POV: Hunter
The park bench was cold, the iron leaching the warmth from his body. The river flowed by, brown and slow. Hunter watched Riley approach, a silhouette against the gray sky. She carried a tablet in one hand.
She sat beside him, not looking at him, her eyes on the water. "Your mother-in-law owes money to a casino. The casino is owned by a shell company. The shell company is run by Julian Sterling."
She handed him the tablet. He scrolled through the documents. The lawsuit. The corporate charts. The text messages. The confirmation. His stomach turned to stone. Seeing it in black and white was different than suspecting it.
"He cleared her debt in exchange for the map to my house," Hunter said, his voice flat.
"Yes."
"So it was a hit. A contract. Pre-meditated." He handed the tablet back. "Why? Why does Julian Sterling want a retired Delta Force sergeant dead? I've never heard of him."
"That's the real question," Riley said. "Julian is the spoiled son. The real power is his father, Victor Sterling. Sterling Shield is the family business. Private military, private security, private intelligence. And private 'solutions.' They have contracts with the government. They also have investigations for arms trafficking, bribery, and fraud hanging over them. They're a hydra. Cut off one head, two more grow."
She pulled up a new file. A photo of a man in his sixties with silver hair and a ruthless smile. Victor Sterling. "He's connected. Politically, judicially. He makes problems disappear. Your friend Alex was looking into their fraud. He became a problem."
The pieces clicked with final, dreadful certainty. "They killed Alex. They think he told me something. Or they think I'll come looking for answers. So they decided to remove me first. They used Morgan's debt to get access. They used my wife to get the blueprint." He said it all calmly, the horror of it so vast it just felt like a mission briefing. "They're cleaning house."
"Yes," Riley said softly. "And they failed. Which means they will try again. They'll use a different tool. Maybe they'll go after Tessa directly. Or they'll frame you for the deaths of those men. They have the resources to make it stick."
Hunter stared at the river. The peaceful, muddy water. His old life was on the other shore, wrecked and burning. He was here now. In the war.
"What's their weakness?" he asked.
"Julian," Riley said without hesitation. "He's the weak link. He's arrogant, impulsive, and he runs the dirty 'collections' side to prove himself to daddy. He made the deal with Morgan. He sent the team. He's the one with the direct connection to the crime. Victor is insulated. Julian is exposed."
"So we target Julian."
"We pressure Julian. We make him crack. We get him to give us evidence against the whole operation. And we get him to admit to ordering the hit on you."
"How?"
Riley finally looked at him. "We have the perfect bait. Your mother-in-law is terrified and indebted to him. Your wife is desperate to fix what she's done. We use them. We draw Julian out into the open. And when he comes, we take him."
Hunter felt a profound resistance. Using Tessa again, even as bait, felt wrong. But Riley's logic was cold and perfect. Julian would come for Morgan, to silence her. Or he would come for Tessa, to control Hunter. They could turn his aggression against him.
It was the only move.
"We need to get to them before Sterling does," Hunter said, standing up. The decision was made. The path was clear, and it led through darkness.
"Agreed," Riley said, standing beside him. "The legal system won't touch this. We have to handle it ourselves."
They walked away from the bench, away from the river. Hunter didn't look back. He was no longer a victim reacting. He was a soldier on the offensive. The target was named. The mission was clear.
Sterling Shield had started this war.
He was going to finish it.
Hunter and Riley decide to target the arrogant Julian Sterling as the weak link in the powerful Sterling family, planning to use Morgan and Tessa as bait to draw him out and force a confession.