Chapter 163-2
Chapter 163-2
Zara,” Dad declares, “The toughest woman in this entire club.”
“To Zara!” Locke, Mayhem and Jade echo loudly, clinking their glasses together.
༩༽༽
+25 Ports
I lift my own glass, taking a long sip of the sparkling white liquid. The sweet, crisp bubbles hit my tongue, completely indistinguishable from the real thing in the moment. I catch Locke’s eye over
Mayhem’s head. He gives me a subtle, knowing wink.
“Alright, enough crying,” Jade laughs, wiping a tear from her cheek as she picks up the flowers and
hands them to me. “These are for you. Fresh peonies to celebrate fresh beginnings. Now let’s eat before Mayhem eats the takeout containers.”
“Hey, I brought the good stuff,” Mayhem protests. “Garlic bread, salad, penne, braised short ribs,
and gelato for later. We’re celebrating properly tonight.”
We all move to the long dining table.
Locke sits beside me, his thigh pressed warmly against mine beneath the table, while Dad,
Mayhem, and Jade fill the seats across from us.
As Mayhem passes around the garlic bread, Dad pours himself a fresh glass of wine and glances.
across the table at Locke, nodding approvingly.
“So,” Dad starts, wiping his mouth with a napkin as he leans back in his chair. “Since we’re all family
here and we’ve got something real to celebrate now, Locke has permission to give Mayhem and
Jade a brief high-level overview of what he pulled off on his two-week run.”
Mayhem’s fork pauses halfway to his mouth. His dark eyes snap up, lighting up with instant,
predatory interest. “The dark run? Brother, you’ve been tighter-than-a-drum about where you went. What did you find?”
Locke sets his fork down, resting his broad forearms on the edge of the table. His demeanor shifts naturally from warm host to tactical strategist.
(“I went straight to the top of Knox’s supply chain,” Locke says. “I spent two weeks tracking down
the company supplying the precursor chemicals Knox uses to manufacture his fentanyl.”
Jade leans in, setting her glass down. “Wait, you found his supplier? Is it a cartel front?”
“No,” Locke says. “That’s the beauty of it. It’s a fully legitimate commercial chemical company.”
Mayhem lets out a low whistle, his mind working through the tactical implications. “A legit
corporate cover… damn. That’s why law enforcement hasn’t touched them.”
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Chapter 163-2
“Exactly,” Locke says. “And because it’s a legit business, their security is laughably lax.”
+25 Pom
“So what did you do?” Mayhem asks, leaning forward over his plate, practically vibrating with excitement. “Cause I know you did something.”
“I broke into their main administrative office,” Locke says calmly. “I cleared out their entire sales
and shipping history going back two years.”
Mayhem’s jaw drops slightly, a massive, dangerous grin slowly spreading across his face. “Holy shit, Locke. You stole their entire paper trail?”
“You don’t have to figure out how to ambush Knox’s heavily armed escorts anymore,” I say, taking a sip of my champagne as I join the conversation. “You guys can hit the precursor chemicals at the
supplier.”
Mayhem freezes, his eyes widening as the realization hits him like a freight train. A second later, he lets out a wild, booming laugh that echoes off the ceiling.
“Shut the front door!” Mayhem roars. “Are you kidding me? Fuck, Knox is going to bleed out of his f ace when he realizes his whole supply line got lifted.”
“It’s a brilliant hit,” Jade agrees. She turns her gaze toward Locke, her brow furrowing slightly in thought. “But wait… if it’s a legitimate commercial company mixing Knox’s orders in with real ones, how are you going to figure out which shipment is his? I bet a corporate warehouse ships dozens of freight loads a day.”
“That’s the catch,” Locke says, tilting his head toward me. “The supplier hides Knox’s orders behind coded order histories, matching weight logs, fake buyer names, and recurring delivery windows. It’s thousands of pages of raw data.”
Jade immediately snaps her fingers, her face lighting up as she points directly across the table at
best friend. They’re sitting here celebrating my clean bill of health, completely unaware that in less
than eight months, their family is going to grow. I hate keeping a secret from them, even for a
second.
Just a few more weeks, I tell myself gently. Just until the first trimester passes and we know the baby
is safe. Then I’ll give them the best surprise of their lives.
“To new assignments,” Locke says softly, lifting his champagne glass. “And to the best goddamn
numbers analyst this club has ever seen. Bar none.”
Mayhem, Jade, and Dad all raise their glasses again, the crystal clinking together under the warm
dining room lights.
I look down at my glass, watching the clear, alcohol-free bubbles rise gracefully to the surface. I raise my champagne to my lips, catching Locke’s eyes in the warm candlelight, and privately toast
the future.
Even the parts that are still secret for now.
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