Page 14 of Fierce Hope (Hope Landing: New Recruits #3)

Deke’s knuckles whitened around his coffee mug as he stared at the streak of silver dust on his jacket sleeve. That paint had come from Jade’s car—scraped against a guardrail by the jerk who’d tried to run her off the road. His jaw clenched. If he’d been a few minutes later ...

“Earth to Williams.” Kenji’s voice cut through his brooding. “You gonna drink that coffee, or just crush the mug with your bare hands?”

Deke forced his grip to relax. Around the Knight Tactical conference table, his team had spread out Jade’s client files like a paper maze. Zara was already deep in spreadsheets, her dark eyes scanning columns of numbers with laser focus. Kenji lounged in his chair, tablet balanced on one knee.

“Sorry.” Deke set the mug down. “Where are we?”

“In the world’s most boring treasure hunt,” Kenji said, swiping through documents. “Unless you count depreciation schedules as buried gold.”

Zara didn’t look up from her screen. “Some people do hide assets in plain sight. Though if I were stashing millions, I’d at least spring for a yacht.”

“Focus,” Deke growled, but without heat. He understood their need to lighten the mood. But every time he closed his eyes, he saw Jade’s trembling hands, heard the shake in her voice when she’d called him.

She’d made him promise not to hover around her workplace. He’d respected that—mostly. But now? The thought of her alone and vulnerable made his chest tight.

“Found something interesting,” Zara announced, tapping her keyboard. “The United Lumber-Baylor Wood Products merger. Looks like some serious friction there.”

“How serious?” Deke moved to look over her shoulder.

“Serious enough that—” Zara was cut off by multiple phones buzzing.

Kenji glanced at his screen and groaned. “Izzy says Chantal’s changing her party theme. Again. Now it’s mermaids AND ponies. How does that even work?”

“Seahorses,” Zara deadpanned, not missing a beat. “Now can we get back to the actual life-or-death situation?”

Deke nodded, grateful for his team’s ability to balance gravity with humor. But part of him was already plotting how to keep Jade safer—whether she liked it or not.

“Alright, let’s break down what we actually have,” Deke said, moving to the whiteboard. He uncapped a marker with more force than necessary. “Zara, tell me about this lumber thing.”

“Nasty divorce wrapped in a business merger,” Zara replied, pulling up more files.

“Richard Baylor lost control of his company shares in the settlement with his ex. Then she immediately persuaded the Board to accept United Lumber’s buy-out offer.

Baylor’s made some ... colorful comments about the accountants involved. ”

“Colorful how?” Deke’s marker hovered over the board.

“Let’s just say he’s not sending Christmas cards to anyone who touched those numbers.” She paused. “But Jade wasn’t directly involved on the forensic side. She just processed the regular statements.”

“Add him to the list anyway,” Deke ordered. “What else?”

Kenji whistled softly, staring at his screen. “Got another one. The Whitmore Trust. Old money, lots of it, and someone’s been creative with the books.”

“Creative how?” Zara leaned over to look.

“Like ‘my yacht is actually a business expense’ creative.” Kenji shrugged. “Again, Jade only handled the surface stuff, but she might have seen something that made somebody nervous.”

Star poked her head into the conference room. “Found the smoking gun yet?”

“Just rich people doing rich people things,” Kenji replied. “Though I’m starting to think we should all become accountants. Apparently, that’s where the real drama is.”

Deke added Whitmore Trust to his growing list. Two solid leads, but something felt off. If someone wanted to silence Jade, why wait until now? And why target someone who’d only handled routine paperwork?

His gut twisted. There was something they weren’t seeing.

“Pull up the Andreassen-Canning security feeds,” he said.

Zara didn’t take her eyes from her screens. “Already on it. Though maybe don’t mention to Jade how easy this is. Might freak her out.”

“Might freak her out? You think?” Ethan snorted, joining them. “We can practically tell what brand of coffee she drinks from her office window.”

“Speaking of coffee,” Kenji interjected, “whose turn is it to make the lattes? Because these spreadsheets are making my eyes cross.”

But Deke barely heard them. He was staring at Jade’s personnel file on his tablet, noticing things he should have seen before. It was entirely too perfect.

“Hey.” Zara’s voice was quiet beside him. “You okay?”

“Something’s not adding up,” he muttered. “And I don’t just mean the client files.”

“Her background’s pretty spotless,” Kenji observed, suddenly serious. “Are we thinking that’s a problem?”

“Not yet.” He hoped.

Zara stretched her arms above her head and sighed. “The Whitmore angle looks worth pursuing. Their CFO made some interesting moves right before Jade started certifying their monthly reports.”

Deke leaned over the conference table, studying the timeline of the Baylor merger.

Richard Baylor’s threats were explicit—he’d actually told his ex-wife’s lawyer he’d “make everyone pay.” The Whitmore situation was subtler but equally concerning.

Both had means, motive, and a history of lashing out.

But he kept circling back to Jade’s spotless work history.

His phone buzzed?—

Jade: Just checking in. I’ll be done with work in half an hour.

Something in his chest tightened at seeing her name on the screen.

“Alright,” he straightened, decision crystallizing.

“Zara, I want everything we can find on Baylor’s movements this morning.

Kenji, dig deeper into the Whitmore family tree—see who might have access to a dark SUV.

And ...” he paused, steel entering his voice, “I want a complete background sweep on Jade. Go back twenty years.”

Kenji’s eyebrows shot up. “You sure about that?”

“No,” Deke admitted quietly. But they had to tug on any threads they found. “We keep that between ourselves for now.”

“Copy that,” Kenji responded.

He grabbed his keys, mind already mapping out his next moves. Jade wouldn’t like what he had planned. Not that it mattered. He’d rather have her alive and angry than ...

He couldn’t even finish the thought.

“Text me anything urgent,” he told the team. “I’m picking her up from work.”

“And then?” Zara asked, though her knowing look suggested she’d already guessed.

Deke’s expression hardened with resolve. Sometimes protecting someone meant making choices they wouldn’t thank you for. But he’d made his decision.

“Then I do whatever it takes to keep her safe.”

She wouldn’t like it.

That he could live with.