Page 81 of Stealthy Seduction
Kennedy rushed over, arms out to draw Alyssa into a big hug. “We’ve endured a lot. Every one of us.”
Sophie and May pressed forward, passing out hugs like they did margaritas on girls’ night.
Tears trickled down Izzy’s face. “I couldn’t live with the guilt of everyone dying for me.”
Alyssa pressed her hand against her stomach, her face pale in the window light. “This whole thing has me sick to my stomach. The fear, the not knowing…I can barely keep food down.”
Kennedy moved closer to her. To Izzy, the bond between the women was clear. She just hoped she hadn’t jeopardized her own possibility of growing just as close to them.
“We understand why you did it,” May said softly, her voice carrying the weight of someone who’d faced impossible choices herself. “But that doesn’t make it okay.”
Sophie nodded, moving closer to the group. “You made a decision for all of us without giving anyone else a voice. That’s not how family works.”
“Family?” The syllables, the meaning behind it, shocked Izzy. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
“That’s what we are now, whether we planned it or not.” Kennedy’s own voice was thick with emotion. “We’re all stuck in this crazy situation together. We all love men who put their lives on the line every day. We have to lean on each other.”
Alyssa straightened, her negotiator instincts taking over despite her emotional state. “The guys have their brotherhood. They trust each other with everything—their lives, their secrets, their worst fears. They know that no matter what happens, they’ve got each other’s backs.”
“We need that too,” May added, her eyes bright with emotion. “We need to know that we’re not facing this alone.”
Sophie smoothed a hand over her hair, messier than Izzy had ever seen it, escaping from her usual neat twist on the back of her head. “When you left without telling us, it felt like you didn’t trust us. Like you thought we were too weak or too scared to handle the truth.”
“That’s not—”
“I know that’s not what you intended,” Sophie continued gently. “But that’s how it felt. And it made us realize that you’ve been trying so hard to be strong, to not be a burden, that you forgot we are here to support each other.”
Kennedy moved to stand beside Sophie, her expression thoughtful. “When I was taken by those men, when they used me to get to you, Alyssa—I spent weeks afterward thinking I should have handled it differently. That I should have been stronger, smarter, braver.”
“You were all of those things,” Alyssa said firmly.
“But I didn’t feel like it. I thought it made me weak.”
May nodded slowly. “After the bomb incident, I kept telling myself I was fine, that I could handle anything because I work with deadly explosives every day. But inside, I was terrified that next time, I wouldn’t be fast enough or smart enough.”
“We all carry that fear,” Alyssa said, her hand still pressed against her stomach. “The fear that we’re not strong enough for this life, that we’ll be the reason something goes wrong. But keeping it to ourselves just makes it worse.”
Izzy looked around at these women—they were all her friends, she realized, in a way she’d never experienced before. Not work colleagues or casual acquaintances, but people who understood the unique terror of loving someone whose job was to runtowarddanger.
“I was so scared,” she admitted in a whisper. “Not just for myself, but for all of you. When I saw that video of Hudson getting off the helicopter, when I realized Cipher was watching all of them…I couldn’t breathe. I just knew I had to do something.”
“And we would have felt the same way,” Sophie said. “That’s what any of us would want to do in your position. But we need to talk about it together, figure out a plan together.”
“A circle of trust,” Kennedy said suddenly. “That’s what we need. Complete honesty, no matter how scared or crazy we think we sound.”
“Yes.” Alyssa straightened despite her obvious discomfort. “No more protecting each other from the truth. No more trying to handle everything alone.”
May extended her hand toward the center of their circle. “Sisters?”
“Sisters.” Sophie placed her hand on top of May’s.
Kennedy and Alyssa added theirs to the pile, and finally, Izzy placed her palm against the warmth of their joined hands.
“We’re a sisterhood now.” Alyssa’s voice was steady despite the tears still clinging to her lashes. “Just like the guys have their brotherhood. We trust each other with everything, even when it’s terrifying.Especiallywhen it’s terrifying.”
“No more secrets.” Something settled in Izzy’s chest that had been fractured since the moment she’d walked out of the Blackout base alone.
They stood there for a moment, hands joined, creating something that felt bigger than friendship. They were women who’d chosen to love dangerous men. They’d accepted lives filled with uncertainty and risk. But they didn’t have to face it alone.
