Page 47 of Midnight Between Us
“No,” I say again, more firmly now.“You don’t get to argue feelings with me, Timberbridge.You want to talk loyalty?I have agents whose families were wiped off the map.People who buried siblings in closed caskets because someone flinched too early.So please don’t come to me with guilt and brotherly instinct.You want him alive?You leave him with her.”
“I can protect him.”
“You weren’t there when they zipped him into that trunk,” I say, voice low.“You weren’t there when she brought him back twice.You weren’t the one cleaning him up while the rest of the world assumed he was a corpse with no name.So no—you don’t get to protect him now just because you fucking said so.”
Malerick exhales hard into the phone.“You don’t understand our family?—”
“Then, you don’t understand what we’re up against,” I snap.“You think this is just about family?This is about what happens when we underestimate how long the Hollow Syndicate’s reach has grown.This is about Birchwood turning into a smokescreen for something bigger.If Keir dies, we lose our last link to what triggered this.I need to find the heir ...that’s an important piece.You want to play hero?Do it in uniform, from the perimeter.”
Another silence.
“How long.”
I can almost hear the gears grinding in his head as he swallows the loss.
“I don’t fucking know.”
“That’s vague as hell,” Malerick mutters.
“You’ll live.”I clear my throat.“I want you away from them, do you understand?”
“And if I show up?”
“You’ll get to say hello,” I tell him.“From the other side of the gate.If Simone lets you.But if you try to bring him back into your world before I say so ...I need you to get on with the program, Malerick.Do you remember why you’re the fucking sheriff?”
I hear him swallow that.“Fine, but if something happens to him?—”
“Nothing will happen and you know why?”I try not to sound sarcastic, but fuck he’s pissing me off, and sarcastic is better than angry asshole, right?“Because you’ll stay the fuck away.”
The call ends.He’s probably angrier than I am, but that’s fucking fine by me.Let him simmer.Let them all burn a little while I buy us the time and space we need to do this right.I’ve lost too many people to fractured loyalties and emotional interference.
Keir Timberbridge may be a brother, a fuck-up, a mystery—but right now, he’s leverage.And if I have to use Simone’s unresolved heartbreak to keep him alive, then so be it.
He’ll thank me later.
They all do.
Eventually.
ChapterSixteen
Keir
I thoughtthe silence in the ambulance was asphyxiating.That was nothing compared to this moment.Everyone’s gone.The paramedics.My brothers.Whoever the hell was fussing around setting up machines like I’m some experiment about to flatline.
Some guy—maybe the same doctor who grilled me earlier—squeezed Simone’s hand before leaving.Whispered something low enough that I couldn’t hear but loud enough to remind me I’m no longer the center of her world.If I ever was.
My head feels like it’s been through a meat grinder.My lungs hitch like they forgot how to be lungs.
And still, somehow, this is worse.
Being alone with her.
Yep, it’s just Simone and me.And the ruins.
It’s not just silence.It’s every word we never said building up in the space between us.
The hate she collected after I left?It’s here, too.Sitting on my chest.Not that she’s ever been cruel, but I can taste the loathing in the way she avoids looking at me.Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking.I deserve it.
