Chapter Fifteen #2
Wren tilted her chin up, green eyes flashing with the same defiance I'd grown to both admire and worry about. "Everyone I love, my entire family, is involved in this except Honey. I'm staying." She planted her feet, shoulders squared and her chin high.
"The fuck you are." Ghost lowered his voice, but the edge in it cut through the room. "This isn't a game, Wren, and you’re not ready for something like this."
"I know exactly what this is." She stepped around him, her gaze sweeping over the table covered in maps and surveillance photos. "Thirteen-year-old girls drugged and sold like cattle. You think I don't understand what's at stake?"
Ghost grabbed her arm, gentle but firm. "We've got this handled."
She yanked free of his grip. "I'm not here to help with your op.
I'm here because I need to know what's happening.
" Her eyes found mine across the table, holding for just a second before returning to Ghost. "My family is putting themselves in danger tomorrow night, including you, Ghost. So I need to be here. "
The rawness in her voice silenced whatever argument Ghost prepared to launch. Jack cleared his throat from his position at the table.
"Let her stay," Jack rumbled, surprising everyone in the room. "If she’s brave enough to insist on being her, girl’s got a right to know what her family's walking into."
Ghost shot Jack a look, but Wren took advantage of the momentary distraction to slide onto a stool at the edge of the table, out of the way but where she still had a clear view. Ghost sighed, but backed off.
Vittorio, ever the diplomat, merely nodded at Wren before continuing as though the interruption never happened.
"Rocky will coordinate with Marcus to lead the extraction team through the northeast entrance," Vittorio continued, tapping the area I'd identified earlier. "That team moves first. Their only objective is getting as many girls out as possible before the main assault begins."
"After last night's incident," Vittorio said carefully, "we have to assume security might be heightened. Acid knows Rocky has connections outside the club now. Whether he suspects we’re here because of the girls or for something more mundane is anyone’s guess."
The planning continued. Until everyone felt we’d done all we could to plan. By the time we’d finished, it was past lunch. Which meant we had less than twelve hours.
"Any questions?" Vittorio asked, capping his highlighter with finality.
Ghost's voice cut through the momentary silence. "Yeah. What happens after?" He looked directly at me, the question layered with meaning that had nothing to do with tactical extraction and everything to do with his daughter.
Before I could answer, Wren slid off her stool, drawing all eyes to her. "After," she said firmly, "we deal with after. Right now, we all get some rest so we’re ready mentally and physically."
“There is no we, honey,” Ghost said smoothly. “You’re stayin’ right here.”
“I’m going to be watching every move going down from here with the rest who’ve been left behind. I can’t help out there, but I can help once you get these girls to safety.”
In that moment, she sounded so much like Ghost I almost smiled despite the tension crackling in the room. The apple hadn't fallen far from the tree, after all.
I slipped away as the meeting broke up, my head pounding from hours planning this thing.
Ghost and Jack huddled with Vittorio near the bar, their voices low.
Nobody noticed when I pushed through a door at the back of the clubhouse, finding an empty office tucked away from the main area.
The room smelled like old paper and leather, with a hint of gunpowder.
I dropped into the chair behind the desk, letting my head fall back as the weight of what waited for us tonight settled across my shoulders.
The door clicked open behind me. I straightened just before Wren's sweet scent hit me. She slipped inside and closed the door, leaning against it for a moment before flipping the lock.
"You okay?" she asked, her voice softer than it had been in the main room.
"Just needed a minute." I watched her cross the small space, her combat boots surprisingly quiet on the worn floorboards. "You shouldn't be here, Wren. Your dad's gonna lose his shit."
She shrugged, perching on the edge of the desk, close enough that her knee nearly touched mine. "He's lost it so many times this week, I don't think he has any shit left to lose."
That pulled a tired laugh from me despite everything. I looked up at her, taking in the purple hair falling across her eyes, the determined set of her jaw, the way she watched me with a mix of concern and something deeper I didn't dare put a name to.
“I’m sorry I hurt you, Wren. Sorry I put you in danger.
Sorry I started things with you under false pretenses.
” I reached for her hand but stopped myself, unsure if the contact would be welcome.
"I don't regret targeting you, though. I only regret not giving you the full truth from the outset so you could make your own choices.”
Wren surprised me by closing the distance herself, placing her hand over mine where it rested on the desk. Her fingers felt cool against my skin, grounding me in a way nothing else could.
"I hate that you put your operation at risk to save me," she said, her green eyes locked on mine, "but I really appreciate not dying."
A ghost of a smile crossed my face as my fingers turned to interlace with hers. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat."
"I need you to focus on tonight. On getting those girls out, on getting yourself out in one piece." She leaned closer, her free hand coming up to brush against my jaw. "I'll be here waiting when you get back. And if you get hurt, I may well kill you myself."
The fierceness in her voice made something in my chest twist. I turned my face into her touch, pressing my lips to her palm. "I always knew you were dangerous."
"You have no idea," she murmured.
I pulled her closer, needing her warmth, her solidness, the proof that at least one thing in this fucked-up situation remained real and true.
She came willingly, sliding from the desk into my lap, her arms wrapping around my neck.
I buried my face in the curve where her shoulder met her neck, breathing her in.
"Tell me something," she said against my hair. "If tomorrow goes exactly as planned, what happens after?."
The question hit a nerve I'd been avoiding. "I don't know," I admitted. "Vittorio might have another assignment waiting. He always does."
She pulled back enough to look at my face, her expression suddenly guarded. "Another undercover job?"
"Maybe. It's what I do, Wren."
Something flashed in her eyes. Hurt, maybe? Or resignation. "For how long? Another eight months? A year? More?"
I took her face in my hands, needing her to understand.
"This isn't just a job. These girls, what the Copperheads do to them... I've seen it up close. I can't walk away knowing there are more out there. I’m hoping Vittorio can find something I can do to help from the outside. I’ve still got my contacts in Nevada. That’s where most of our attention is focused right now. "
"And us?" she asked, her voice dropping to nearly a whisper. "Where do we fit into that crusade?"
"I don't have all the answers." I pressed my forehead to hers. "But I know that for the first time in years, I'm thinking about a future beyond the next assignment, Wren. Because of you."
She closed her eyes, her lashes dark against her cheeks.
Two tears fell from her eyes, tracking down her cheeks.
"I'm scared," she confessed, the words so quiet I almost missed them.
"Of letting myself believe in this, in us, and then watching you disappear into another life with another name and another woman. "
The raw honesty of her words hit harder than any accusation. I kissed her, gentle at first, then with growing intensity as she responded. Her fingers dug into my shoulders, holding on like I might vanish if she let go.
When we broke apart, both breathing hard, I could only offer the truth.
"Listen to me, Wren. Listen good. I’m not leaving you.
I will work something out with Vittorio.
This is something I’ll always do, but I will figure out a way to do my part and not be away from you.
And just so you know, there will never be another woman for me. Ever."
She nodded against my forehead. "Just come back alive. We'll figure out the rest."
"Wren!" Ghost's voice bellowed from somewhere in the main room, sharp with disapproval and suspicion. "Where the hell are you?"
She tensed in my arms but didn't immediately pull away. Instead, she pressed another quick, hard kiss to my lips before standing. "Guess that's my cue."
I let her go reluctantly, my body immediately feeling colder without her. "He's going to kill me before the Copperheads ever get the chance."
"Nah," she grinned, flipping the lock on the door. "He's secretly hoping the Copperheads do it so I don’t get too mad at him."
I frowned. “Plausible deniability?”
She grinned. “What better way to keep his hands clean. He’ll even shed a tear at your funeral, most likely.”
"Comforting thought," I muttered, but found myself smiling anyway.
Before opening the door, she turned back to me, her expression serious again. "I meant what I said. Come back in one piece."
"Yes, ma'am."
She slipped out, closing the door quietly behind her. I heard her voice drift back, answering her father with something like “It’s none of your damned business where I was”. Ghost's grumbled response sounded more like he played a part he couldn’t quite let go. Not like he was really angry.
I stayed in the empty office a few minutes longer, the ghost of Wren's touch still warming my skin. For now, in this quiet moment between planning and action, I allowed myself to imagine a future where Wren waited for me, where coming back to her became what mattered most.
As I prepared myself for what happened next, Wren's words echoed in my mind, a beacon of hope amidst the chaos and uncertainty of the night. I would return to her as promised. Right after we sent the entirety of the Copperheads straight to hell.