Page 97 of Protect Thy Enemy

Arden. She’s standing just a few feet away, a gun in her hand. The barrel is pressed against a man’s temple, her expression unreadable.

For a moment, my brain refuses to process who the man is. Refuses to believe that Leo O’Malley, the man I buried in my mind years ago, is standing here. Alive.

The room tilts, the threads of every unanswered question tangling together until I can’t tell where one ends and another begins.

“What the fuck?” The words scrape out of my throat, low and hoarse, as if dragged from the weight of my disbelief.

Leo doesn’t move, doesn’t speak. He just stands there, calm. Like his daughter doesn’t have a gun pointed at his head, like he’s waiting for me to catch up.

Natasha’s gaze flicks between Arden and me. “Quite the reunion, isn’t it?”

Arden’s eyes flicker to mine for the briefest moment, something unspoken passing between us. But she doesn’t lower the gun.

Leo finally speaks, his steady voice almost amused. “It seems that you kept your promise after all, Holden.”

---