Page 96 of Silence and Surrender

“Worth every effort,” Cooper said, his voice softening. “She’s made it more than just a vineyard. It’s home now.”

I nodded, glancing around the cellar. “Been looking at that restored villa just over the next ridge. Once this business with the bank is finished...Isabella loves it here. Being close to family, the slower pace.”

“Really?” Cooper’s eyes lit up. “You’d leave London?”

“The city’s lost its shine. After everything we’ve uncovered...” I shrugged. “Besides, Clara should grow up near her cousin. And whatever trouble you get into, I’d rather be close enough to help.”

“Or to bail me out,” Cooper smirked.

“That too.” I smiled. “The place is perfect, ready to move in. Similar views to this one.”

“Following in your brother’s footsteps?” Cooper grinned. “Never thought I’d see the day you’d choose country living over your London penthouse.”

“Maybe it’s time for Ashlynn and me to get a place here too,” Steele mused.

“An entire new generation among the vines,” Cooper smiled.

I thought of Isabella upstairs, of how fiercely she fought for justice. Of how she’d transformed my carefully constructed world of precedents and procedures into something more. Something meaningful.

“Speaking of,” Cooper’s tone turned serious. “We need to talk about London. About how we handle this.”

“Carefully,” I said immediately. “By the book.”

“The book won’t be enough.” Steele’s background showed in his clipped tone. “These people, they operate within the law while breaking every human decency. We need more than legal precedent.”

“We need proof that will stand up in court,” I argued. “Evidence that can’t be dismissed or buried.”

“We need both,” Cooper cut in. “We need your legal expertise, brother. But we also need our...particular skill sets.”

He meant their old talents. The ability to move unseen, to crack any security, to become whoever they needed to be to complete a job.

“No one gets hurt,” I stipulated. “Nothing that can’t be defended in court.”

“Agreed.” Steele nodded. “We do this clean. But we use every advantage we have.”

“Including the fact that they don’t know about us.” Cooper gestured between himself and Steele. “To them, you’re just the bank’s too-curious counsel with an art expert girlfriend. They don’t know about your brother with the shadowy past and his former partner, or that we’re all ready to take them down, once and for all.”

He was right. It was an advantage we hadn’t fully utilized yet. The board knew me as their reliable chief counsel—controlled, predictable, safe. They had no idea about the network of skills and resources I could access through my twin brother and his former accomplice.

“We’ll need more than that,” I said slowly. “We’ll need—”

“Already handled.” Steele’s smile was shy. “I still have contacts. Legitimate ones now…mostly. People who owe me favors. People who can help.”

“And people who want to see the bank fall,” Cooper added. “You’d be surprised how many powerful people are tired of their shit.”

I considered their words, weighing options with a lawyer’s precision and a brother’s trust. “We do this smartly. We do this carefully.”

“We do this right,” they agreed in unison.

The cellar felt different suddenly, less like a hideout and more like a war room for our future. The dusty bottles and ancient stones had seen centuries of secrets. They could hold ours too.

“To family,” Cooper raised his glass. “And to finishing what we’ve started.”

“To justice,” Steele added.

“To both,” I said quietly. “To making things right.”

We drank in silence, each lost in thoughts of what lay ahead. Of the battles to come and the peace we fought for. Of the families sleeping above us, trusting us to build a better world for them.

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