Dexter arrived at the villa just before noon.

No announcement. No warning. One moment the front gates were closed.

The next, two black SUVs were rolling up the driveway, tires crunching low over the gravel, dust lifting behind them in the still morning air.

Liam watched them from the study window, one hand still resting on the edge of the desk.

A minute later, the front door opened.

Dexter stepped inside wearing a dark suit, no tie, one hand resting casually in his coat pocket. Two men followed him through the entrance and stopped near the door, still as fence posts, eyes moving over the foyer once before settling.

Dexter removed his sunglasses, folding them with a single motion and slipping them into his breast pocket. "Nice place."

Liam gave him a flat look. Dexter smiled. "Still a nice place.

One of his men stepped forward and handed him a thin folder. Dexter took it without looking down. "Where’s Jack?"

"Probably outside."

"Good."He started toward the courtyard. Liam followed, the sound of their footsteps echoing briefly against the marble before the hallway opened onto sunlight.

They found Jack near the rear training area, shirtless, wrapping his hands beside the heavy bag, sweat catching the light along his shoulders.

The bag still swung faintly from his last strike. He looked up at the sound of footsteps and his eyes landed on Dexter.

For a second, neither man moved.

Then Jack grinned. "Well, look who survived."

Dexter stopped. "Still talking too much, I see."

"Still dressing like you’re attending your own funeral."

One of Dexter’s men lowered his eyes, hiding a smile. Dexter glanced at him and the smile vanished.Jack noticed. "Still scary."

"I try."

He finished wrapping his hand and closed the distance between them, boots quiet against the mats.

Two men who had already tried to break each other’s faces, once. Neither of them had won cleanly enough to let it go.

Dexter glanced toward the doorway. "I’m beginning to dislike this house."

"You came here willingly," Liam said.

"Bad judgment."

Jack laughed, and for a moment the courtyard felt like nothing more than an old rivalry catching up on itself, the noise of it echoing off the surrounding wall.

Then Dexter’s amusement dropped away. He opened the folder. "We found the building."

Jack’s grin faded. Liam straightened.

Dexter pulled out a photograph and handed it over. A narrow three-story building stood wedged between two older warehouses, windows dark, the lower floor abandoned while the upper levels showed signs of recent renovation, fresh caulking still visible along one window frame.

"West district," Dexter said. "About eight minutes from where you met Peter."

Jack frowned. "Wait. Warehouse? Who’s Peter?"

Dexter glanced at Liam, one eyebrow lifting slightly, and said nothing.

"Peter," Jack said again, slower this time. "As in, someone I’ve never heard of.

Connected to a warehouse I’ve never heard of. That you apparently went to." He looked between the two of them. "When did this happen?"

"A few nights ago," Liam said.

"A few nights ago." Jack’s jaw tightened. "You went to some meeting with a stranger, in an empty warehouse, and I find out about it now? Standing here, from him?" He jabbed a thumb toward Dexter without looking at him.

"It wasn’t something worth bringing to you yet." Not worth Jack cut himself off, exhaling hard through his nose.

"I stay in the same house. If something’s crawling around out there watching you, that’s exactly the kind of thing that’s worth bringing to me."

Dexter shifted his weight, folder still in hand, saying nothing, letting it play out.

Liam held Jack’s stare without flinching.

"You’re right. But there was nothing solid yet. A stranger’s name, a business offer, and a burner number. If I’d pulled you in on that, you’d have spent three days pacing this courtyard waiting for a fight that might never come."

"That’s my choice to make."

"It is," Liam said. "Which is why I’m telling you now, before we walk into whatever’s waiting at that building. Not after."

Jack held his glare a moment longer. Some of the heat went out of it, though not all. "Next time, I hear it from you first. Not him."

"Understood."

Dexter cleared his throat. "Touching. Can we move on?" Jack shot him a look but didn’t argue. "Fine. Catch me up. All of it."

"Who owns it?"

"On paper? A company that hasn’t paid a tax bill in four years."

"And in reality?" Still working that out.

Jack stepped closer, peering over Liam’s shoulder at the photo. "What makes you think it’s connected?"

"The cameras. Same manufacturer, same installation company."

"You said that company was gone."

"It is." Then how’d you find the connection?

Dexter tapped the photograph.

"The same equipment was installed at three other properties." Three?

"Two are empty." And the third?. His eyes hardened. "Not empty."

Silence settled over the courtyard, broken only by the faint creak of the heavy bag swaying on its chain. Jack looked at Liam. "Sounds promising."

"Gets better." Dexter pulled another photograph from the folder, a black sedan parked across a street. Jack stared at it. "The car." Same one.

"What’s inside?" We don’t know yet.

Jack cracked his knuckles, the sound sharp in the quiet courtyard. "Then let’s find out."

"You coming?"

"Wasn’t planning on staying here polishing the furniture." Dexter glanced at Liam. "And you?"

Liam took the photograph from his hand. "I’ll go."

"Then we leave in twenty." Dexter turned to his men. "You two stay here."

One nodded immediately. The other looked toward Liam, and Dexter caught it. "He doesn’t need babysitting."

"Yes, boss."

Jack’s eyebrows rose. "Boss?"

"What?" Nothing. Just sounds official.

"Get your shirt."

Jack looked down at himself. "I was going to."

"You’ve been standing here for ten minutes."

"I was talking."

"Exactly."Jack shook his head, muttering, and headed inside, sneakers slapping against the tile. "Still an asshole."

Liam stayed beside the training area. Dexter stopped a few steps ahead and looked back. "One more thing. The building’s been watched for days."

"By the same people?"

"Don’t know." Find out before we arrive.

"Already have people on it." How many?

"Enough."

A faint smile touched Liam’s mouth. He didn’t push for a number. Jack returned a few minutes later in a black shirt and dark jeans, hair still damp at the edges, stopping beside Liam. "Where are we going?"

"West district."

Jack glanced toward the SUVs, their engines already idling. "Something tells me this isn’t a sightseeing trip."

"It isn’t."He rolled his shoulders, joints popping faintly. "Good." You’re not fighting unless you have to."I know."

"Do you?"

Jack looked mildly offended. "I’m learning."

"Enough talking," Dexter called from the driveway. Jack smirked at Liam. "See? He missed me."

"He probably missed having someone to annoy." Same thing. They crossed to the vehicles, gravel shifting underfoot. Dexter’s men opened the doors, and Dexter was already seated in the first SUV by the time Liam paused, looking back at the villa.

Security moved through their rotations. Women crossed the grounds, Jessica carrying a stack of folded linens toward the east wing.

The house sat quiet under the afternoon sun, curtains still, gravel raked smooth from that morning. He got in. Jack climbed in beside him, the seat creaking under his weight.

Dexter sat across from them, the folder resting on his knee, and the vehicle pulled away, gates sliding shut behind them in the mirror, the villa shrinking to a pale shape against the hillside before the road curved and took it away entirely.

For several minutes, nobody spoke. The city blurred past the tinted windows, rooftops giving way to overpasses. Then Jack looked over. "So."

"So what?"

"You ever miss fighting?" Dexter raised his eyes. "Not particularly."

"Liar." You’re the one who keeps asking for rematches.

"That’s different."

"How?" I enjoy winning. Dexter glanced at Liam. "You’ve created a strange household."

"You’re the one who came."

"Fair."

The SUV turned onto the main road. Behind them, the villa disappeared from view, swallowed by trees and the long stretch of empty road.

Ahead waited an abandoned building, an unidentified watcher, and whatever had been hidden behind those cameras.

The city thickened around them, glass towers giving way to lower rooftops and cracked pavement as they crossed into older parts of town.

Liam wasn’t going to be looking at any of it from a screen this time.

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