Page 30 of Secret Hope (Hope Landing: New Recruits #5)

The laptop screen flickered to life, revealing the interior of Knight Tactical's private jet.

Cassidy moved closer to Kenji, drawn by both the need to see the screen and something else—that magnetic pull she'd been fighting since their kiss on the beach.

The warmth of his shoulder against hers sent an unexpected jolt through her exhausted body.

Focus , she commanded herself. Lives depend on clear thinking.

But she was acutely aware of him—the controlled tension in his posture, the way his hands had steadied despite everything they'd endured. The moment they'd shared before the call, when she'd admitted she understood his struggles, still hung between them like a promise waiting to be fulfilled.

"Kenji," Zara's voice carried clearly through the connection. "Good to see you. We've got updates."

"Tell me you're close," Kenji said, and Cassidy heard the barely controlled desperation beneath his professional tone.

"Making good time, but we've got weather issues brewing." Zara glanced at something off-screen. "More importantly, we've got intel on Reagan."

Cassidy's heart clenched. Please let him be okay. Please don't let another person die because of me.

"Good news or bad news?" Kenji asked.

"Good news. Reagan is alive and in Interpol protective custody.

" Zara's smile was genuine. "He's been cooperating with international authorities for months, providing intelligence on Vega's trafficking network in exchange for immunity.

Interpol had planned to extract him after the tournament. You just pushed the timeline forward."

Relief hit Cassidy so hard she had to grip the desk for support. Reagan was alive. She hadn't sent an innocent man to his death. The guilt that had been crushing her chest eased slightly, letting her breathe for the first time since she'd eliminated him from the tournament.

Behind them, Sophia made a small sound—something between surprise and relief. When Cassidy glanced back, her assistant's face had gone pale, then flushed, before settling back into its usual professional mask.

"That's... that's brilliant news," Sophia said, her accent slightly thicker than usual. She cleared her throat, busying herself with her tablet. "Sorry, I just—I was worried we'd have another death on our conscience."

But Cassidy caught the way Sophia's fingers trembled slightly as she swiped at her screen, the way she wouldn't quite meet anyone's eyes. There was something more there, some deeper reaction she was trying to hide.

"So we didn't get him killed," Kenji said, voicing Cassidy's exact thought.

"You helped save him," Zara corrected. "By forcing Vega to move early, you triggered the extraction protocols. So that’s one key witness safe. But Reagan only has intel on a portion of Vega’s dealings. Enough to have him arrested, for sure."

“But not necessarily enough to keep Vega in custody,” Sophia reasoned, almost to herself.

"Turning Van Der Merwe would put a case against Vega over the top," Deke added from somewhere off-screen.

"Copy that." Kenji's shoulders relaxed slightly. "When do you land?"

That's when everything changed.

Axel's voice cut through from the cockpit with the kind of forced calm that made Cassidy's poker instincts scream.

"Change of plans. Hurricane's tracking faster than predicted. We can't land at Orchid Isle. Storm's swinging directly at you. Winds are already too strong for a safe approach."

The hope that had just bloomed in her chest withered and died. No rescue. No cavalry riding in at the last moment. Just them against Vega's killers with a hurricane bearing down.

"What's our timeline?" Kenji's voice remained steady, but she felt the tension return to his body.

"We're diverting to a secure airfield on the mainland," Ronan's voice joined the conversation. "Best case scenario, we're twelve to fifteen hours out, once we land and regroup. Worst case, twenty-four hours if this storm parks itself over the region."

Cassidy watched Kenji absorb the blow—saw the moment he realized they were truly on their own. His face remained composed, but she'd spent years reading micro-expressions at poker tables. The slight tightening around his eyes, the way his jaw clenched—he was devastated.

"Understood," he managed. "We'll hold position until you can reach us."

"Negative," Ronan's tone brooked no argument. "You do whatever it takes to keep yourselves alive. Don't wait for us. Don't count on extraction. Handle this yourselves."

The connection ended, leaving them staring at a blank screen. Outside, the first fat raindrops splattered against the windows, harbingers of the deluge to come. The building creaked ominously in the wind.

"We're alone," Cassidy said quietly, the reality of it settling over her like a shroud.

"Yeah." Kenji closed the laptop, and she watched him shift before her eyes—from disappointed to determined, from client handler to warrior. "Completely alone."

The transformation fascinated her. This was the SEAL, the operator who'd survived impossible missions. This was the man who'd broken into a panic room with garden shears to save her.

"So what do we do?" she asked, though part of her already knew. They'd adapt. They'd survive. Because that's what people like them did when the odds were stacked against them.

Kenji turned to face her fully, and something in his expression made her breath catch. He was looking at her—really looking—not as a client or a responsibility, but as an equal. As someone whose opinion mattered.

"We adapt," he said. "We use the storm as cover, and we take the fight to Van Der Merwe before he comes for us."

Cassidy studied him with the same intensity she brought to reading opponents across felt. What she saw made her decision easy. This man—broken and healing, strong and vulnerable—was worth trusting with her life.

"Okay," she said finally. "But I have conditions."

His eyebrows rose slightly. "Such as?"

"No unnecessary violence. We try to turn him, not break him." She held his gaze steadily, needing him to understand. "And if this goes wrong—if we don't make it out—I want you to know that I understand. About the gambling. About fighting something inside yourself that feels bigger than you are."

She watched the words hit him, saw something crack in his careful composure. For a moment, he looked so vulnerable it made her heart ache.

"Cassidy—"

"I'm not saying it to make you feel better," she continued, needing to get it all out while she had the courage. "I'm saying it because I need you to know that whatever happens next, you're not alone either."

Thunder rumbled in the distance, a bass note to the wind's increasing howl.

The storm was coming for them all. But standing in this room with Kenji, feeling the connection between them that had nothing to do with crisis and everything to do with recognition, Cassidy felt something she hadn't experienced since Vega had trapped her in his web.

Hope.

Not just for survival, but for what might come after. For the possibility that two broken people could build something beautiful together.

"All right," Kenji said, moving toward his gear bag with renewed purpose. "Let's go save ourselves."