Page 68 of Cyclone

I nodded once. “I’m taking her home.”

Jude hesitated, her body going tense again. “Shouldn’t I stay? Help—”

“No,” I cut in gently, brushing a hand down her arm. “You’ve done enough. You’re not a target. You’re a person.Myperson. You don’t have to be in mission mode right now.”

She looked up at me, her eyes glassy but fierce. “What if I don’t know how to be anything else?”

I cupped her cheek. “Then we figure it out. Together.”

Sean, surprisingly, offered a quiet nod. “We’ll handle the tech side. You go two can go home anf relax.”

Jude didn’t speak, but when I led her toward the door, she followed. Her fingers curled into mine like they were made to fit.

Downstairs, I unlocked my truck and opened the passenger door for her. She slid in, staring out the window as I rounded the hood and climbed behind the wheel.

The silence between us wasn’t awkward.

It was heavy.

Full of memories I didn’t know yet, and battles she’d fought alone.

I waited until we were almost home before speaking again.

“You know I’ll kill anyone who tries to harm you?”

She turned toward me slowly. “I don’t want you to have to.”

“But I will,” I said simply. “If it comes to that.”

A breath caught in her throat. “I spent years learning how to disappear, Cyclone. How to hide everything. Who I was. What I saw. What I did. But with you… I don’t want to hide anymore.”

My home wasn’t far from the office. Along Highway One, on the beach.

I reached across the seat, threading my fingers through hers.

“Then don’t,” I said. “You don’t have to hide from me.”

Her grip tightened.

And for the first time since she walked through the office door—heart pounding, eyes wide—I felt her exhale.

Not just a breath.

A surrender.

Not to fear.

To me.

By the timewe pulled up to the house, the sky was streaked with orange and gray. A storm building on the horizon, and something darker still crawling under my skin.

I killed the engine and turned to her.

She didn’t move.

Didn’t speak.

Just stared at the dashboard like she was still stuck in the past.

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