Page 127 of Desperate Actions

And Andrea, the oldest, the one with Sammy’s sharp instincts and the same piercing hazel eyes, looks at me across the table and asks the question I know has been sitting on her tongue since we sat down.

“So, this thing with our brother. Are you in it for real?”

Silence.

Everything else—the clatter of plates, the low murmur of conversations around us—dims to nothing.

I don’t flinch.

I don’t look away.

I meet Andrea’s gaze head-on.

And I tell her the truth.

“I’m in it with my whole heart.”

The tension that had been building shatters.

Andrea’s sharp eyes soften, and Julia grins before shoving another forkful of salad into her mouth.

“That’s what I said,” Elena says in a singsong voice.

Merida hums, like she’s pleased with my answer.

And Andrea, the most serious of them all, nods once, like she already knew.

They don’t say anything else about it.

They don’t need to.

Because they know now.

I’m not going anywhere.

Chapter 29-Sammy

The whole morning was spent chasing shadows, trying to get a goddamn line on the ghosts who robbed my father-in-law’s office.

I went through the security feeds frame by frame, analyzing every second of footage.

I questioned the man Angel Fury personally put in charge of security at the Vipers’ Den, looking for any cracks, any hesitation in his story that might suggest an inside job.

Nothing.

No subterfuge.

No trace of a lie.

Whoever these fuckers were, they didn’t just walk in the back door. They knew the shift change schedule. Knew exactly when to slip inside without triggering an alarm. They had the layout memorized.

This wasn’t just some smash-and-grab job.

And yet, from what I’ve been able to gather, the stolen drive wasn’t even valuable. Just old data. Files on accounts that are no longer relevant to Viper Enterprises’ current business.

It doesn’t make sense.

None of it does.

---