Page 109 of Silence and Surrender

“How long?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

“Two weeks, maximum.” He pressed his forehead to mine, and the touch made my pulse quicken even more. “Long enough to access the servers, download the evidence, and plant the programs the Interpol hackers created.” His arms tightened around me fractionally. “Long enough to make them believe I’m still on their side before we expose it all. We’ll have to come at them from both angles—legal and physical.”

I closed my eyes, breathing in his familiar scent. Remembering how far we’d come since that first kiss in the vault. Since the library at Ashworth Estate. Since everything changed.

“Promise me something?” I whispered.

“Anything.”

“Promise you’ll come back to us.” My hand fisted in his shirt as I pulled him even closer.

He kissed me then—not gentle, not careful, but fierce with both power and possession. When he finally pulled back, his eyes burned with something that made my breath catch.

“I will always come back to you.” His voice was rough with emotion. “To both of you. Nothing they do, nothing they try, will keep me from my family.”

Family. The word still felt surreal. Impossibly wonderful.

“Besides,” he added, a hint of a smile reaching his lips, “I have excellent motivation to hurry home each night.”

His hand slid lower, and that familiar desire crept up between us.

“Colton...” Warning and want tangled in my voice, each trying to win out.

“I know.” He stepped back slightly, though his hands stayed on my hips. “We need to finish the security setup. Review what you need to do in case there’s a breach here. My number one priority in all of this is keeping you safe.” He brushed a final kiss across my forehead before moving to the dining room table, now covered in laptops and surveillance equipment. “The team finished the sweep for bugs. The penthouse is clean, but we’ll do daily checks. No phones except the burners.”

I followed him to the table, forcing myself to focus on work rather than the ache of impending separation. The plans were already laid out—building schematics, security patrol schedules, server access points.

“The cameras are live,” I noted, checking the feeds on one laptop. Every angle of the penthouse’s exterior covered, plus key points in the building.

I studied the security feeds, memorizing angles and blind spots.

A car horn blared seventeen stories below, making me jump. Colton’s arms came around me instantly, steadying. Protecting.

“This is torture,” I said again, softer this time. “I hate that they’re making us hide.”

His mouth found my neck, making me shiver. “Just be careful. It won’t be forever. Just long enough to destroy them completely.”

I turned in his embrace, needing to touch him while I still could. His body was warm and solid against mine, comforting me in this moment before everything changed again.

“We have an hour until you need to leave,” I whispered against his throat. “Until you have to become their golden boy again.”

His grasp on my hips tightened. “And how should we spend that hour, Mrs. Moreau?”

It was the first time I’d heard my new name. It felt like a warm cape that wrapped around me, both protective and real.

“Reminding ourselves what we’re fighting for.” I stretched up to kiss him, letting him feel everything I couldn’t quite say. “Reminding ourselves that some things are worth any risk.”

Chapter Forty-Three

Colton

The scent of money and greed seemed embedded in the walls of Devereux Bank. Everything just the same as I’d left it and yet everything had changed.

I adjusted my cuffs, Savile Row, like always, but now the fabric concealed calluses and scars. My reflection in the elevator’s brass panels showed the same corporate lawyer who’d left months ago. Same precise haircut. Same suit. Same air of quiet authority.

But underneath…

“Mr. Moreau.” Rodger appeared the second I exited on the executive floor, his lips curving in a smile that failed to warm his calculating eyes. “Welcome back. Any updates from your...family emergency?”

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