Chapter 44
MASON
“Hendricks calls in three hours,” Luke says, shifting gears. “We need to decide if we're taking his contract work.”
Shadow stands, pads over to me, presses his nose against my hand. I scratch behind his ears absently. “What's he offering?”
Grabbing another piece of bacon, Luke shrugs. “Security consulting for a logistics company. Probably legitimate, but with Hendricks you never know. Good money. Flexible timeline. But it means splitting focus between his job, the Turner surveillance, and now Lily's vendetta mission.”
Jake crosses his arms. “We can handle multiple operations. We've done it before.”
“Not with someone like Lily in the mix,” I point out. “She's not going to sit on the sidelines while we run contracts. She's going to keep hunting.”
“Then we hunt with her,” Jake says simply. “We integrate her mission into ours. Turner's the common target. We pool resources, share intel, move as a unit instead of separate operations.”
“She's not going to like that,” I say. “She's used to working alone.”
“She's going to have to get used to backup.” Jake's tone is final. “Because if she's yours, that means she's ours too, and we don't let family walk into hell alone.”
Family. The word settles into my chest, warm and solid and terrifying. “I need to talk to Lily.”
Luke raises his brow. “You think?”
“And Hendricks?” Jake asks.
I shake my head. “We need more details before we commit.”
“Agreed.” Luke closes his laptop. “When are you seeing Lily again? We need to make sure we’re all on the same page.”
“Today. I'll head over after the Hendricks call.”
Jake nods. “Good. Because if she's hunting Turner, she needs to know she's not doing it alone anymore.”
Luke stands and stretches. “I'm going to pull up everything we have on Turner's current operations. If we're integrating Lily's mission, we need a full tactical picture.”
“I'll handle the Hendricks call,” Jake says. “Mason, you take a nap. You look like you're about to fall over.”
“I'm fine.” Lying in bed without Lily doesn’t sound appealing.
“You're not fine.” Jake's voice is firm. “Three hours. Sleep. Then we regroup and figure out how to keep your girl alive and out of trouble.”
Your girl. I don't correct him.
Because he's right. Lily Carter is mine, and I'm going to make damn sure she survives and stays that way.