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I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t have experience with this sort of thing. When I was worried, I liked to hole myself up at home and shut out the rest of the world. I assumed that wasn’t what Jordan wanted.

It’ll all work out in the end.What a stupid platitude, but people liked hearing it.

Jordan eyed me. “Words of comfort from Vuk Markovic?” he joked. “Ayana’s influence, I presume.”

The only ones you’ll get from me. You want to talk more? Get a real therapist.

“You’re such an asshole,” he said with a laugh.

We shot the shit for a while longer before a nurse came by to say visiting hours were over.

I left, my body buzzing with relief. He was okay, and we were okay.

For years, I’d thought Jordan and I didn’t have much in common except for our history. I hadn’t realized until now that we did share one important trait: loyalty. Hell, he was more loyal than I was, given the whole Ayana situation, and I’d taken it for granted. I wouldn’t do so again.

I’d cleaned up before I visited Jordan, but I took a real, thorough shower when I went home. I scrubbed myself raw, determined to wash away the stain of that morning’s events. Dexter deserved what he got, but I took no inherent pleasure in what I’d done.

It was only when I was squeaky clean and changed into a fresh set of clothes that I called Ayana.

She picked up on the second ring. “Hey.” Her warm voice trickled right through my chest. “Did you take care of your work emergency?”

“For the most part.” I sat at my desk and stared at my dark computer screen. “I just came back from seeing Jordan. He told me you two ended things.”

There was an audible hitch of breath, followed by a cautious, “We did.”

“Good.” One word encompassed a world of emotion.

Ayana was back in the city. I wasn’t thrilled about that—she was a little too close for comfort given the Brotherhood developments—but she and Jordan were over, which meant there was nothing stopping us from being together.

My worries about the Brotherhood were the only thing keeping me from going to her apartment right now. We’d been apart for less than a day, and I already missed her. It was pathetic.

Unfortunately, I had to deal with Shepherd first. Once he was out of the way, I could take all the time in the world to be with her.

“I have to tie up some loose ends for this work project over the next few days,” I said. “But if you’d still like shooting lessons, meet me at the Valhalla Club on Friday. Six p.m. Wear something comfortable.”

“It’s a date.” Ayana paused. “That is, I mean?—”

“It’s a date.”

I could practically hear her smile over the phone. “Then I won’t keep you much longer since you have work. I’ll see you on Friday. Good night.”

A strange warmth rippled through my veins. “Good night,srce.”

* * *

My phone call with Ayana was my last moment of peace before I snapped into work mode.

It took Sean less than eight hours to confirm Dexter’s intel. It took us another twelve to formulate and prep a strategy that was as fast, nimble, and effective as it could be given our limited time and resources.

In an ideal world, we’d have more than two days to carry out a hit against an elite assassins. Unfortunately, grabbing Dexter had tipped our hand. Shepherd was spooked, and if we didn’t move soon, he’d go underground before we could nab him.

I wasn’t going to drag this out any longer than necessary. I wanted the Brotherhood problem behind me, once and for all. After Shepherd died, Roman would rally the troops and take out the other faction. He already had a plan; he just needed my resources to pull it off. Once that happened, he’d take control of the Brotherhood, and he swore he would perform a blood oath that would prevent the organization from coming after me ever again.

The plan required a lot of trust in someone who was inherently untrustworthy. Unfortunately, I had no better options. It was either go along with Roman or look over my shoulder and wage war against the Brothers for God knew how long. I couldn’t allow that to happen now that they’d broken their old code and were going after civilians.

User 02: T-minus five minutes.

My pulse raced at Roman’s encrypted message. I nodded at Sean, who ordered the rest of the team to get ready.