Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 60921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60921 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Knight speaks next, calm and precise. “Ozzy goes in as a distraction with a shadow tail. We cut cameras three minutes before breach. We isolate the exit route.”
Riggs nods. “I can blind local traffic cams. Give us a clear corridor.”
Poe adds quietly, “And I can pull false plate data to cover the vehicle swap.”
River turns to me. “Lark, you and Knight run perimeter?”
Knight answers before I do. “We’ll be close enough to intervene, far enough not to spook anyone.”
Sawyer coughs like he’s choking on the word intervene. Then he points at Ozzy. “You bring her to a safehouse immediately. No detours. No hero nonsense.”
Ozzy lifts a hand. “Okay, Dad.”
Sawyer gives him a look that could curdle milk. “Not the time.”
Ozzy sobers instantly. “Yeah. Got it.”
Juno’s eyes soften. “Is Salem aware of who she can trust?”
Rae shakes her head. “Unknown. If she’s been moved through pre-auction conditioning, she might not trust anyone.”
Ozzy’s jaw tightens. Something flickers behind his eyes. I can’t name it. But I can recognize the start of a story when it shows up in a man’s face.
Knight seems to clock it too. He glances at Ozzy, expression unreadable.
I file that away.
The meeting breaks into smaller tactical conversations.
I’m leaning over Render’s tablet with Knight, evaluating a route map, when Gage appears at my shoulder.
“Hey,” he says. Suspiciously calm.
Which is how I know he’s about to say something that annoys me. “Hey, brother.”
He grimaces. “I’m trying to get on board with you and Knight.”
“I can see that. It’s adorable.”
He sighs. Then he lowers his voice. “I’m okay.”
I blink.
“What?”
“With… you two.”
I glance at Knight.
Knight’s pretending he’s deeply invested in the map.
He isn’t. He’s listening with the intensity of a man defusing a bomb using only willpower.
Gage clears his throat. “I’m okay with you dating him.”
“That’s shockingly mature.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
I grin. “Why the sudden brother approval arc?”
Gage pauses. Then he says quietly, “Because he didn’t just protect you. He respected you.”
My chest warms in that annoying way feelings do when they arrive without permission. “I’m still going to gross you out,” I warn.
“Yes,” he says flatly. “Which brings me to my only boundary.”
“Oh, here we go.”
“Stop kissing in front of me.”
Knight makes a sound that might be laughter.
I tilt my head. “That’s your line?”
“Yes.”
“Not the crime work?”
“You’re all criminals,” he says. “I’ve made peace with it. The PDA is where I draw the line.”
River strolls up at exactly the right time.
“I heard that,” she says sweetly.
Gage mutters, “God help me.”
River hooks her arm through his. “You love us.”
“I tolerate you.”
She beams. “That’s basically romance coming from you.”
Later, when the room thins out, Knight and I end up near the coffee bar. He’s helping me fix my comms earpiece like it’s a sacred ritual. His fingers are gentle. Precise.
He glances up at me. “You good?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“That’s not an answer.”
I smile. “It’s a Lark answer.”
He shakes his head, the corner of his mouth lifting. “You’re worried about this op.”
I exhale quietly. “Trafficking is different.”
His expression goes hard in the way that means his soul just put on armor. “Yeah.”
“I can handle violent men. I can handle hits and bounties and mob clubs with bad lighting.”
“Also yes.”
“But a girl being sold…” My voice tightens. “That kind of evil doesn’t just deserve consequences. It deserves extinction.”
Knight cups the back of my neck, thumb brushing my skin. “It will get consequences,” he says. The words are simple. But I believe him the way you believe gravity.
“Also,” I add quietly, “Ozzy looks like he’s already halfway attached.”
Knight follows my gaze to where Ozzy is talking to Rae, serious and diligent in a way that might be the rarest Ozzy form.
“I noticed.”
“He’s going to pretend this is purely tactical.”
“He will fail,” Knight says dryly.
I snort. “Yep.”
He leans closer, voice lower. “You’re going to want to go in.”
“I am.”
“And you’re going to not.”
I narrow my eyes. “Excuse you.”
He kisses my forehead—soft, quick, infuriatingly sweet. “Perimeter, Birdie.”
I glare.
He smiles.
Rae walks by and says without looking up from her tablet, “If either of you goes rogue, I’m locking your comms and publicly shaming you in the team chat.”
I call after her, “You can’t threaten me with a good time!”
She doesn’t even pause.
By the time we leave HQ, the plan is set. Ozzy will extract Salem. Knight and I will run outer control. Arrow and Juno will coordinate with Dean’s team to identify the next link in the chain. Render and Poe will bring the digital curtain down. River and Gage will manage internal systems inference and defensive comm shielding.
And somewhere in this chessboard of monsters and heroes and meticulous violence— a girl named Salem Bloom is about to be pulled out of hell.
I don’t know her.
Not yet.
But something in my gut tells me this rescue will shift the entire universe a few degrees.
We stop at a late-night pizza place on the way back. Because if you don’t eat carbs after planning an illegal rescue operation, did you even have character growth?