Page 105 of Carrick
“I’m not hiding,” she said.
I gave a single nod. A mark of respect.
We stood side by side as the footsteps descended. The team assembled like wolves drawn to the scent of blood.
Jax appeared first, barefoot and scowling. Deacon followed, quiet and unreadable. Niko came last, his expression carved from stone, laptop still in hand, eyes already dissecting me. Sully leaned against the kitchen island again, sipping his coffee like this was just another show, but the air had shifted. No one smiled.
No one spoke.
Five long seconds passed.
Then Jax’s voice cracked through the silence like a bullet through glass. “What the fuck were you thinking?” He didn’t yell often. He didn’t need to. When he did, it meant the storm had already landed.
I didn’t answer right away. I scanned the room.
Deacon stood at the edge like a medic on a battlefield, already calculating casualties. Sully’s casual lean had straightened just enough to reveal alertness beneath the surface. Maddy hovered near the hallway, arms crossed, her gaze locked on Bellamy.
And Niko—Niko hadn’t moved. He stood like a judge behind the table, face unreadable, lips a thin, unmoving line. His silence was more dangerous than Jax’s fury.
Bellamy stood to my left, chin up, shoulders drawn taut. I could feel the tension humming through her like a live wire, her breath shallow and controlled like she was willing herself not to shake.
I looked at Jax.
“I did what I had to do,” I said.
“Bullshit,” he snapped, taking a step forward. “You didn’thaveto do anything. You chose to go rogue. You chose to ghost us. You chose to putherat risk.”
“She wasn’t at risk?—”
“The fuck she wasn’t!”
“You think I didn’t weigh the risks?”
“You didn’tconsultus.”
“She didn’t consult you either,” I shot back. “Because you made it clear you weren’t listening.”
That landed.
Maddy’s mouth twitched, a mix of approval and anxiety.
Jax’s nostrils flared. “You think you’re some kind of hero for this?”
“No,” I said. “I think I’m the only one who saw her unraveling and actuallydidsomething about it.”
That’s when Niko moved.
Slowly. Deliberately.
He shut the laptop with a softclickand set it aside like it might break if he let go too fast. Then he placed both hands on the table and leaned forward.
“You shut down half our security feeds,” he said. Calm. Controlled. Lethal. “You rerouted the camera grid. You disabled your GPS.”
I didn’t flinch.
“You know what that looks like?”
“I know.”
