Chapter 7 - The Crown They Built for HerSheree stared at her name until the letters lost meaning.
“Pending what?”
Nobody answered.
Finn searched deeper.
The files described a program the Argent Circle had used for decades.
They identified individuals connected to powerful criminal organizations but not fully controlled by them.
Children.
Spouses.
Accountants.
Doctors.
People with access.
People with influence.
Potential successors.
Potential replacements.
Sheree's father had apparently negotiated her protection by promising that, if the Calvino organization ever destabilized, his daughter could become an intermediary.
He had signed the agreement when Sheree was sixteen.
She felt physically sick.
“My father sold my future.”
Leo shook his head.
“He tried to protect you.”
“You don't know that.”
“No.”
Leo looked at the files.
“But I know what frightened men do.”
Sheree looked at him.
“So do I.”
For two days, they remained hidden.
Ethan was relocated under protection.
He hated every second.
He also refused to leave Sheree.
“You disappeared from a hospital,” he told her. “Then I got kidnapped by accountants with guns. I deserve explanations.”
“You deserve therapy.”
“So do you.”
Fair.
The hardware wallet contained access to nearly eighty million dollars.
Money belonging to the Argent Circle.
Sheree suggested transferring it.
Finn nearly choked.
Leo smiled.
“Where?”
“Somewhere useful.”
“You want to steal eighty million dollars from an international criminal network and give it away?”
“They're already trying to kill me.”
Leo considered this.
“Reasonable.”
They began with St. Jude’s.
Anonymous endowments.
Trauma services.
Domestic violence programs.
Addiction treatment.
Then legal-defense funds.
Shelters.
Community clinics.
Money disappeared from the Circle's accounts faster than they could freeze it.
For the first time in weeks, Sheree enjoyed herself.
Leo watched her initiate a ten-million-dollar transfer.
“You are smiling.”
“Am I?”
“You enjoy this.”
“I enjoy stealing from people who tried to murder me.”
“That is how it starts.”
She looked at him.
“How what starts?”
“Crime.”
Sheree laughed.
Then the safe house exploded.
The blast came from the garage.
Windows shattered.
Finn shouted.
Leo pulled Sheree down.
Gunfire erupted outside.
This attack was different.
Professional.
Coordinated.
The Argent Circle had found them.
Again.
They evacuated through the woods.
Snow reached Sheree's knees.
Behind them, flames climbed into the winter sky.
Ethan stumbled.
Sheree grabbed him.
Leo fired toward pursuing headlights.
Finn shouted that vehicles waited beyond the tree line.
They almost reached them.
Then Leo fell.
At first, Sheree thought he had slipped.
Then she saw blood.
“Leo!”
Gunshot.
Upper abdomen.
He tried to stand.
Failed.
Sheree dropped beside him.
“No.”
He looked almost amused.
“You said that the first time.”
“Shut up.”
She pressed both hands against the wound.
Blood pushed between her fingers.
Too much.
Finn returned.
“We need to move.”
“Carry him.”
The nearest vehicle was three hundred yards away.
Sheree climbed inside with Leo across her lap.
His skin was already cooling.
She had seen this before.
Not him.
The alley.
The blood.
The fading pulse.
Except this time she knew his name.
This time she cared.
“Stay awake.”
Leo's eyes opened.
“Sheree.”
“Don't.”
“If—”
“No.”
“If I die—”
“I will personally revive you and kill you myself.”
His mouth moved.
Maybe a smile.
Then his eyes closed.
“Leo!”
No response.
Sheree checked his pulse.
Nothing.
For one second, the entire world stopped.
Then training took over.
She began compressions.
Thirty.
Breaths.
Thirty.
Blood covered her hands.
Finn drove at impossible speed.
Ethan helped.
Three minutes.
Four.
Five.
Then Leo gasped.
Sheree almost collapsed.
Instead, she pressed her forehead against his.
“You don't get to leave.”
His eyes barely opened.
“You stayed.”
“Unfortunately.”
A faint smile.
Then unconsciousness.
They reached a private surgical clinic.
For six hours, Sheree waited.
She had waited outside operating rooms countless times with families.
She had delivered bad news.
Held hands.
Found coffee.
Explained percentages.
None of that prepared her to sit on the other side.
At dawn, the surgeon emerged.
Leo survived.
Sheree entered his room.
He looked terrible.
She had never been happier to see anyone.
His eyes opened.
“You look angry.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“You died.”
“Temporarily.”
“That is still extremely rude.”
Leo smiled weakly.
Sheree sat beside him.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Then Leo said, “The Circle won't stop.”
“I know.”
“They'll keep using you.”
“I know.”
“You should leave.”
Sheree looked at him.
“Are you giving me another passport?”
“If necessary.”
“No.”
“Sheree—”
She leaned closer.
“You don't get to decide this because you're scared.”
Leo went silent.
“You're terrified I'll become Gabriel.”
His eyes changed.
Sheree continued gently.
“I am not your brother.”
“I know.”
“No. You know intellectually. But every time danger gets close, you start making decisions for me because you think control can prevent grief.”
Leo looked away.
“You cannot protect me from every consequence of choosing you.”
His hand found hers.
“And you cannot save everyone.”
“I know.”
May you like
For once, neither tried to change the other.
That was perhaps the closest either had come to love.
