Page 202 of Broken Oath

“It’s possible.”

Sarah stared into her coffee.

The honesty hurt.

But it didn’t insult her.

“Then again,” he continued, “Wade survived an operation designed to erase his entire team.”

She looked at him.

“That suggests he’s difficult to kill.”

A broken laugh escaped her.

“Wade was impossible.”

The memory surfaced.

Her brother at sixteen, covered in mud and grinning after crashing a dirt bike through their father’s fence.

Again.

“He never listened.”

“Sounds familiar.”

Sarah glanced at Rook.

“Are you comparing me to my brother?”

“I’m saying stubbornness might run in the family.”

For the first time that night, Sarah laughed.

A real laugh.

Small.

Brief.

But real.

The sound surprised her.

Something softened in Rook’s expression.

Not pity.

Never pity.

Warmth.

It changed his face.

For one dangerous second, Sarah wondered what he had looked like before the mountain.

Before six graves.