Page 63 of Oliver

Because this woman?

She wasn’t just surviving anymore.

She wasleading the charge. And she was my wife.

46

Emery

The knock came just before midnight.

Oliver was already at the door, gun drawn, before the sound had fully registered.

“It’s okay,” Raven called quietly from outside. “But you’re going to want to hear this.”

He stepped in with a flash drive, a secure phone… and a face that said this wasn’t a tactical briefing.

“What is it?” I asked.

Raven tossed the phone on the table. “That just rang on our encrypted line. Guess who?”

“Langston.”

“Bingo. He didn’t threaten. Didn’t bluster. Just sent a ‘message’ and hung up.”

He nodded toward the flash drive.

Oliver plugged it in.

A video loaded—pre-recorded, high quality, clean suit, and smug calm.

Langston.

“Ms. Blake. Or should I say—Mrs. Steele. I’m disappointed. I gave you the benefit of the doubt, assuming you’d stay quietonce your life was returned to you. But you’ve made a different choice. And now, I must too.”

I stood perfectly still.

“I’m prepared to offer you full immunity. A six-figure NDA contract. You’ll disappear—again—but this time with luxury. A new identity. A new life. No one else has to get hurt.”

He paused.

“Or…”

He leaned forward.

“You can continue this crusade. And every person you care about—your new husband, your new son, your friends—will be put on a list. The kind of list no one comes back from.”

The screen went black.

I exhaled. “That smug son of a—”

“Don’t finish that,” Oliver growled. “I don’t want Olly repeating it.”

Cyclone walked in just then. “We traced the call. Langston routed it through six dummy networks, but he slipped. He’s nearby. Mexico border—off-grid. Probably prepping to vanish if things turn.”

Raven turned to me. “He’s giving you a choice. Walk away… or light the fuse.”

I looked at every one of them.

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