“He pulled data from Mitchell’s computer,” Rio added. “Tell him, J.”
Killian’s eyes narrowed slightly. I clamped my mouth shut. I wasn’t about to tell him the full truth—not about the scripts I’d used, or how easily I’d slipped back into a skillset I’d buried years ago. That part of me wasn’t for public display. Definitely not for someone like him.
“Files.”
“Yep.”
“Send them to me.”
No.
Then I forced a nod. “Sure,” I said instead.
Killian grabbed a card from his case. “Encrypted upload,” he said and passed it to me. “Do you know how to use that?”
I flicked a glance at the card. “Yep.”
“Upload it all, and my team will dissect every byte.” Killian said, as if he owned the room. As if he could dictate how this went. I wanted to argue—God, I needed to—but Rio stepped in again, a steady hand to calm the rising firestorm in me.
“If there’s anything on there about Robbie, I want it gone,” Enzo said.
“That’s our priority.” The slick lawyer veneer cracked for a split second, revealing something thatmight’ve been compassion. Then it was gone, replaced by steel. “But on the rest of it, we move with precision,” he said. “These people aren’t just criminals. They’re connected, protected, and insulated by power and money. We rush in, and they vanish.”
“So what’s the plan?” Rio asked.
“My team maps the network,” Killian replied and his eyes found mine again, and fuck, it was like being pinned under a spotlight. “I understand you want to ignite a war, Pretty, but we can’t go in guns blazing. So leave it to us to find their weak points, and stay out of it until we give you permission to get in there.”
“‘Permission’?” I echoed, my voice dripping with disbelief and fury. I stepped into his space, deliberately closing the distance, forcing him to feel the heat radiating off me. “You think I need your permission to act? You think I’ll sit on my hands like some obedient dog while monsters walk free?”
He smiled, the edges of his mouth cutting like a knife. “No. But once we’ve got proof on as many of them as possible, we decide how this ends. And if it’s you lighting the match, Pretty—then you set their world on fire.”
The air shifted. Even Enzo was quiet now. Robbie stared as if he didn’t recognize Killian anymore. Welcome to the club. It was as if hedidn’t care what I did or how I did it. Almost as if he approved. And that confused the hell out of me.
“You’d do that?” Robbie asked, voice barely audible. “You’d let Jamie… I mean, you’d help us eliminate them.”
“I’m not here because I love the smell of motor oil,” Killian said. “I’m here because what happened to you—what’s happening to other kids, women, the undocumented, the unhoused—that doesn’t get to stand. Not on my watch.”
I stared at him. Trying to reconcile the tailored suit with the fire in his voice. Didn’t add up. The room went quiet. “Didn’t take you for a crusader,” I finally said.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Pretty.”
“Stop calling me that,” I growled. And meant it. Except, maybe I didn’t.
He turned from me and spoke to Rio. “I need those files. All of them. Make sure he sends them to me”
I bristled. No one was in charge of me.
Well, maybe Rio was the exception. His rigid rules didn’t just keep me in check—they sharpened me. Turned chaos into precision. Made me better at the one thing I was already deadly at.
“How long until we get to take them out?” I asked because I needed to count down the days.
Killian shrugged. “At least two weeks to map it out. Maybe longer.”
“That’s too long,” I snapped. I couldn’t keep still. Started pacing, the lighter in my hand, flame flickering, daring it to burn me. “The minute they think they’re compromised, they’ll scatter.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Killian sounded frustrated. “But rush this, and we end up with two dead men and a network that goes underground. Then, good luck finding them again.”
“This is bullshit,” I snapped.
