8. ~Asher~

8

~Asher~

He certainly took clandestine to a whole other level.

Great minds most definitely.

I scanned the vicinity for the umpteenth time.

Nothing untoward.

No suspicious activity.

No movement at all, in fact.

Absolutely no change since I’d first arrived here thirty-six minutes ago.

That was twenty minutes ahead of schedule, so I could scout the area beforehand.

And that now made him sixteen minutes late.

Tardiness got under my skin as a rule, because it was disrespectful and unreliable.

But in this case, it was also dangerous. It meant something could be very wrong.

And, even if it wasn’t, being out here at all, meeting like this, and being off-territory, was a risk.

I’d played it down to Jonah, because I’d had to. He didn’t take well to me being in any level of danger, not even the slightest. And if he thought that was the situation now, he’d have no qualms about kicking over a shit-ton of hornets nests and raising absolute hell to get to me.

I absolutely couldn’t have that with this.

It was imperative that I handled it quietly.

And alone.

Bringing the three of them in on it would come later.

Possibly.

The outcome of what was about to happen would determine that.

I’d promised them full disclosure and I wanted to live up to it. But if tonight proved I needed to withhold information for the benefit of our mission, for their protection and safety, I would. Absolute honesty didn’t always play well in reality. Especially not our reality. It was a nice sentiment and I’d wanted to believe in it when I’d made them that vow in a rare moment of optimistic idealism. But it wasn’t always possible.

At least it had served its purpose.

It had rallied them.

It had forged us together as one.

It had renewed their faith in me amid previous doubts because of the subterfuge I’d had to employ prior.

Hell, I was always employing it.

And until this was over, I would continue to do so.

It was the only way to stay ahead of our enemies.

The only way to protect them.

Information itself wasn’t power, the way you wielded it was.

And, sometimes, whether you actually wielded it.

I’d had Bryce function as my cover tonight. He was picking up something for me just outside Hexwood, something I’d ordered a couple of weeks ago. It would put suspicion about where I was tonight to rest, functioning as a sort of camouflage. Well, more than that, given what the item was. It meant something. Even to a perceived stone-cold bastard like me. It was a shame that I had to taint what it represented by using it as cover.

I fingered my onyx bracelet, rubbing the beads back and forth. Although I didn’t actually believe in the healing power the thing itself espoused, it was the ritual of it that assisted with my high levels of anxiety that surged forth more often than I liked.

“Fuck,” I muttered.

This situation was what it was.

Regrets were only useful if they could be used as lessons. Otherwise they were useless, a detrimental emotional reaction bordering on guilt that promoted weakness if they were entertained.

Taking another scan of my surroundings, I pulled my phone from my leather jacket pocket and scrolled to my messages.

Over the last couple of days, I hadn’t been stepping away from any of this and clearing my head like I’d had the others believe.

I’d been reviewing every single shred of intel we had, including everything that had been spoken and that we’d encountered from the moment we’d reached Site A in Strenwell. I’d even reviewed the intel on that flash drive. It had listed all remaining dollhouse locations, as well as draft tactical plans that Revenant had drawn up to take out two out of the remaining ten.

That would have been all well and good, enough for me to move on, beginning with scouting the locations to ensure nothing had altered in the three years that he’d been gone. And, following that, working out any kinks, then taking them.

Butwith this new player in the Heretics, it had thrown a wrench into things.

There was an unstable element in play now. And worse, unknown.

I couldn’t risk us making a move until I knew more, until I could be sure they wouldn’t be there to interfere and ruin our plans, possibly even try to abduct Aurora and me again, if we went at the dollhouses.

And so, I’d contacted the one person who knew more than I did.

By trying to protect us—well, Aurora, and likely only the rest of us by association—he’d unwittingly revealed that he was familiar with the enemy.

And it was time for him to pass that information along.

I reviewed the conversation we’d had earlier this morning that had prompted this meeting.

Asher: Still using this number?

Blocked ID: Was another eighteen hours left, but you making unauthorized contact again renders it useless effective immediately.

I’d put the curt and abrasive attitude he’d given me at the tail end of our battle with the Heretics down to him being in soldier-mode at the time, focusing purely on the immediate of the mission, the proceeding cover-up that he’d needed to take care of. But it had become clear during our recent text exchange with him still maintaining it, that it had been more than that.

Asher: I’m sensing some animosity.

Blocked ID: Still haven’t lost your perceptiveness. Good. That will assist in keeping you alive.

Asher: Is this about Aurora?

Blocked ID: Don’t contact me again.

Asher: “Nyx coming to me still serves to fuck you over even all these years later.”

Blocked ID: You recorded those torture sessions?

Asher: Yes. Do you recall those words spoken?

Blocked ID: I have total recall. Once again, your father talking about things he didn’t fully understand. Egomaniacs think they know all, a mistake that can cost them dearly. I hope you’re not about to follow him down that path.

Asher: Your threats are veiled, so your animosity is checked at least. You need me for something.

Blocked ID: The situation is fluid. It’s foolish to burn bridges unless absolutely necessary.

Asher: I agree. So don’t make it become necessary on my end.

Blocked ID: Get to your point then.

Asher: I know who Nyx is.

After that, there’d been a long delay, before he’d responded back with a time and coordinates for a meet, urging me to come alone or he wouldn’t show.

And here I was now, waiting on him to finally step out of the shadows.

I turned back toward the entrance of the old abandoned storage facility in the middle of nowhere, almost two hours outside Hexwood. And that had been with me pushing my BMW to its limits.

I was about to stow my phone away, when it buzzed in my hand.

Blocked ID: Go inside.

A split second later the PIN pad lock of the front doors of the facility beeped, sounding like a foghorn through the still, dark night. The strip of light shifted from red to green, and then the doors unlocked, opening slightly in a rather creepy invitation.

Good thing I was no stranger to that sort of thing.

I stowed my phone away, then approached the entrance, fingering the butt of my Glock as I moved cautiously, rapidly scanning my surroundings in the process.

The moment I stepped inside, the lights went on, blinding me for a good few seconds.

I heard that beeping again and then the doors clanged shut behind me.

I shot a look over my shoulder at it.

Was I caged?

My pulse picked up at the notion.

I gritted my teeth, trying to force it down.

No. No. No.

I wasn’t caged.

I wouldn’t be ever again.

This was just temporary. I could leave. I could escape. I could walk the fuck out of here.

I wasn’t fucking well caged. I wasn’t!

By the time I blinked away the spots in my vision and swallowed down the panic, I took in the rows of open and empty storage units either side of me, getting my bearings.

I pulled my gun and cocked it.

A second later, a dark figure flitted across the intersecting corridor just beyond these first set.

My muscles locked.

You’re sealed in.

You’re trapped.

This is another cage.

I could feel perspiration forming on my brow, my skin reddening with the flush of panic.

Stop! Get a fucking grip!

“Easy,” the figure spoke, pulling my attention to him. “This isn’t a cell.”

It stepped from the shadows and into the limited lighted area.

And there he was, a specter made flesh.

He was decked out in black tactical gear, the padding just emphasizing his natural bulk and muscle. His dark brown hair was in a severe crew cut, not overgrown or more mussed like the last time I’d seen him. As he drew closer, those electric-blue eyes of his burned into me down deep as the similarity to Aurora’s became all too clear in an unsettling instant. He was armed to the hilt, a Sig in either holster, knives strapped to his tactical pants, and his vest and jacket bulging with hell only knew what else as well.

Lance “Revenant” Carlyle.

His attention went to my gun.

But it became clear quickly that it wasn’t for the obvious reason. He didn’t seem worried.

“Your arm is still impacting you. It should still be supported in a sling.”

“That would be an invitation to my enemies, seen as a point of vulnerability.”

“No one is close. You’re safe here.”

That remained to be seen. But there was a more pressing question now that he’d commented on it. “You saw me injure it?”

“I arrived on scene in time to see you forcing it back into place.”

“Hmm,” I mused. “So you didn’t see Aurora fall then.”

He tensed. “Fall?”

“Off the bridge. That’s how I dislocated it, pulling her up to safety.”

“Jesus, too close,” he muttered to himself. “Reckless and rash fools.”

“I’d say so, considering it was their intent to kidnap her and I, not to eliminate us.”

Something undecipherable flitted across his face, the guy living up to his enigma status.

“What happened to Olivia?” I asked. “Why did she extricate herself from our safehouse after agreeing to work with us?”

“With the Heretics attack, it shifted things. As we’ll discuss in a few moments. Her leaving as hastily as she did, though, was because I’d gotten word that another unit of Heretics were approaching your position. I had her head them off and eliminate them, while I dealt with the assailants who had already reached you.”

He gestured to my gun, still trained on him. “Put it away. You’re not a prisoner.” He added more pointedly, “This is no dungeon.”

I just stared at him. What did he think he knew?

I didn’t have to utter the question, or wait long until he gave the answer. As soon as I holstered my gun, he strode toward me, one measured step at a time. “This isn’t like Carson’s dungeon. The lights aren’t going to switch off and cast the space into pitch blackness. A blaring foghorn isn’t going to sound intermittently to keep you on edge and enforce sleep deprivation. Punishment isn’t going to come in any form.”

I swallowed hard. “How do you know about that?”

“I do my research.”

“Not a good enough answer.”

“How isn’t a good enough question.”

“Why do you know about it?”

“After you assisted me with the extraction from one of Carson’s slaughterhouses, I required urgent medical treatment for various injuries—and infections. Following those few months of recuperation, my intent was to reach out to you, to make good on my promise and bring you in on my mission, to work together. But, while I was recuperating, I was also looking into you. I had barebones intel from my focused research on the Head Infidels, but nothing detailed, as you were just a periphery character beforehand. But I delved deep following the deal we’d struck. That was when I found out about the dungeon Carson kept in a hidden area at the Monroe Estate and the torture you were subjected to in there, the trials. While your friends believed you were away at a retreat to learn the ropes of Monroe Enterprises for a few days every quarter, you were really being abused, punished, and tormented there.”

I gritted my teeth, fighting back the memories that wanted to surge. “How?”

“A mutual associate filled me in.”

“Olivia?”

“No.”

“Scourge then.”

“Correct.”

“And? What was the use in acquiring that information? It didn’t break me. And all of that ceased once I was relocated to Hexwood and took on leadership of the Infidels faction there.”

“I didn’t doubt your mental fortitude or your ability to live up to what it would have taken to work alongside the likes of me. However, I did discover that the dungeon was what would befall you if your association with me was discovered.”

“So, you were protecting me? That’s why you disappeared and continued to stay hidden even after you’d recovered from my father’s abuse?”

“Too many people have suffered already throughout this war. This time, I was in a position to spare another.”

“That wasn’t your decision to make. And it’s beyond insulting too.”

“Well, it was made. It would have stayed that way too, if you and my daughter hadn’t crossed paths. Her tenacity was greater than I’d accounted for. With me gone, it reached heights it likely wouldn’t have otherwise.” He shook his head to himself. “Aurora doesn’t do well with injustice and that’s what she viewed my death as. She couldn’t accept it. I saw her growing closer and closer to the truth. The moment she succeeded in discovering I was actually alive and kicking, she became obsessed. She wouldn’t stop and she put herself on Carson’s radar. I had to reveal I was alive to pull his attention away from her and back to me.”

“So, our theory was correct.”

“Yes.”

“And you had plants in place throughout the Infidels?”

He merely smiled, not speaking to it directly, and telling me instead, “Because of the four of you taking up the charge, I had to relinquish control over another situation I was dealing with—the rise of the Heretics. Something that filled the vacuum I left in my wake with my death.”

“You know who they are?”

“That doesn’t concern you. They don’t.”

“I beg to differ. They attacked us, ran us off the road. And they want Aurora and me in a cage.”

“Leave that to me. Your mission is the Infidels. I’ll make good on my promise and assist you. You’ll need to defer to me and do things exactly the way I lay out, and then you’ll have your victory. Bear in mind, my strategy doesn’t call for a coup d’état. We aren’t supplanting leaders here. The goal is to completely decimate the Infidels, all underground operations, and to cripple Monroe Enterprises, the Carmichael Foundation, as well as eliminating all the Head Infidels in the process.”

“Then our goals align.”

“You’re certain?”

“I don’t want it, if that’s what you’re asking. I never wanted the seat of power.”

He settled against the wall beside an open door of one of the storage units. “There is a condition to my assistance.”

Of course there was. “Aside from you expecting me to defer command to you? Don’t you think that’s a big enough ask as it is?”

“No,” he said, his voice taking on a harsher tone. “You’ll say your goodbyes to Aurora. She’ll disappear, I’ll help you bring down the Infidels, and then I’ll follow her, until I’m able to deal with the other situation. By the time we remerge back into the world, you would’ve made sure to forget about her and you won’t come near her again, you won’t contact her in any way.”

“Denied.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“You weren’t this foolish and short-sighted when we crossed paths before. You know what an asset my help is and you’d pass that up? You’re making a decision with emotion. I respected that you were above that beforehand. Don’t make a mistake by falling victim to it here and now.”

“I can do this without your help. I have the means.”

“Asher, to destroy your enemy, you can’t only know them, you have to become them. As you well know, Carson Monroe is a monster. And it will absolutely take another to destroy him. If Aurora remains a part of this, she’ll be treading a very dark path. I won’t allow it. I haven’t worked this hard to keep her out of this nightmare, just for her to end up entrenched in it forevermore.”

“That’s not your decision to make.”

“She’s not in a position to make it herself.”

“And why is that?”

“She had to enter into a certain frame of mind to immerse herself in this world, in your company.”

There it was. “She hasn’t been corrupted.”

His eyes darkened. I watched one of his hands fist. His control was being tested to a level he obviously wasn’t used to. Revenant was as calm and collected as they came, even in the most extreme and fucked-up of situations. But, clearly, when it came to the love he had for his daughter, it was another story.

Just like Carson was my Achilles Heel, Aurora was his.

I’d obviously suspected that. It wasn’t always the case, not all parents cared for their children and would go to great lengths to ensure their wellbeing. Especially not parents in my world. So I hadn’t been sure about him. But when I’d found out he’d made himself vulnerable and put himself back on Carson’s radar all for his daughter, it had been confirmed.

Seeing it up close now, it was staggering just how deep it ran, how much he loved her.

It should’ve been a weakness through and through, but it actually made him all the more dangerous. I could feel it from him, that there was no limit, no line he wouldn’t be prepared to cross in order to protect her.

Given that I was obviously currently in his sights, being viewed as somebody she needed protection from, so much so that he was planning an extraction, I should be worried. Well, from a logical standpoint, anyway. Emotionally, I couldn’t really be intimidated by anybody, not after the life I’d led, the things that had been done to me. That part of me was… shut down. It should’ve been a threat to my plans, though.

As it was, I was finding myself fucking smiling.

Because I was happy for Aurora.

Happy that her dad was the man she’d thought he was. That, despite all the shit that had happened to him, the twisted things Carson had done to him, he was actually the person she’d believed him to be, that he was focused on her, on doing what was best for her, on taking care of her.

I knew better than anybody that it wasn’t something to be taken for granted. Or as a given.

“What do you think you know about it?” I asked. “Because perceptions can be distorted.”

“If I didn’t already know that and understand you were putting on a show for the Head Infidels, you’d be choking on your own blood right now.”

I frowned.

Not at the threat.

That barely registered.

He couldn’t have eyes right inside Hexwood. It would be far too risky to get that close to her. Not to mention, I would have picked up on it. “You intercepted something?”

He shoved his hand inside one of the many pockets of his tactical vest.

He was pulling out his phone in the next moment. He scrolled for a bit, then spun the screen and showed me a photo.

Huh.

It had been taken at Fusion a few nights ago. It depicted Jonah dragging a very disheveled Aurora by her hair, red-raw marks all over her throat, a couple of hickeys too, cum slicking her cheek.

Well, that photographic evidence was certainly something.

“A spy in our midst took that. We set him up.”

“And yet it doesn’t change the fact that the photo itself is real. This still happened to my daughter.”

I recited what I’d told the boys and Aurora before the mission, “The façade is over. I declared war. There’s no more pretense. There’s just the four of us. We’re in this together. We protect each other. That’s where the loyalty begins and ends.”

Lance was noticeably careful not to look at the photo as he stowed his phone away. “What?”

“Those were the words I spoke to Aurora, Jonah, and Killian, shortly after the night that photo was taken. That’s the reality of how things are between us.”

He stared at me, seeming to like that even less.

In the next moment, he was right there in my space, and grasping my jaw in a white-knuckle grip.

His eyes blazed into mine like a raging fucking inferno. “You can’t have my daughter.”

“Again, that’s her decision,” I forced out against his constricting hold.

“She’s not a challenge to be won.”

“That’s not what it’s about.”

He scoffed.

“That’s Carson, not me. We’re not the same. And if your concerns for your daughter weren’t leading the way right now, you’d be able to admit that you already know that. I saw it, I felt it from you in that slaughterhouse.”

“You saw and felt what I allowed you to.”

Bullshit. “She’s not weak. She knows her own mind. She’s sharp, resourceful and capable in ways you can’t even imagine, because you’ve been away through the key years of that development. You think even if you somehow, against all rhyme and reason, manage to hide her away from all of this, that she’ll retreat to the girl she was before she touched this world and all the darkness and fuckery associated with it? She is it. She wants it. She’s as much a part of it as it is of her. She’s roaring fucking flames and no one can extinguish that hellfire coursing through her veins. Not you. Not my father. No one. She’s not a victim, she’s the one who’ll save them, safeguard them. Hell, she wants to do what you were… private security. She’s hellbent on it. That’s why she’s studying what she is. Not to become some corporate stooge. It’s much more than that for her. And you should be proud, because you obviously inspired it in her.”

I was vaguely aware of his grip loosening, and then leaving me entirely at some point.

But I was too caught up in what I was saying, thoughts of her streaming forth virtually unfiltered, that I paid it little mind, as I went on with a smile in my voice, “She can meet me on my level. The only one who can. She’s exceptional.”

I blinked out of my thoughts to find him staring at me, looking as close as he could possibly get to shocked.

Stunned, maybe.

“What?” I asked.

“You’re in love with her.”

Before I could get a word out—or even process the accusation—he started shaking his head vehemently. “Absolutely not. This can’t happen. And it’s all the more reason for me to pull her out. Your world is dark, twisted, and depraved. There’s no end to the danger, the manipulation and intense level of calculation required just to keep your head above water. There’s no living, only survival. No, she won’t end up like that, like the three of you.”

“Things will alter with the fall of the Infidels.”

“Not good enough,” he muttered to himself as he started pacing back and forth.

“My sentiment toward her is all the more reason for you not to pull her out.”

He stilled, then spun back to me, as the growl of my words slammed into him.

“Be very careful. You’re in no condition to lay down a threat to a man like me.”

“It doesn’t matter what condition I’m in, if a threat needs laying down, it will happen.” I strode up to him. “But that said, threatening the father of the woman I care about, a father who isn’t a curse on his child’s life as I’m used to, wouldn’t be the greatest move, would it?”

He cocked an eyebrow.

Good. He wasn’t sure where I was going with this.

He’d just unwittingly confirmed that there was a limit to his ability to read me, to see into my intentions.

There was room to move on my end, should I need to use it.

And it was for one inexplicable reason.

The way I felt about Aurora.

He watched me curiously as I drew closer. If I’d been someone prone to bursts of optimism and looking on the bright side, rather than rooted in dealing with the dark and dire, I would’ve sworn he actually looked impressed. The great, big, bad Revenant impressed by somebody twenty years his junior.

“You’ve researched me in invasive depth. You know me. You know I’m a rational man, that I’m a cold and calculated bastard, that I’m unapologetically ruthless in every move I make. And knowing that offers you comfort in the form of a pattern, a way to possibly predict what I’ll do, how I’ll respond to different sources of pressure, how far I’ll go in various scenarios.” I shifted my weight. “The thing is, there’s been no pattern with Aurora. No constant. I’ve held back too much, then I’ve pushed too hard. I’ve been reckless. I’ve recognized her needs and put them before my own. I’ve made exceptions for her. I’ve relinquished control and I’ve even given it over to her on occasion. None of that is characteristic of who and what I am.”

His brow furrowed as he tried to reconcile my revelations with what he knew about me, the profile he’d built in great detail.

Good luck with that. Even I couldn’t reconcile it.

At least, not yet.

“So, if you do steal her away into the shadows, I honestly don’t know what I’ll do, how far I’ll go to rectify that mistake. I can tell you one thing, though. It will be a hell of a surprise to the both of us. Not the good kind either.”

“Asher—”

“Give her the respect she’s fucking well earned, Lance. Let her make the choice.”

He stared at me in that invasive way I was used to subjecting others to.

It was amusing being on the other end of it.

He grunted, then demanded bluntly, “Who do you think Nyx is?”

If he thought such a pedestrian tactic of changing the subject was going to work here, he had another thing coming.

“Pulling Aurora out won’t make her safe. If you’d thought that, you would’ve already done it. The moment she’d come to Hexwood, in all likelihood. You recognized that her being on my territory throws up a barrier between her and Carson. You take her now and you run, he’ll chase. It’ll escalate the danger, while right now it’s in a stalled state.”

“You know as well as I do that he’s a highly unpredictable opponent when his baser desires are in play.”

“He’ll be incredibly distracted soon from that and forced back into a purely business mindset, once I begin dismantling the remainder of the dollhouse operation.”

“It’s still a risk.”

“This whole situation is. But, together, we can outmaneuver him.”

“If I somehow look past the three of you fucking around with my daughter?” He scoffed. “You’ve got some balls, kid.”

“I was never allowed to be a kid.”

“You were groomed to become that psychopath’s heir.”

I nodded solemnly. “How do you do it?”

“What’s that?”

“Look at me and not see him, the face of your torturer, your tormentor?”

He eyed me curiously. “Why does that matter to you?”

“It just does.”

He studied me for a few more moments. “Not because you’re worried I’ll betray you. No, this is about Aurora. You’re concerned, should she come face-to-face with Carson, she’ll see you in him and subsequently let her guard down and possibly succumb to his manipulations.”

“As disturbingly fucked-up as that is to even think about, that’s not it.” It was further proof, though, that he didn’t know who Aurora was now. “Besides, she’s not a fool.” I stepped closer. “This is about Olivia and Nyx.”

He started. “Excuse me?”

“The two women you were involved with? Olivia being a current thing. The other being your ex-wife, Isobel Carlyle. Also known as Aurora’s mother.” I twirled my hand. “You didn’t see things going that way with the Strenwell meet. The things Olivia revealed were a bid to gain our trust, but they were also a risk. It was a risk that would’ve been minimized a great deal if the original plan had gone ahead of you having her work with us. But then the Heretics interfered with that unprecedented attack and you were forced to shift gears.”

“And you connected Isobel and Nyx from the recordings.”

I nodded. “Something you weren’t aware I had.”

“It makes no difference either way.”

If that was true, he wouldn’t have hastily arranged this meet. He was worried about it, all right. I just didn’t know for what reason yet. The only incriminating thing so far was that, according to those recordings, Isobel—or Nyx—had been the one to out Aurora to my father, to put her on his radar. It would be a hard blow to take for her, yes, on a personal level. But I couldn’t see any impact beyond that. Nothing big, nothing that explained his reaction in the form of this meet.

“She was involved with my father. Olivia already established that. But referring to her by a code name, I don’t get that. Especially with her being long buried at the time.”

“My wife had an affair with a monster. As far as I was concerned, she was the darkness and shadow that the representation of Nyx describes. It wasn’t just a fling, kid. She was well on her way to becoming his twisted queen, to becoming Isobel Monroe.”

“That doesn’t explain why my father also referred to her as Nyx.”

“A way to taunt me, to laud over me that she became his, that her identity as Isobel had slipped away.”

“How did she come to be in his path?”

“It’s a long convoluted story. Suffice to say, she craved power and danger. He filled that void in her—at least for a time.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Until it became too much.”

“That car accident wasn’t the real cause of her death then?”

“You know how your father operates. But with Isobel it was on another level because he was incredibly obsessed with her. He had no limits when it came to her.” He uncrossed his arms and scrubbed his hand over his face. “She was running from him the night she got into that accident, trying to come to me for help. She lost control of her vehicle.” Before I could get a word out, he said, “As for how I can stand the similarity in the physical appearances between Liv and Nyx, I don’t look at it that way. I see Liv how she used to be. Her personality is a world away from that nightmare of a woman. The same with you and Carson. Well, for the most part when it comes to you. You do share some similarities. That’s to be expected, though.”

He sank back against the wall and settled in. “Now, you have a choice to make. I will head the takedown of the dollhouse network, taking you and the wrecking ball also known as Jonah Keller along on-mission, where we’ll function as a unit with me as your commanding officer. In this option, the unstable one—Killian—will stay behind working as our eyes and ears under the supervision of Liv. I’ll then take on the Head Infidels directly as they scramble from the demolishment of their dollhouse network. You’ll return to Hexwood and resume your normal routines. I’ll contact you once I’ve completed the final part of the mission.”

“I need to be involved in all aspects.”

“No.”

“You don’t trust me. Because of those certain similarities to Carson.”

“When the Infidels fall, there will be a power vacuum. I can’t risk you being near it.”

“I told you I don’t want that power.”

“With them gone, you won’t have any. Not even Hexwood. The entire thing will be gone.”

“I’m well aware. I was since before you and I made that deal three years ago.”

“You’ll lose everything.”

“Sometimes there’s a high price to pay for freedom.”

He stared at me in that penetrative way again. And then he shook his head. “I’m sorry, I can’t be certain. You still qualify as a risk.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine.” I’d determine a way around it either way. “And in this first option, what of Aurora?”

“My daughter will be gone. Off the grid.”

“No deal.”

Ignoring that, he said, “The second option is Aurora remains with you. You don’t get my assistance in such a profound way, in person. I continue to work from the shadows. I’ll keep the Head Infidels from discovering you’re responsible for taking their dollhouses down by causing several key distractions. I’ll also hold back the Heretics, preventing them from coming close to you again.”

“And what would the third option be if I went home right now and told Aurora all about this? You contacting me that day, being at the scene of battle, sniping our remaining opponents, then every detail of this encounter between us?”

“Aurora and me reuniting has to be on my terms. Not hers. Her emotional reaction to this will invite far too much risk and unpredictable results that will endanger her, me, Liv, all my sources, and you.”

“If you pull her out, it’s going to be a snatch-and-grab?”

“Yes.”

“That’s fucking brutal for a father who hasn’t set eyes on his daughter in years, who even made her believe he was dead for a time too.”

“All that matters is the outcome—ensuring her safety and protecting the mission.” He moved right up into my personal space. “I’m not worried about you telling her, so your threat to try to counter my manipulations is rendered null and void. You’re aware that the moment you tell her, she’ll run to me and leave you.” A dangerous smirk played on his lips. “You see where your growing desperation to bring down the Infidels has led you? You thought you were challenging me and gaining a win over me by threatening me with your knowledge of Nyx to force a meeting. But all it’s done is allow me to move you into a difficult and no-win position with the woman you love.” He growled and grasped my jaw. “A position that will ensure, no matter which direction things go in, she’ll see you as betraying her trust, keeping secrets again, her own father from her, in fact.”

I stared up at him. “Why?”

“I told you, kid, you can’t have my daughter.”

I dislodged his grip and knocked his hand away. “You come for her and I’ll stop you.”

“Is that so?” he asked, amusement dancing in his eyes.

“You’ll be making an enemy where you need an ally,” I reminded him.

“Hmm, so that means you’ll be taking Option 2, yes?” he said, sarcasm dripping.

I shook my head. “No wonder my father had such an affinity for you.”

“When it comes to my family, nothing is off the table. There are no lengths I won’t go to, no lines I won’t cross to protect them and shield them from this fucked-up world. You hold the same sentiment for Jonah and Killian. You just aren’t used to having that thrown back at you.”

His tactical watch buzzed, jolting us both, and slashing through the intensity enveloping us.

“Time’s up,” he was telling me in the next beat.

The door behind me beeped and I shot a look over my shoulder to see it unlocking a moment later.

It was barely a second before I turned back.

But he was gone.

I scanned the immediate area.

Absolutely no sign of him.

He’d disappeared back into the shadows.

Son of a bitch.

I retrieved my phone from my jacket pocket and I was poised to dial in the next moment.

Then I was gritting my teeth, resistance getting in the way.

The secure number I’d memorized flashed in my memory.

It was the only way it could exist for security reasons.

Even that was dangerous, as was about to be proven, unfortunately.

He deserved peace.

And he’d had it for several years.

It looked like that was going to have to be enough.

He’d told me to call on him if I ever needed anything. A small price to pay, he’d said, for me saving his life.

That might not still ring true once I made the call.

I clenched my fists.

This was an emotional response.

It wasn’t fucking logical.

Because of her.

Because of Aurora.

Under my skin.

In my—in places I wasn’t used to allowing people into.

If I couldn’t strike a compromise, find a way to prevent it from infecting me, from it going too deep, there’d be nothing left of any of us, nothing left of the three of them to get on my case about me shutting down again and cutting them out anyway.

No.

I needed to fucking well do this.

While I trusted that Lance would keep to his promise and divert the Heretics from us when we struck against the dollhouses, because it would serve to protect Aurora, I didn’t trust anything beyond that now. Not with this issue of her between us. He’d considered me taking her as mine as crossing a line. And now he’d crossed one too with this bullshit meeting tonight.

The likelihood of it escalating beyond that was high.

And when that happened, I needed to be prepared.

There was a new enemy out there that I didn’t know, didn’t understand, that I knew next-to-nothing about. I couldn’t trust Lance to take care of that now. At any moment he could make a play for Aurora and disappear into the fucking ozone, basically throwing me and the boys to the wolves in the process, surrounding us with both the Infidels and these new interlopers.

Time to even the playing field.

I dialed the number and waited as it rang and rang, until finally hitting an automated voicemail, giving away no details as to who the phone number belonged to.

As soon as the abrasive beep sounded, I spoke, “I need information. New player. Heretics.” Then I rattled off the security code we’d put in place, “Sierra-Alpha. Zero-One-Zero-Five.”

It would take some time for him to pick up the message, for it to be routed back to him.

In the meantime, I had a dinner to attend.

The final phase of the calm before the storm indeed.

Jesus fucking Christ.