Night had settled fully over the house, the lights outside clicking on one by one. I lay curled against Lewis’s side, neither of us having moved to clean up yet, the warmth between us still close and easy. His touch had been careful and unhurried the whole ti always aware of the small life tucked just beneath the surface of things now.
I traced the line of his abs absently, a smile pulling at my mouth before I even decided to let it. "When did you find out about the Blackwells? And why didn’t you tell ?"
His fingers moved through my hair in slow, familiar strokes. "We were right they were targeted by the organization. But the Blackwells are not unprepared people. They faked the deaths. All of them. The fewer people who knew, the safer everyone stayed. They didn’t want to pull you into it, and after we parted ways on the island, they probably already had it planned. Sending Whitney away early was part of it getting her clear before anything happened."
I looked up at him. "How did you find out?"
"Two days ago, soone left a hairpin in my parking spot. Amber’s. I recognized it imdiately. That was her way of telling they were safe."
I bit down on his chest, not hard, but with feeling. "Lewis. Do you have any idea what Whitney has been through these past few days? Standing in the rain in the middle of the night, running a fever, crying in her sleep "
"Elena." His voice was gentle but steady. "If the Blackwells had wanted her to know, they wouldn’t have needed as the ssenger. And don’t forget the man who was killed was a threat to both you and Whitney. Soone used her grief to test whether the Blackwells were still breathing. If she’d known the truth too soon, it would have shown on her face. She’s strong, but she’s not that practiced at hiding things she feels deeply."
I went still. "So Vito ca to you."
"He asked to see her. I didn’t expect her to get sick, and I didn’t expect him to make that move so soon." He paused. "But I think I understand it. He couldn’t stay away."
I understood that completely. If it had been Lewis lying sick in a room sowhere, believing I was gone there would have been no force strong enough to keep from walking through that door. Whitney was different from in many ways, but not in that one.
I thought about what I’d seen Whitney turning at the sound of footsteps in the dark, her face opening for one unguarded mont before she realized who it was. Vito. She had known him from behind. She had recognized the shape of him instantly, and in that sa instant, she had put everything back in place and pretended not to. She had said things to hurt him deliberately not because she was cold, but because she was angry that he had let her grieve. That was its own kind of love.
After everything the Blackwells and Morrigans had done to each other, Whitney understood why the choices had been made. She couldn’t fully make peace with the history. But her heart had always been more honest than her mind, and the news of their deaths had broken her open in a way that nothing else had. Now, behind that closed door, whatever was happening between them relief, anger, tears, so impossible mixture of all three it was probably more real than anything either of them had felt in weeks.
I settled back against Lewis’s shoulder. "Is sothing going on with Luther? He appeared around Whitney and several tis in just a few days."
"Vito flagged it. He thinks that finance academy might be their secondary operation base."
I sat up slightly. "They’re that brazen? And the Blackwells had no idea?"
Lewis tapped my nose lightly. "Think about it. From the beginning, the Commander and his wife used the Blackwells as a tool. They were never going to share more information than necessary. Dominic’s entire drive was getting back to Amber he was always going to be unreliable. And Amber wasn’t built for patience either. Vito was the only one actually holding that family together, managing his father’s obsessions, protecting Yael, keeping the whole thing from falling apart before they got what they wanted."
"So what is the academy actually doing?"
Lewis’s voice shifted into sothing more serious. "We already found the auto shop that was cover for organ trafficking. The academy is different. It’s targeting a specific kind of person. High-level professionals, ambitious young people from wealthy families, all paying enormous mbership fees so upward of a hundred thousand believing they’re buying access to an elite overseas network. What they’re actually walking into is a trap. Once they’re abroad, they can’t go to the police without implicating themselves. Many of them have already tasted the rewards and started pulling in their own connections. Now they’re too deep to surface."
"That’s just a sophisticated pyramid sche."
"With teeth. Vito’s been working quietly to build a case from the inside. This isn’t just about revenge anymore he wants out. He wants a clean life. He knows he can’t be with Whitney the way he is now, so he’s been doing everything possible to earn his way to sothing different. That takes ti. And it takes keeping his cover intact."
I lay there thinking about that quietly. I had spent so long seeing Vito as the enemy. Knowing what he was actually doing with the ti he had left didn’t erase what had been done, but it added sothing to the picture I hadn’t accounted for.
"He’s in real danger," I said.
"He has been for years. He knows how to manage it." Lewis shifted slightly. "I’ve already pulled our people back from Luther. If he’s genuinely connected to the organization, any move we make now could blow Vito’s cover. Luther’s identity is clean on the surface there’s nothing to find if you look directly. You have to follow the threads. Let Vito work. This isn’t yours to carry."
"But if the truth never cos out "
"Then you’re at risk too." He touched my forehead softly. "Everyone in this situation is. So let’s give them this ti while we can."
He said it lightly, but the weight underneath it wasn’t light at all. Vito had co here knowing the risk. He had walked into this house and asked to see Whitney when every instinct of self-preservation should have told him not to. That kind of devotion didn’t require a word of explanation.
I got up, dressed quickly, and opened the door. Theo was in the hallway, positioned where he always was keeping watch, keeping the world at a reasonable distance. He had been doing it all along, holding the space open for two people who had run out of easy options.
"Carl there’s sothing off with Sera’s pregnancy as well. Wallace ntioned "
"Vito already told . She has an appointnt tomorrow. I’ll have soone watch the results."
I nodded. Then I looked at the closed door at the end of the hall and held still for a mont. Just a little longer, I thought. Give them that.
When I finally heard the door open softly, I made my way downstairs. Whitney’s IV had finished, and Wallace Vito was packing up his kit with the sa calm efficiency he’d shown all day.
"Dr. rvin are you heading out?"
"Yes. The fever has co down. Follow the instructions I left and she’ll recover fully." His voice was steady, professional, giving nothing away.
"Understood. Thank you." I tilted my head. "Oh I think you forgot your stethoscope. It’s still in the room."
A small pause. "Thank you for the reminder, Mrs. Hale."
He turned and walked back in. I stayed where I was in the doorway, close enough to see without being seen.
Whitney was still in the bed, her eyes red and tired, her whole body curled small beneath the covers. She looked like sothing fragile and exhausted and real. Then she pushed the covers back and stood, crossed the room in three quiet steps, and pressed herself into his arms so completely that it looked like relief made physical.
Her voice ca out barely above a breath.
"Vito."
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