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“And the recording?” Grant prompts. How does he know those words are stuck in my throat, threatening to suffocate me?

There’s a loud silence before my dad’s voice fills the room. “I know what you’re doing. You think the firm covers you. It won’t. I’ve already sent copies—” and his voice cuts out again.

Copies? Copies of what?

“He never sent those copies,” Oliver says. “This was the only one.”

But that would mean we have the copy. We have his bargaining chip. And there’s a lot more of us than there was when Dad went after these guys.

Does that mean we have a fighting chance of taking them down? Of getting Sunny out of there safely?

I straighten again, looking into Grant’s sad but determined gaze. The usual version of him resurfaces.

I brush his cheek to let him know he doesn’t have to revert back to the stone of a man he usually is.

“Now that we have it, we can get the bastard, right?”

31

HARPER

The firm line of Grant’s mouth isn’t reassuring.

I suck in a slow breath. “No matter what, we get Sunny back.”

Searching Grant’s eyes, that softness reappears, and he brushes his big paw over my cheek and jaw. “We’ll do our best.”

I get why he can’t simply sayyes, but my faith in them holds no bounds. They can get her back. I need them to.

“But while we’re doing this, you have to promise to stay put while we go in.”

Because I’m a liability. Which I get. In this kind of thing, I’m not ideal. I don’t have the training, and that will get me killed.

It doesn’t change the fact that it makes me feel incompetent.

“All of our skills will be needed to get in and get out. All three of us. And we need to know you’re safe to do it properly. No distractions.”

Distraction. I hate that word, but yes. Yes, I get it. Worrying about my safety would definitely be a distraction.

I nod. “Fine. Yes. I’ll stay here.”

“Good girl.” His usually calm voice lowers with the sweetness of his praise.

I lean in for a quick kiss before I crawl back off his lap. I’m not going to keep lounging here, keeping him hostage when there are things he can be doing to help my friend.

After a blink of his loss, he stands and whispers something to Oliver before he rounds his desk and picks up his phone to make a call.

Oliver approaches. As much as he likes to simply watch, does he know how tumultuous my emotions are? That they’re all right under the surface and ready to explode everywhere.

His thumb traces my bottom lip before he cups my face and draws me in for his own kiss. It’s not quite as quick as Grant’s, but it’s faster than either of us want.

“I’ll be watching you. Don’t go vigilante on us when the waiting gets intense.”

I huff out a laugh. “Yeah. I won’t.”

He catalogues every micromovement of my face for a few beats before his touch drops and he backs away.

I retreat back to the couch as they plan, calling Trent back from his recon, and when they have everything in place, I get a round of quick goodbyes before they lock me in.