Chapter 32 Mara
THIRTY-TWO
MARA
We’ve gone over this plan at least a dozen times in the past six hours, but none of us suggest stopping. Repetition is comfort. Repetition is control. And right now, control is the only thing keeping the panic at bay.
“Party starts at seven; we let it build for ninety minutes. By eight thirty, the house is packed, everyone’s drunk, and chaos is already baseline,” Talon recites.
I continue, following the sequence we’ve memorized. “DSN arrives at eight thirty—fifteen brothers, looking for a fight. Sable convinced them it’s a rivalry thing, that OCK challenged them.”
“Fight breaks out by eight thirty-two,” Jasper signs.
“At eight thirty-three, CJ triggers the first accelerant remotely—small explosion in the basement. Real fire starts, and people panic,” Dredyn says.
“We evacuate—get every OCK brother out through the front and side exits. Make it look chaotic but ensure everyone’s accounted for,” Talon says.
“By eight forty-five, the house is fully engulfed. Emergency services arrive, and campus security responds. The Syndicate’s security detail splits—some stay with the three leaders, some respond to the fire,” I say.
“That’s when we move,” Dredyn finishes. “At nine p.m. we’re already in position at PTO, armed, ready. We use the chaos as cover to access the secret chamber.”
Silence. We’ve reached the end of the plan again—the part where they go into an underground room with three of the most dangerous men in the country and try to kill them.
The part where everything could go catastrophically wrong.
I look up from the table. “And if things go sideways? If you can’t get to them, or if there’s more security than expected, or—”
“We abort. We get out, meet at the rally point, and we run. All of us. Together,” Talon says.
“No heroics. We’re not dying for this.”
“The goal is to live,” Dredyn adds, looking at me. “To be free. Not to be martyrs.”
Talon keeps moving forward. “Okay. Inventory—three handguns with silencers.” He pulls them out one by one, checking magazines, safeties. “Glock 19, Sig Sauer P226, and a Beretta M9. All loaded—one in the chamber, safeties on.”
Dredyn takes the Glock, Talon keeps the Sig, Jasper accepts the Beretta.
“Two backup magazines each, thirty rounds total, per person. That’s more than enough for three targets and their security,” Talon continues.
“Assuming we don’t miss,” I mutter.
“We won’t miss. We’ve been training for weeks in close quarters, with low light. We know what we’re doing,” Dredyn says with absolute certainty.
Do they? I want to ask. Do any of us really know what we’re doing?
But I don’t say it. They need confidence right now, not doubt.
Jasper signs, “Knives?”
Talon pulls them from the case—black, serrated, lethal-looking things. “Two tactical knives for backup, if things get close, or if we need silent takedowns.”
Dredyn and Jasper take one each, sliding them into sheaths that attach to their belts.
“Flashlights, comm devices, first aid kit. CJ provided encrypted radios—short range, but they’ll let us coordinate once we’re in the tunnels.”
He hands me one of the radios and I turn it over in my hands.
“I still don’t like that I’m not going with you,” I say.
“We’ve been over this—”
“I know. I know the arguments. I’m a liability, I’m not trained, I’ll be a distraction.” I set the radio down harder than necessary. “But sitting in a safe house while you three go into a death trap isn’t exactly my idea of a good time either.”
“You’re not sitting in a safe house, you’re staying mobile. CJ’s setting you up in a vehicle two miles from campus with a police scanner, our radio frequency, and keys to three different cars. If things go wrong, you’re our extraction.”
“And if things go really wrong?” I ask quietly.
“Then you run,” Talon says. “You take the go bag, you use the fake ID, and you disappear. Don’t look back. Don’t wait for us. Just run.”
“Fuck that.”
“Mara—”
“No. Fuck. That.” I stand, facing all three of them.
“I didn’t go through everything we’ve been through—the penthouse, the escape, going viral, burning every bridge with my family—just to run away if you don’t make it.
We’re in this together—all of us. If you die, I’m not living in hiding for the rest of my life wondering if I could’ve helped. ”
“You can help by surviving,” Jasper signs.
“You can help by trusting us to do this,” Dredyn adds.
“I do trust you. I just—” My voice breaks. “I can’t lose you … any of you.”
Talon crosses to me, pulling me into his arms. “You’re not going to lose us.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“No. But I can promise we’re going to fight like hell to come back.” His hand cups the back of my head. “All three of us. We’re not leaving you alone in this world, Mara. That’s not an option.”
“Okay. I’ll be at the rally point, with the radios, ready to extract if needed,” I whisper against his chest.
“Good girl,” Dredyn says, and the praise shouldn’t make me feel better, but it does.
We spend the next hour going over contingencies. What if the fire spreads too fast? What if DSN doesn’t show? What if the Syndicate leaders don’t go to the meeting?
What if. What if. What if.
By the time we’re done, it’s almost five p.m. The party starts in two hours. The attack in four.
Four hours until everything changes.
“We should eat something. Can’t commit murder on an empty stomach.”
“Is that actually a saying?” I ask.
“It is now.”
Jasper orders pizza—four large pies, because even impending violence doesn’t stop college boys from eating like they’re personally trying to bankrupt Harry’s pizza.
We eat in the library, sitting on the floor with paper plates and cheap beer, trying to pretend this is normal. Just another night at OCK.
“You know what’s fucked up?” Dredyn says, halfway through his third slice. “This is probably the last time we’ll ever be in this house.”
“Don’t,” Talon warns.
“No, I’m serious. After tonight, whether we succeed or fail, we can never come back here. OCK house will be ash and we’ll be fugitives. This …” He gestures around the library. “This is the last time.”
We finish eating in silence, each lost in our own thoughts. Then Jasper starts collecting plates, Talon checks his phone for updates from CJ, and Dredyn heads upstairs to change for the party.
I stand in the library alone for a moment, looking at the books, the furniture, the composite photos on the walls. All these brothers who came before, including their fathers. All of them part of something that looked noble from the outside but was rotten at its core.
“You okay?” Talon’s voice comes from the doorway.
“Just thinking.”
“Dangerous habit.”
“Yeah.” I turn to face him. “What time do I need to leave?”
“Six thirty. That gives you time to get to the rally point before the party really gets going.” He moves closer, and I can see the tension in his shoulders, the fear he’s trying to hide. “But we have ninety minutes before then.”
“What do you want to do with ninety minutes?”
His eyes meet mine. “I want to spend them with you—all of you. One more time before—”
“Don’t say it.”
“Before everything changes,” he finishes.
From upstairs, I hear footsteps. Dredyn coming back down. And from the kitchen, water running—Jasper washing dishes even now, even with everything that’s about to happen.
“Yeah, I want that too.”
We end up in Dredyn’s room because it has the biggest bed—a king that can actually fit all four of us without anyone ending up on the floor. And it’s on the third floor, away from the main common areas where the party will soon rage.
After tonight, we’ll never see it again.
The thought makes my chest tight, but I push it away. We have ninety minutes.
“Come here,” Dredyn says.
I stand, legs unsteady, and cross to him. He pulls me against his solid chest immediately, hands framing my face, tilting my head up so our eyes meet—his dark and intense, searching mine.
“I need you to know something,” he says, thumb tracing my lower lip. “Whatever happens tonight—if we make it through this plan or if we don’t—loving you was the best decision I ever made. Loving you … it changed everything. Made us better. Made us whole.”
“Dredyn—”
“Let me finish … You made us brave enough to fight back. Strong enough to choose freedom over the easy path, over comfort. You’re the reason we’re risking it all. Not revenge, not some abstract justice. You. Keeping you safe. Keeping you ours. Keeping you free.”
“No pressure,” I try to joke, but my voice cracks, tears pricking at the edges.
“All the pressure.” He kisses me then—hard, claiming, desperate, pouring everything unspoken into it. His tongue sweeps against mine, tasting of salt and urgency, and I cling to him, fingers digging into his shirt.
When he releases me, breathless and dizzy, Talon’s there, arms wrapping around me from behind, pulling me back against his lean frame. His chin rests on my shoulder, lips brushing my ear, breath warm and ragged.
“I’m terrified. This... us. This thing we’ve built, it’s the most real, most alive thing in my life. And I’m so fucking scared it’ll shatter tonight.”
I turn in his arms, pressing my palm to his chest, feeling his heart thunder beneath my hand—fast, alive, mine. “Then let’s make sure it doesn’t. Let’s make this moment count. Right now. All of it.”
“Yeah?” His hand slides into my hair, tugging gently to expose my neck. “What do you need, Princess?”
“You. All of you.”
Talon’s fingers work my jeans open from behind, sliding the denim down my hips. “Look at you, so desperate for us. Such a needy little thing.”
Dredyn unhooks my bra with one hand, the other palming my breast roughly. “Perfect fucking tits,” he growls, letting the lace fall away. His mouth descends, hot and demanding, sucking my nipple hard enough to make me cry out. “Made to be worshipped. Made to be marked.”
“Your turn,” I manage, voice already breathless.
They strip until they’re gloriously naked and surrounding me like predators who’ve finally cornered their prey.