Page 137 of Surrender to Me
Sharp.
Unfiltered.
“I wasn’t leaving until Lyra was ready.”
“Lyra?” Hawkeye and Inamorata exchange glances.
“She needed me more than you needed to meet your damn timeline.”
A long beat.
Hawkeye’s jaw tightens.
“And this has been well worth the wait.” I reach into my pocket and hand over the wrapped locket and ceramic fob.
Hawkeye unwraps them halfway, pauses. “The hell…?”
“If I’m right,” I say quietly, “if your intel is correct, they’re the keys to the Tsar’s Tear.”
Even Inamorata goes still.
Hawkeye lifts his gaze, slow and calculating, the weight of a hundred classified missions in his stare.
“That’s…significant,” he says.
“It’s also why Lyra needs to join us,” I add. “She has other intel that you need to hear.”
From behind me, she draws a sharp breath—but she doesn’t retreat. Doesn’t hide.
She steps out of the bedroom, chin lifted just a fraction.
Hawkeye assesses her for three seconds. Then he nods once.
“She comes,” he agrees.
Lyra looks stunned, maybe a little shaken.
I step behind her, my hand on the small of her back—quiet, steady, grounding as we follow Hawkeye and Inamorata toward the dining room that’s now become the command station.
Just before crossing the threshold, I stop us, and she turns to face me. “You okay?”
“I can do this.”
I smile—small, fierce, real.
“Good. I promise you, Lyra; I’ll always have your back.”
When she speaks, her voice is soft. “Stryker…”
Her eyes are wide, trusting, and for the first time, I see hope in them.
“There’s something I need to tell you.” Her breaths come in shallow bursts. “I can’t imagine my life without you either.”
Goddamn. I need to get her alone.
“Lyra…” And in that moment, my entire life makes sense and the future falls into place.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
