Chapter 11
Wyatt
The call comes in at the worst time possible.
That’s how it always works. Fire doesn’t wait until your life is convenient.
It doesn’t care that my wife—temporary on paper, permanent in my blood—is standing alone in a shop her ex just turned into a battlefield.
It doesn’t care that I tasted her mouth five minutes ago and promised myself I’d never let her be afraid again.
Dispatch crackles, and my body moves on instinct.
Structure fire. Possible occupants.
I don’t get to hesitate.
I run.
The drive to the scene is a blur of lights and sirens and muscle memory.
Levi’s in the passenger seat, jaw set, eyes sharp.
He’s quieter than usual, which means he’s taking it seriously.
Saxon’s voice is calm on the radio, steady commands snapping the whole crew into formation like we’re one organism.
My hands are tight on the wheel.
My mind is split—half on the fire, half on Ellie.
She’s in my flannel. In my town. With my name. And a man with money and entitlement thinks he can still reach for her.
I can’t be in two places at once.
It makes me want to break something.
We handle the call fast. We always do. We’re trained for chaos.
We move through smoke, find the source, clear the structure, confirm the occupants are out, and knock it down before it eats half the block.
It’s brutal, hot work, the kind that drains you without asking.
When it’s over, my gear reeks and my lungs burn and my adrenaline wants somewhere to go.
It wants to go to Ellie.
Saxon catches my gaze over the engine hood, sweat streaking down his temple. He doesn’t have to ask. He already knows my attention is somewhere else.
“Go,” he says, quiet.
I don’t argue. I yank my helmet off, shove my gloves into my coat, and head for the truck like my boots are on fire.
Levi follows without being told.
Of course he does.
We’re halfway to Devil’s Kiss when my phone vibrates against my thigh.
Unknown number.
I answer without slowing. “Cooper.”
Ellie’s voice hits my ear, tight and breathless. “Wyatt.”
My grip tightens on the wheel. “Talk.”
“He’s here,” she says, and the words are clipped, controlled, like she’s forcing herself not to crack. “Graham is here.”
My vision sharpens. The road narrows. Everything in my body goes cold.
“Where,” I grind out.
“In the shop,” she says. “He cornered me. He’s—” She inhales, steadying. “He’s talking like he’s doing me a favor. Like he owns me.”
My jaw clenches so hard it aches. “Are you alone?”
“No,” she says, and I can hear the slightest shift in her tone—something like relief. “Sadie is nearby. Maddie told me what to do. I’m doing it.”
The words should calm me.
They don’t.
“What are you doing,” I ask, voice low.
Ellie exhales. “I flipped the security cameras on to record him.”
Heat flashes through my veins—pride and fear colliding. “Good. Keep him talking. Don’t—”
“I know,” she snaps, then immediately softens, voice tight. “I know. Wyatt, I’m not going to fold.”
I can hear Graham in the background, faint but present. That smooth voice that makes my skin crawl.
“Ellie,” I say, and my voice drops, rough. “You’re not alone. You hear me?”
There’s a beat of silence, then she whispers, “I hear you.”
The line goes dead.
Levi stares at me from the passenger seat. “He’s there.”
“Yes.”
Levi’s face hardens. “You want me to—”
“I want you ready,” I cut in. “And quiet.”
Levi nods, jaw flexing. “Copy.”
Devil’s Peak is too small for this. Too tight. Too familiar. A man like Graham should stand out, but he doesn’t—because men like him blend in with smiles and paperwork. They hide behind legality and reputation, and everyone lets them because it’s easier than calling it what it is.
Control.
We pull up behind the alley by Devil’s Kiss, out of sight from the front windows. Snow crunches under the tires. My hands are already shaking with restrained violence.
Levi reaches for his door handle.
I stop him with one word. “Wait.”
He freezes, then looks at me. “Wyatt—”
“I’m not walking in and letting him see me yet,” I say, voice flat. “Ellie needs him to keep talking.”
Levi exhales, frustrated but understanding. “Fine. So what’s the play?”
I glance toward the building, scanning. “We flank. We listen. We keep the door covered. If he touches her—”
Levi’s grin is gone now. “Say less.”
We move around the back quietly, boots soft on snow. The shop’s back entrance is closed. I can hear voices inside—the muffled cadence of conversation, the smooth rhythm of a man who thinks he’s winning.
I press closer to the wall, ear near the doorframe.
Graham’s voice floats through, fake-soft. “Ellie, sweetheart. You’re making this so hard.”
Ellie’s voice answers, sharper than I expected. “Stop calling me that.”
Graham chuckles. “Why? Your new… arrangement doesn’t like it?”
My blood turns hot. Levi’s shoulders tense beside me.
Ellie’s tone is steady. “My husband doesn’t like you.”
Graham laughs, low. “Your husband is temporary.”
My jaw clenches.
Ellie doesn’t flinch. “You don’t get to decide that.”
Graham’s voice shifts—still calm, but there’s a hard edge under it now. “You’re in default. You breached contract. If you keep pushing, you’ll lose everything. Your shop. Your credit. Your little life here.”
Ellie’s voice is quiet, controlled. “You’re threatening me.”
“I’m warning you,” Graham says smoothly. “There’s a difference.”
I close my eyes for half a second. This is his trick. Make the knife sound like a handshake.
Then Ellie says, “You’re the one who changed the locks.”
Graham’s sigh is theatrical. “I did what I had to do. You forced my hand.”
Ellie’s breath hitches once. Then she steadies. “No. You punished me because I left.”
Silence.
Then Graham’s voice lowers, almost gentle. “You left without understanding the consequences.”
Ellie’s response is immediate, and it’s not soft. “The consequence is you don’t get to own me anymore.”
Levi lets out a low sound of approval beside me.
I crack the back door open a fraction and slip inside like smoke. The back room is dim. I move fast, silent, keeping to the shadows between shelves.
Ellie is near the front display, standing tall. Graham stands across from her, suit perfect, posture relaxed. But his eyes are sharp now, irritated by the interruption, calculating.
Captain Saxon walks through the doorway like the embodiment of authority, calm and hard-eyed. He scans the room once, takes in Graham, then Ellie, then the tension, and his gaze narrows.
Graham smooths his jacket like he’s the victim here. “Captain Cole, is it? I’m handling a private matter with my—”
“Ex,” Ellie cuts in, sweet as poison.
Graham’s smile tightens. “Ellie.” His gaze flicks toward Saxon, trying to regain control. “This is a legal issue. Ellie is in default. I’m offering her a chance to—”
Ellie lifts her chin. “To crawl.”
Graham’s eyes flash. “To resolve this quietly.”
Ellie’s voice stays steady. “You’re here to scare me.”
Graham’s smile turns thin. “You should be scared. You don’t have the leverage you think you do.”
Ellie’s phone shifts in her hand just slightly, her thumb pressing again.
Graham’s eyes drop to the phone.
His gaze sharpens.
I see it—the exact moment he clocks what she’s doing. The way his focus narrows like a predator locking onto prey. I suspect she’s been recording him and now he knows.
Ellie sees it too.
She doesn’t move.
She holds her ground.
Maddie’s coaching in action. Sadie’s courage in her spine. Her own stubborn fire.
Graham’s voice goes low. “Are you recording me?”
Ellie smiles, small and bright and lethal. “Why? Planning to say something you don’t want anyone to hear?”
Saxon’s expression doesn’t change, but his eyes sharpen to steel.
Graham’s calm cracks. It’s subtle, but it’s there—irritation turning into anger because he’s losing control of the narrative.
“You little—” he starts, then catches himself, swallowing the word before it becomes evidence.
Too late.
Ellie’s phone catches the slip anyway.
Graham’s jaw tightens. “Give me that.”
Ellie takes a step back, phone still in her hand. “No.”
Graham moves.
Fast.
He lunges for her phone like he can erase the truth by grabbing it.
And my body reacts before my mind finishes the thought.
I’m across the room in two strides, grabbing Graham’s wrist mid-lunge and stopping him cold.
The contact is electric—his skin under my palm, his pulse jumping as he realizes he just ran into the wrong man.
I twist his wrist down, just enough to hurt, just enough to remind him I’m built for restraint and violence in equal measure.
“Touch her,” I say, voice low and deadly, “and you die.”
Ellie’s breath catches behind me.
Graham’s eyes flare with shock, then fury. He tries to wrench free.
I don’t let him.
Saxon’s voice cuts through, calm and sharp. “Cooper.”
I don’t look at him. My gaze stays on Graham. “You’re done.”
Graham’s face is tight with rage now. The mask is gone. “You can’t threaten me.”
I lean in close enough for him to smell smoke on my skin. “I can. And I am.”
His eyes flick to Ellie, then back to me, and I see it—the calculation. The shift from physical to legal. He’s already spinning a story.
Ellie’s voice comes out behind me, steady. “I have it recorded.”
Graham’s face goes pale for half a second. Then his eyes go hard. “Delete it.”
Ellie laughs once, sharp. “No.”
Levi whistles. “Damn.”
Sadie steps closer to Ellie, protective without touching. “You want me to call the sheriff?”
Saxon’s gaze stays on Graham. “I think that’s a good idea.”
Graham’s jaw clenches. He looks at Saxon like he can’t believe the town isn’t on his side. “This is harassment.”
Saxon’s voice stays flat. “No. This is a woman documenting a threat.”
Graham’s eyes snap back to Ellie, rage simmering under his skin. “You’re going to regret this.”
I tighten my grip. “You’re going to regret walking in here.”
Ellie steps closer, voice low but steady. “Get out.”
Graham’s gaze flicks to her ring, then to me, then to the watching faces in the room. The town is here now. Witnesses. Consequences.
He smooths his jacket like he can put the mask back on, but it doesn’t fit anymore.
He pulls his wrist free with a jerky motion. I let him. Because the real power isn’t in my grip.
It’s in Ellie’s phone.
Graham’s eyes lock on me one last time, hatred sharp. “This isn’t over.”
I lean in, voice quieter. “It is.”
He storms toward the door, and Levi calls after him, cheerful as hell. “Hey! Don’t forget to pay for the chocolate you didn’t buy!”
Sadie elbows Levi. “Levi.”
Levi grins. “What? I’m an adult.”
The bell jingles as Graham leaves, but this time it doesn’t sound like a joke. It sounds like a door closing.
Ellie’s hand shakes as she lowers the phone. Her breath is quick, eyes bright, face pale.
I turn toward her, my anger still burning, my control fraying.
“You okay?” I ask, and my voice is rougher than I mean it to be.
Ellie lifts her chin like she’s still fighting. “I didn’t fold.”
“No,” I say, stepping closer. “You didn’t.”
Her eyes flick to my mouth, then away. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re proud.”
I smile, slow and dark. “I am proud.”
Ellie’s breath catches.
Saxon clears his throat. “Cooper. Outside.”
I don’t look away from Ellie. “One second.”
Saxon’s voice goes sharper. “Now.”
Ellie swallows, then whispers, almost too quiet to hear, “Thank you.”
I lean in close enough that my mouth brushes her ear. “You’re welcome, sweetheart.”
She shivers.
Then I step back, turn, and follow Saxon out—because duty is still duty, even when my entire body is screaming to stay.
Behind me, Ellie clutches her phone like it’s the first real weapon she’s ever had.
And I know one thing with absolute certainty: Graham just realized she’s not alone anymore.
Which means the next move will be uglier.