Page 74 of Torgash

"Visitor." Grinder opens the door without waiting for permission.

Ash sits behind a desk covered in paperwork, head bent over a laptop and ledgers. Three months since I walked away. His green skin looks pale under fluorescent lights, scars more pronounced. Hair longer, jaw shadowed.

Then he looks up.

My chest locks. I can't breathe. Can't think.

His face goes blank in half a second. Whatever I saw—shock, pain, something that looked like relief—disappears behind the walls we both know how to build.

"Grinder." His tone gives nothing away. "Out."

The door closes.

I'm standing three feet from him, but it feels like miles. My hands shake, so I shove them in my jacket pockets. He doesn't move. Doesn't speak. Just watches me with those amber eyes I know too well.

"Why?" My throat barely works.

He closes the laptop deliberately and leans back in his chair. His eyes move over my face, down to my hands, back up. Taking in details. The weight I've lost. The exhaustion I can't hide. How long I've been standing in his doorway.

"You need to be more specific."

Same deflection. Same cold tone. But those eyes catalog everything.

"Derek Sullivan."

He nods once.

"Carman's case."

Another nod.

"Shadow Ridge."

Something flickers across his expression. "The operation was complete."

"Bullshit." The word explodes from me. "Hammer told me you burned legal connections and called in favors you can't get back. You did all of it without telling me. Without asking."

"Hammer told you?" His face goes completely still.

"Yes. He was worried about you." I step closer. "Why, Ash?"

"Would you have wanted me to ask?" One eyebrow raises. "Or would you have told me to stay the hell out of your business?"

Tension coils through my shoulders. He's right, and I hate him for it. "That wasn't your call to make."

"No?" He stands slowly, hands braced on the desk. "You left, Nova. Left your badge. Left that recording. Left me to figure out what the hell you were trying to accomplish."

"I was protecting you. The club. The case."

"So when you protect me, it's noble. When I protect you, it's wrong." His voice has an edge now.

"It was the only solution."

The bottom falls out. He's right, and I hate that he's right.

"You get to make unilateral decisions, but I'm not allowed to do my fucking job?" He moves around the desk now, closing the distance. "You get to sacrifice what matters for what you think is right, but I'm not allowed to?"

"This was my fight. My sister."

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