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Sutton's face drains of color, her knuckles white where they grip the phone. Her chest rises sharply once—twice—like her lungs have forgotten how to breathe. The room holds its breath with her. I reach out instinctively, but she lowers the phone with a mechanical slowness, her gaze locked somewhere far beyond the walls of this room.

"We’re going after him," she says quietly, the words more vow than decision.

And I know there’s no stopping her now—not when that fierce determination flares to life in her eyes like a spark catching dry tinder, wild and inevitable. She’s already chosen her path, and I’m just scrambling to keep pace with the storm she’s become.

Sutton stares at the phone like it’s a venomous thing, some cursed relic that just shattered her world. Her fingers tremble as she lowers it—slowly, deliberately—until it kisses the table with a soft, final click. Her hands stay there, splayed wide, white-knuckled with restraint. Her mouth sets into that defiant line I know too damn well, but her eyes... her eyes burn. Not with tears, but with fire. Determination. Fury so sharp it could carve bone.

"No," I snap, before she says a word. "Absolutely fucking not."

She turns to me, hazel eyes blazing. "Don’t start with me, Deacon."

"It’s a trap. You know it. I know it. Hell, Rush knew it before the call even ended."

"I’m going."

"You think Frank would want you to throw yourself into that? To walk into a goddamn kill box?"

She flinches at that, jaw tightening. "He’s all I have left."

"You have me. Besides he's just another loose end to the Reaper, and we know what he does with loose ends," I growl, crowding her space, forcing her to look up. "You have this team. This life. You don’t walk into a death sentence to chase ghosts."

She doesn’t back down. I doubt she ever will. "Then get me there first. Before they expect us. Before the rest of the team rolls up like a full tactical response."

"Rush isn’t going to authorize that."

"Rush doesn’t need to know." Her smile is all teeth. All fire. All damn trouble. "I'm going with you. We’ll take the Harley, cut through the back roads, and hit Cinder Gap before they expect us. Rush can lead the team in once we’ve breached the perimeter."

I slam my hand against the wall, the force sending a sharp crack through the air as the wood splinters beneath my palm. She doesn’t so much as flinch, her eyes fixed on mine like twin firestorms refusing to yield.

I want to throw something. I want to lock her up. Chain her down. Not because I don’t trust her—but because Ido. Because I know exactly what she’s capable of. And I can’t lose her.

Rush walks in then, Gage at his heels. His eyes move between us like he already knows.

"We roll in ten," Rush says. "It’s Cinder Gap. Remnants are moving through the basin. We’ll hit resistance. Might take longer than we want to get there."

"Then I’m going with Deacon," Sutton says before I can open my mouth, her voice hard and unflinching. "We’ll take the Harley—cut through the back roads. Get there before they expect us."

Rush doesn’t even blink. Just nods once, but his jaw flexes, a silent sign that he knows this is a goddamn gamble—and he's weighing lives against time. "Get in and out. If shit turns south, we fall hard and fast."

My mouth drops open.

Rush holds my gaze. "She’s his daughter. She makes the call."

Sutton’s already moving. "Suit up, Ranger."

I glare at Rush as she strides outside. He lifts a brow. "You gonna stop her? Tie her up? Chain her to the bed? I can tell you from experience they get cranky when you do that kind of thing."

He walks out.

I leave the ranch house just in time to see Dalton tossing Sutton a Kevlar jacket. She catches it mid-air, already pulling her hair back into a braid.

Sutton meets my eyes, fierce and steady as she throws a leg over the Harley's seat behind me.

I glance back at her. "You follow my lead. No deviations. No hero shit."

Her fingers tighten on my sides. "Copy that, Ranger. Let's ride."

I twist the throttle, the engine roaring to life beneath us, and we tear off down the back roads toward Cinder Gap, two shadows chasing blood and vengeance through the desert dawn.