Chapter 28 Zane #2
Finn shifts his weight, jaw tight. “You think there will be?”
Leo doesn’t sugarcoat it. “When someone tests a boundary and doesn’t get the reaction they expected, they usually adjust.”
“And if this was the adjustment?” Aurora asks quietly.
No one answers her right away.
Because we’re all thinking the same thing… if this was a warning, the next step might not be so controlled.
Ryder finally breaks the silence. “We appreciate the quick response,” he says to the firefighters. “We’ll tighten security.”
Leo nods. “We’ll swing by again later, just to double check for hot spots.”
As they move back toward the truck, the alley feels too quiet.
Finn looks at Ryder. “We can’t just sit on this.”
“We won’t,” Ryder replies.
The firefighters pull away slowly, the red lights fading at the end of the street until the alley is swallowed by its usual quiet, except now the quiet feels staged.
For a long moment, none of us moves.
The brick is still damp. The pallets are blackened and collapsed in on themselves. The air carries that faint, acrid edge that doesn’t belong to us.
Ryder is the first to turn toward the door. “Let’s talk about this inside.”
We follow without argument, Aurora wrapped in Finn’s jacket. The door shuts behind us with a heavier sound than usual, and I lock it automatically, testing the handle once, then again, because routine is control and I need that right now.
The bar smells faintly of smoke now, the scent threading through old wood and polished countertops, settling into the place as an accusation.
Finn guides Aurora toward one of the booths, but she doesn’t sit. She stands in the center of the room instead, arms folded, eyes sharp despite the hour.
Ryder stops near the bar and braces his hands against the edge, not leaning for support but to keep himself controlled.
“We’ve been reactive,” he says.
No one interrupts him.
“The council meeting,” he continues. “The licensing pressure. The fire tonight. Every move has been in response to someone else.”
Finn exhales sharply. “And tonight was escalation.”
“It was testing,” Ryder corrects, his gaze shifting briefly toward the back door as if he can still see the beam beneath the office window.
I lean against the bar, arms folded, replaying the image of the pallets stacked tighter than they had been before, leaning deliberately toward the brick to reflect heat inward. Nothing about that setup had been random.
“They aimed at paperwork,” I say. “They wanted to threaten stability.”
Ryder nods once. “Which tells me this isn’t about spectacle. It’s about leverage.”
Aurora steps closer, the jacket slipping slightly off her shoulder before she pulls it back up. “You think this is Cole. Doesn’t it seem more like Wren?”
“I think it fits Cole’s pattern,” he says quietly. “He will know about Wren, I’m sure of it, and he wants us to assume it’s him.”
I get that too, knowing Cole, but I understand why Aurora looks so confused.
Finn drags a hand down his face, frustration simmering beneath the surface. “So what, we wait for the next ‘message’?”
Ryder straightens slowly, his posture shifting from assessment to decision.
“No. We stop letting him dictate the pace.”
“You want to go after him,” I say, watching him closely.
“I want to meet him,” Ryder replies. “Face to face.”
Finn lets out a low breath that almost sounds amused. “That’s not exactly subtle.”
“It isn’t meant to be,” Ryder says. “If he’s operating under the assumption that we’ll stay defensive, then we correct that assumption.”
Aurora’s eyes move between us, tracking the shift in tone. “You’re going to confront him?”
“Yes,” Ryder answers.
“When?”
“Soon,” he says. “Before he decides to escalate further.”
Finn pushes off the bar and begins pacing once, the restless energy in him barely contained. “You think he’ll agree to that?”
Ryder’s expression doesn’t change. “He will. Men like Cole don’t turn down the opportunity to measure someone up close.”
“And you want to measure him back,” I add.
Ryder’s jaw tightens slightly. “Exactly.”
Aurora inhales slowly, then says, “I’m coming.”
The statement lands between us as another spark.
“No,” Finn says immediately, turning toward her. “That’s not happening.”
“I agree,” I add, because the thought of her standing in front of Cole makes the protectiveness settle in my chest.
Ryder doesn’t speak at first, but his expression sharpens.
Aurora lifts her chin, stubbornness flaring in her eyes. “You don’t get to decide that for me.”
“This isn’t a town hall discussion,” Finn snarls. “It’s a meeting with someone who just set a fire under where you sleep.”
“Exactly,” she shoots back. “And if I’m part of the equation, I deserve to know how.”
“You’re not part of the equation,” Finn insists.
Her gaze doesn’t waver. “Then why does it feel like I am?”
Silence falls, because the fire had been beneath the office window, yes, but it had also been beneath the apartment. Beneath her.
I exhale slowly, choosing my words carefully.
“Cole uses pressure points,” I say. “He pushes on whatever makes the most impact.”
“And what if that’s me?” she asks.
Finn’s jaw flexes. “It isn’t.”
“You don’t know that,” she counters. “And I’m not walking around pretending I’m not a variable. What if you guys go? Leave me? And he comes for me? Wouldn’t I be safer with you?”
Ryder studies her in that intense way of his, weighing more than just her words.
“This is dangerous,” he says at last.
“So’s ignorance,” she replies without hesitation.
Ryder finally nods once, slowly. “If you come, you stay between us. You do not wander. You do not provoke.”
Her brows lift. “You don’t get to muzzle me.”
“I’m not muzzling you,” he says. “I’m setting terms.”
She holds his gaze for a long second before giving a single, reluctant nod. “Fine.”
Finn clearly wants to argue further, but he knows that tone in Ryder’s voice. The decision has already been made.
“You realize this makes things more complicated,” Finn says quietly.
“They already are,” Ryder replies.
I glance toward the back door again, picturing the scorched brick beneath the office window, the faint echo of sirens still ringing in my ears.
“Okay,” I say. “So we go tomorrow. To him. See what happens.”
See if we can survive this…