Chapter Thirty-Nine
The steak was incredible, but I could barely taste it. Every time Jake looked at me across the flickering candlelight, my heart did a slow, heavy roll. The tension of the compound, the shadow of my father’s trial, and even the overly friendly waitress had faded into the background. We were talking about normal things—his favorite bike to build, my favorite books from college, the quiet cabin in the mountains he dreamed of buying when his time with the vest was done.
For a brief, beautiful hour, we were just a man and a woman in love.
Until the heavy glass door of the restaurant shattered.
The violent, exploding crash of glass echoed through the elegant dining room, instantly silencing the soft jazz music and the quiet hum of dinner conversation. A collective, terrif
