Chapter 19 Knox
Our original plan had been simple.
Slip in, extract each omega, and get out clean, leaving nothing behind that Marco could trace back to Arca. It was controlled and most importantly, deniable.
That plan was no longer viable.
I stood at the conference table, flipping through the briefing packets Silas had assembled for Director Mallory and General Green.
He’d left them half-finished, notes scribbled in the margins, locations circled but not fully documented.
Typical. He always got the structure down, then expected me to refine it.
I didn’t mind.
It gave me time to think.
There were too many confirmed locations now. Too many moving parts. What Marco had built wasn’t random. It was organized in a way that made it difficult to dismantle without tipping him off. Taking one omega at a time wouldn’t break anything. It would just make him tighten his grip.
I rested my hand on the map, studying the spread of pins and notes, tracing the pattern they formed.
Lena had seen it before we had.
Even without all the pieces, her mind assembled something bigger. Filling in gaps, connecting things that shouldn’t have made sense yet somehow did.
The way she worked was… fascinating.
It started with quiet observations, small details, and then suddenly, a pattern.
Marco had built an entire system using the omegas.
Which meant we weren’t just his routine.
We were breaking a complex and intricate network he relied on.
If we wanted to cripple him, we had to hit everything at once.
A coordinated strike across every identified location would overwhelm whatever control he thought he had. We’d recover as many omegas as possible in a single sweep, a substantial portion if executed correctly, and more importantly, we’d force him to react.
Marco wouldn’t sit still while we dismantled his operation. He’d move the rest of them, quickly and without the same level of precision.
And when he did that, he’d make mistakes.
That was when we’d find the rest.
I exhaled, tapping my pen against the table as I mentally walked through the sequence again, tightening the plan, adjusting the order of operations, already anticipating the objections Directory Mallory was going to raise.
We’d seize over half of his omegas in one swift move, if we were able to pull this off. Lena told us there were some locations which contained multiple omegas, so when the operation was complete, we'd recover roughly fifteen women.
That alone would cripple him.
A quiet shift of movement pulled my attention.
I glanced up.
Silas lingers near the door, jacket in hand, like he’d been planning to leave for a while and had just been waiting for a moment where I wasn’t paying attention.
“Where are you going?”
“Back to the mill for a meeting with the rat lookout,” he said. “Got a call. Says he’s got the intel we asked for.”
I straightened, already pushing off the table.
“I’ll come with you.”
He shook his head.
“Stay here with the little mute. Focus on the homework assignment doc gave you guys.”
There was a faint smirk there, but the humor didn't quite reach his eyes. I knew he was disappointed about not being included.
“Alright,” I said. “Just be careful. And watch for his tells.”
Silas paused, glancing back.
“His knee,” I added. “He's got drug shakes, but when he’s lying, it’s different. Watch the knee, it bounces. Easy to miss if you’re not looking for it.”
“Got it.”
He turned toward the door again, already halfway out, when we both noticed Lena watching from the shadows.
She emerged quietly and went straight to Silas.
Her hands reached up, resting on his chest, as she pressed a small, unexpected kiss to his mouth.
The kiss was brief, gone almost as quickly as it had started, like she had acted on instinct and then second-guessed it the moment it happened.
Watching her pull back, I tried to read it for what it was instead of what it wasn’t.
There had been less touch since the safehouse, not more, and it was starting to feel like we were losing ground.
Like whatever breakthrough we thought she had, slipped through our fingers the second we got comfortable with it.
But Dr. Hampton had been clear about that. Progress wasn’t going to be linear. There were going to be steps forward, then back again, and if we pushed too hard, we’d end up doing more damage than good.
So I didn’t call it regression.
Because she’d still crossed the room on her own. Still chosen to close that distance. Still pressed her mouth to his without being told.
Silas froze looking down at the runt.
“Be careful,” she whispered.
My brother's hard expression shifted, something unreadable passing through it.
“I will,” he said.
Then he was gone.
Lena waited by the door for a moment, as if making sure he wasn’t coming back. When he didn't, she exhaled quietly and padded over, taking the seat beside me.
I tapped the folder in front of me.
“I finished the briefing packets for our meeting with Command,” I said. “You want to take a look?”
She nodded.
I handed it over.
She flipped through it fast. Faster than I could track. Page after page, her eyes moved quickly, catching things I would’ve needed more time to process. It only took a few minutes before she set it down.
“Anything we should add?” I asked. “What do you think?”
Her eyes lifted to mine.
A shift happened fast. Her expression tightened, as if what I had said caught her off guard, turning her emotions. Her brows pulled in slightly and her lips pressed together as she looked down.
“Hey,” I said, leaning towards her. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head quickly, like she could shove the emotion away if she moved fast enough.
“We’re close,” I tried reassuring her. “We’re going to get him and help all of them. Because of you.”
She shook her head again. “Not that," she breathed.
I frowned.
“Okay... Then what is it?”
She hesitated.
Her hands twisted together in her lap, like the words were there, but too big to get out all at once.
Then, in barely a whisper she said, “You care… what I think.”
I blinked. A surprised laugh slipped out before I could stop it.
“That’s what’s got you like this?” I asked. “Why would that make you sad?”
“It doesn’t,” she said simply.
I stopped laughing and studied her properly. There was a wet shine in her eyes, but her body wasn’t reacting like someone upset. Her shoulders had loosened instead of tightening. Her hands rested open in her lap instead of clenched into fists.
I had mistaken her emotion for sadness.
But it wasn’t sadness at all.
It was the quiet, overwhelming shock of being cared for.
Then it hit me. The realization that something so small, so considerate, could still catch her off guard because of how cruel her life had once been.
Like part of her still expected pain first and kindness second.
And every time we gave her gentleness instead of cruelty, it unraveled something fragile inside her.
“Hey,” I murmured, and this time, I didn’t laugh.
“Of course we care what you think,” I said. “I meant what I said. This works because of you.”
She looked unconvinced, so I continued. “When Command received Dr. Hampton’s report… about how your mind works, how you piece things together…” I shook my head faintly. “They almost didn’t assign you to our unit.”
She went still, color draining from her face, her mouth parting slightly.
“Because they thought you were too valuable, Lena. We pushed back,” I continued. “Hard.”
My voice softened. “We told them we weren’t letting you go somewhere else. That you belonged with us.”
A small pause.
“Not only as our omega,” I added. “As our teammate.”
She looked confused, like she didn’t quite know what to do with that.
“You are special, Lena,” I assured her. “Your mind… the way you see things… it’s rare.”
I hesitated just a beat before adding—
“And you’re beautiful in a way that doesn’t have anything to do with perfection.”
Her eyes unconsciously flicked down to her chest, but I caught it.
“Scars and all,” I said simply.
She still didn’t look convinced, but I didn’t push it. Instead, I leaned back, giving her room and letting my words settle before shifting gears.
“I need a break from the briefing packets. How are you feeling? You want to try Dr. Hampton’s homework?” I asked, brow raised.
A blush bloomed over her skin as her eyes lifted through her lashes. She gave a small nod.
I stood quickly, not giving her a chance to change her mind, and she followed without a word.
The walk to her bedroom was quiet, but not empty. Arousal and nerves threaded through the air between us, thick enough to feel. I stepped into her bedroom ahead of her, glancing back to make sure she hadn't run away.
Arranging the space without rushing, I stripped the blankets and pillows off her mattress and set them aside before kicking off my shoes and sliding down my pants, folding everything neatly on the floor.
When I laid back in the center of the mattress, wearing nothing but briefs, I made a point of going still, arms relaxed, palms open, giving her nothing to react to but simple presence.
The control was hers.
She hesitated near the doorway for a moment, watching me, her breathing just slightly uneven now, a flush still reddening her cheeks.
“Come here, Lena,” I said quietly, not commanding but inviting. “Remember what Doctor Hampton said, you're running the show.”
She moved, small steps bringing her closer until she reached the edge of the mattress and stopped, looking down at me as if she were debating where on my body to start.
“You don’t have to rush it,” I added. “Set the pace. Take whatever you want from this.”
She bent over and her hand lifted, stalling midair before lowering just enough to brush against my arm, the contact so light it barely registered at first.
But she felt it.
I saw it in the way her breath caught, in the slight tension that ran through her as she forced herself to stay.