I exhaled hard, still unhappy, but I couldn’t deny the logic.
Wrecker clapped his hands once.“That’s it.Church is over.Move.”
I rose more slowly, tension still tight in my shoulders.
Cole hung back.
When the room cleared, he stepped toward me, stopping just close enough to make it a private conversation without needing to whisper.
“You’re gonna blow a gasket,” he said.
I stared at him.“Feels like the only productive thing I can do.”
He snorted.“Yeah.I know that feeling.”He looked at me for a second, then nodded toward the door.“You don’t like this.”
“‘This’?”I asked.
“Waiting,” he said.“Playing it calm.”
I clenched my jaw.“Because every second is giving them time to run.”
Cole nodded.“And because they hurt her.”
My stomach tightened.
I didn’t answer.Didn’t have to.
He gave me a look that said he saw right through me.“I’ve been there,” he said quietly.“Not with the kidnapping stuff exactly.But with realizing somebody matters more than you let yourself admit.”
I swallowed.“I’m protecting her.”
Cole’s mouth twitched.“Yeah.That’s what you tell yourself.”
I glared.“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re not just doing it because Wrecker told you to,” Cole said.“You’re doing it because you can’t not.”
My pulse kicked hard.
He continued before I could interrupt.“Listen.It sucks.The waiting sucks.The planning sucks.But Wrecker’s right.You go in hot; you give them a chance to move the chess pieces.You want them trapped.”
I dragged a hand over my face.“I want them dead.”
Cole’s eyes went dark.“Same.”Then he said, softer, “Don’t let what happened turn you into something you can’t come back from.”
I stared at him.
He held my gaze, then added, “Or do.And just make sure you’ve got a reason worth it.”
My throat went tight.
Clove.
That was the reason.I didn’t say it.Didn’t need to.
Cole clapped my shoulder once.“Go check on her.”
I didn’t waste another second.