Hudson—” She takes a deep breath then takes a seat at the table in the center of the room.
I join her but remain silent.
“I never knew. I had no idea who our dad really was. What the parties were. What Sophie and Konstantin did to find girls. I just… I didn’t see it.
I know once Pippa and Jules started to realize certain things, they protected me.
I try to tell myself it wasn’t my fault; I was so young. But I hate that I didn’t see it.”
“How could you have?”
She simply shakes her head. “I don’t know, but the day he was arrested… I was such a mess. I didn’t understand anything.”
“Jules said you were like, thirteen.”
She confirms and then continues, “I didn’t just lose my dad that day—a dad I didn’t know was a monster—but Junior was my best friend.
I cared about him. I didn’t want to leave him alone with his dad.
We left him with a monster.” A tear slides down her face.
“It worries me that no one’s seen him in ten years. ”
I nod slowly. “I didn’t know him as a child, but Luna, he wasn’t—”
“I know he’s changed,” she says. “I’m not na?ve, but… I knew the little boy he once was, and I feel guilty that we escaped and he didn’t.”
Another tear falls and she wipes it away quickly. “Anyway,” she continues, “I can’t bring this up to my sisters. They have enough to deal with. Now that we’re basically living at the Lucianos’, I feel like it’s disrespectful to them to even have these thoughts.”
“What thoughts?”
“I shouldn’t be worried about a Volkov. Not when Eva and Enzo—”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t bring it up to either of them.” I aim for a bit of humor. “But you can’t help how you feel. Your caring heart is one of the things that everyone loves most about you.”
She scoffs. “I thought it was my great taste in music.”
“No one thinks nineties boy band music is great. Fucking no one.”
She lets out a breath that sounds like relief. “Thank you.”
I raise a brow.
“For listening. I know things have been strained—”
“It’s been a weird few weeks, that's for damned sure, but you and I have been friends a long time.”
Luna agrees.
“I’ll always be here for you.”
She offers me a smile and stands from her chair.
“And Eva?” I ask as I join her to leave.
She takes a deep breath. “It’s new. And complicated.”
“Just be honest with her. She can handle it.”
“Since you’re checking in on your family”—she turns to me—“my sister is also my top priority. So don’t make me mad again, okay?”
“Oh shit. You were mad at me?”
“Duh!” she says with a smile.
“Fine, fine. Let’s be nice to each other’s families then? Sound good?”
“I like that.”
Before I open the door, I say, “Oh, and we’re on the security detail for the gala. Confirmed this morning.”
“We have three days. I—I’m glad this part will be behind us soon.”
Their scars may never heal, but Troy’s death will be the start of a new phase. We unlock the SCIF and step back into the controlled chaos of the HQ hallway.
Jax Novak spots us and walks our way. He’s at least five or six inches taller than my six feet, and his combination of dark hair and blue eyes is striking. He probably has a decade on me. And knowing he and Jules have history makes me very motivated to know this guy more.
“Cross, Steele,” he says, calling to us both. “Good timing.” He has a slight Eastern European accent that is very alluring.
Yeah, Jules, I see it. Yum.
I clock the look in his eyes—focused, purposeful.
“I need to scope a local security firm. Redline Solutions,” he says. “I want to stop by today and thought you two could join me.”
Luna glances at me, expression blank, then back to him.
“Jules Sinclair, the CEO,” Jax continues, “I know her from my Interpol days. We partnered on some cases.”
“Really?” I feign ignorance.
“Yeah. She’s solid, but I need to see if she’ll open her files.”
“For client overlap?” I fake-guess.
He nods. “Especially anything tied to the gala crowd, the celebrity parties, or security cross-contracts. I think she could be an asset.”
Yeah, hot stuff, I’m sure you do. I’m sure it has nothing to do with wanting to see your stunning ex. I see you, Novak.
“Agreed. When do we leave?” I ask.
“Now,” Jax says. “Only a few days until the gala.”
“Yeah. If Sinclair cooperates, we’ll want Steele with us.”
Luna squares her shoulders. “I’m in.”
And just like that, we head for the elevators.
This is going to be fun!