Page 95 of Into the Woods

He paused. “Don’t ignore my calls again, love.” There was a frosty note of warning in his tone that made my blood run cold. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow,” I mumbled, still a little in shock as I hung up the phone. I lifted my eyes, dragging them up Court’s body until I met his very pissed-off gaze.

“What. The. Fuck?” he demanded.

CHAPTER 29

BEX

Court was pissed, and I couldn’t blame him. I’d unilaterally made a decision that affected us all, but if anyone should understand that, it should be him. How many choices had he made for the both of us?

I winced inwardly because, shit, I didn’t want our relationship to be some kind of tit-for-tat game where we were constantly getting back at each other. We had to be better than that.

“I’m sorry,” I told him, meaning it.

His nostrils flared, still pissed, but willing to hear me out. I noticed Rook backing away and joining Bishop on the sofa.

“I should have talked to all of you before making that decision with Eric,” I added. I reached for Court, not sure if he would take a step back. But he stayed still, letting my hands slide up the hard planes of his chest and loop around behind his neck. His hands went to my hips and pulled my body flush to his.

“I don’t want you anywhere near him,” Court hissed. “He’s fucking unhinged, Becca.”

“I know,” I agreed with a nod. “But what else was I supposed to do? He was going to fly out to California. It would’ve blown everything up.”

His lashes fluttered shut, his jaw tight. “I get that but… fuck.” He looked over my shoulder at his brothers. “What are our options?”

“I know you hate it, but she made the right call,” Bishop said, uncharacteristically serious. Concern creased his forehead, but the set of his mouth was all business. “The only other option was getting Bex’s ass on a plane within the next hour, which is doable, but then it puts her a continent and an ocean away from us.”

“I could go with her,” Court argued. I stayed quiet, letting them work this out between themselves, because Court needed that.

Rook grimaced. “I mean, you could. But our best chance at getting Eric is here in Paris at the auction. I heard from my guy this morning. He’s part of an international task force that’s been working this same organization from another angle. He thinks he can get his team to play nice with us.”

“Play nice?” I echoed.

Bishop tossed me a grin. “Phoenix isn’t exactly a by-the-book legal enterprise, Bex. We bend, and sometimes outright break, laws to get what we need to do done. Ultimately we’ve operated under the idea that what we do is more important than bureaucratic bullshit, and even though there are plans in place to make it legal in some ways, we’ll never stop doing what we need to in order to protect the people who need it.”

“That being said, it doesn’t mean we can’t work with international organizations,” Rook pointed out. “They have funding and resources that we don’t always have access to, and most governments get what we’re doing. They can’t outright condone us, but they also aren’t looking to stop us either.”

“Huh.” I looked up at Court. “That’s why you’re becoming a lawyer.”

He nodded. “Specializing in international law will help us on a global level. When we decided to set up Phoenix, it wasn’t on a whim. We did our research, and we all have roles to play. It’s just a crazy time right now, because the main people we need to eliminate first are related to us.”

“Beckett and Gary falling were the first dominoes,” Rook said. “The General will be the next, and after him, we can go for the one we want the most—Westford. He’s the head of the snake.”

Linc’s dad. I’d met him only a handful of times growing up, but he’d always seemed so normal. He was the dad who actually wore jeans and a t-shirt. He’d played baseball with the guys when they were little. When all of our families had gone on vacations together, he’d snuck me cookies.

Finding out Kent Westford was at the epicenter of this whole nightmare had been almost as shocking as learning my dad also played a part.

“And that’s it?” I asked.

Court let out a humorless laugh. “Hardly. Someone will take his place, the same way someone will take over Black Box Ops when our dad is gone. There’s always going to be another asshole looking to take over the fucking world. It’ll never end, baby. But that doesn’t mean we don’t fight it with everything we’ve got.”

The note of fire in his voice stirred something in my chest. They were so passionate about what they were doing. So driven. It made me want to do the same thing, to be better. I wanted to help.

And maybe I could. I could be the link to Eric that set everything in motion.

Court looked at his older brother. “He’s coming today?”

Rook nodded. “He’ll be here—” A knock at the door cut him off. Grinning, Rook pushed off the couch and went to answer it, checking through the peephole to make sure who it was before yanking it open. “Hey, man.”

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