Chapter 47 Mila
Mila
The air is too still.
That’s the first thing I notice.
Not the storm.
Not the tension.
Not even the way Jase has shifted just slightly in front of me—protective, ready, unmovable.
It’s him.
Daniel Voss.
Standing there like he’s already calculated every outcome.
Like he’s already decided how this ends.
I don’t trust men like that.
I’ve flown missions over war zones with less danger than what’s standing in front of me right now.
“Prove it,” Jase says.
Low.
Deadly.
Daniel’s gaze flicks between us.
Ethan.
Ronan.
Me.
Like he’s measuring angles.
Timing.
Distance.
And that’s when I see it.
The decision.
It happens in a blink.
A shift in his shoulders.
A drop in his weight.
Too subtle for most.
Not for me.
“Jase—”
Too late.
Daniel moves.
Fast.
Faster than he should be.
He lunges past Ethan, cutting hard toward the table—toward the device.
Toward the flash drive.
Everything explodes at once.
“MOVE!” I shout.
Jase is already in motion.
He slams into Daniel from the side, driving him off course just as his hand closes inches from the device.
They crash into the table.
It flips.
The device skids—
My heart stops—
—and I dive.
Hands out.
I catch it mid-slide just before it hits the floor.
Got it.
Behind me—
Chaos.
Jase and Daniel hit the ground hard, the impact rattling through the room.
No clean fight.
No rules.
Just brute force and survival.
Daniel recovers fast.
Too fast.
He twists, trying to break free, but Jase locks onto him like a damn vice.
“You don’t touch that,” Jase growls.
Daniel drives an elbow into Jase’s ribs.
Hard.
I hear the breath punch out of him.
Pain flares across Jase’s face—
But he doesn’t let go.
Of course he doesn’t.
Idiot.
My idiot.
Ethan moves in, weapon up.
“Stand down!” he snaps.
Daniel ignores him.
He shifts again, trying to roll, trying to gain leverage—
Ronan is there.
Like a ghost stepping into existence.
He grabs Daniel’s arm mid-motion and wrenches it back.
Controlled.
Precise.
Brutal.
Daniel stills.
Not out of fear.
Out of calculation.
Weapons are up now.
All of them.
Pointed.
Locked.
Ready.
And I’m standing there with the device clutched tight in my hands, my pulse hammering like I’m back in the cockpit pulling Gs.
“You make one more move,” Ethan says coldly, “and this ends differently.”
Daniel’s chest rises and falls once.
Twice.
Then—
Slowly—
He stops fighting.
Jase doesn’t let go.
Doesn’t ease up.
Doesn’t trust it.
Neither do I.
“Bad move,” Jase mutters.
Daniel lets out a breath.
Not shaken.
Not panicked.
Almost… annoyed.
“I told you,” he says, voice tight from the hold Jase has him in. “You’re running out of time.”
“Yeah?” I fire back. “Funny way of helping.”
His eyes find mine.
Even like this—pinned, controlled—
He doesn’t look beaten.
“You think I was trying to steal it?” he says.
I tighten my grip on the device.
“Weren’t you?”
A beat.
Then—
“No.”
I don’t buy it.
Not for a second.
“Then what the hell was that?” Jase demands.
Daniel exhales slowly.
Like we’re the problem.
Not him.
“Containment,” he says.
That word hits wrong.
Every instinct I’ve got screams at it.
Ethan’s voice drops.
“Explain.”
Daniel shifts slightly, testing Jace’s hold.
Jase tightens it just enough to remind him—
Not happening.
So Daniel stills again.
“You opened a Level Omega channel,” he says. “Do you have any idea what that triggers?”
“I do,” I snap. “Which is why we used it.”
His gaze locks onto mine.
Sharper now.
“Then you should also know,” he says, “that it doesn’t just alert the people you want.”
Cold slides down my spine.
No.
No, I knew that.
I did.
But hearing it like this—
Different.
“What are you saying?” Jase growls.
Daniel’s jaw tightens slightly.
“I’m saying,” he replies, “you just told every compromised system in the network exactly where to look.”
Silence slams into the room.
Heavy.
Real.
Ethan’s expression darkens.
Jonah swears under his breath.
Cal shifts closer to the door.
“Which means what?” Jase presses.
Daniel doesn’t look away from me.
“Which means,” he says quietly, “this wasn’t the only team coming.”
And right on cue—
Outside—
Headlights cut through the storm again.
Two vehicles.
Faster.
More aggressive.
My stomach drops.
“Second wave,” I breathe.
Jase swears.
Ethan turns instantly.
“Positions!” he barks.
Delta Five moves like lightning.
Weapons up.
Angles covered.
Ready for war.
Jase doesn’t release Daniel.
Not yet.
He finally pushes off him, rising with a grimace but already turning toward the windows.
I step back, clutching the device, my mind racing.
Daniel’s voice cuts through the chaos.
“If you don’t let me help,” he says sharply, “you’re all dead in the next five minutes.”
I freeze.
Jase doesn’t.
He grabs his weapon.
Checks the mag.
Locks it in.
Then glances at me.
Just once.
And I see it.
The question.
The trust.
The choice.
My pulse hammers.
Storm raging.
Enemies closing in.
A stranger we don’t trust—
claiming he’s the only reason we’re still alive.
I look at Daniel.
Really look at him.
And for the first time—
I don’t see arrogance.
I see urgency.
Real.
Dangerous.
Honest?
…maybe.
I hate that maybe.
“Talk fast,” I say.
Because one way or another—
This is about to get a whole lot worse.