The mansion had never felt so quiet.
Not the peaceful kind—this was the silence that pressed against the eardrums, that made every breath sound too loud, every step an intrusion. The kind of quiet that followed a gunshot, not before it.
Matthew stood in the center of the command room, phone still in his hand, the call long dead.
Kieran.
The name echoed in his skull like a fracture line spreading through glass.
Vinny watched him from a few steps away, chest still rising too fast from the escape, adrenaline refusing to ebb. He'd seen Matthew angry. He'd seen him violent, ruthless, cold. What stood in front of him now was something else entirely.
Stillness.
That terrified him more than anything.
"Say something," Vinny said quietly.
Matthew didn't respond.
Rafe entered the room without announcing himself, eyes sharp, posture tense. One look at Matthew's face and he knew—whatever had just happened had shifted the board.
