(Liam Romano's POV)
The silence after the storm is always the most revealing. There were no explosions, no screams — just the buzzing in my ears and the weight of Hailey’s hand on my face, warm and real against the hardness I’d just become. Her touch wasn’t forgiveness. It wasn’t words. It was a quieter thing: a practical absolution, a tacit admission that whatever monster I let loose would still be fed if it had to be, so it would keep the door shut.
Alejandro Torres was no longer a problem. Costa had delivered a clean disappearance — blunt, precise, the kind of message that settles through an organization and makes people redraw their lines. But the ash on my tongue wasn’t from him. It was from Hailey’s look, which understood everything without my explaining it.
Neri came in for a mom
