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Archie’s chair scraped violently across the floor. He caught Tone’s wrist before she could answer, his grip careful despite the rage in his face. “You’re not placing yourself in the middle of this.”

Tone looked down at his hand. “Let. Go.”

Archie released her immediately, but his hand closed into a fist against the table.

“They reached the gate once,” he reminded us. “They will try again. Next time, I won’t wait for Raze’s guards to decide whether they’re carrying offers or guns. I’ll open them from throat to stomach before they cross the drive.”

“Archie,” Raze warned.

Archie turned his head. “I’m not one of your soldiers. Do not use that tone with me.”

Raze rose slowly. The temperature in the room seemed to drop.

“You are in my house, standing at my father’s table. You will remember both before you bare your teeth at me.”

Tone shoved her chair back and stood between them. “Both of you—just stop!”

Archie’s gaze remained locked on Raze.

Tone pressed a hand against his chest. He looked down at her. The fury in his face changed the instant he saw her fingers spread protectively over the slight curve beneath her clothes. The rage didn’t disappear; it just folded inward.

“They came here once,” he repeated. “They know where you sleep. They know where the children sleep.”

“Archie…”

“I see it every time I close my eyes.” Archie’s voice lowered, roughening at the edges. “I see men coming through those gates. I see smoke in the halls. I see myself reaching you too late.”

Tone’s anger faltered.

Archie gripped the edge of the table until his knuckles whitened. “I can kill every man they send. I can tear through their homes and leave their sons choking on their fathers’ blood. What I can’t do is promise I will see the first bullet before it reaches you.”

Tone’s face tightened. “I’m not asking you to stand at the gate to defend me, Archie.”

“You never had to ask, Antonella. You’re voting to put a target on your back.”

“I was born with a target on my back.”

“And now you’re carrying another life, Tone. My life.”

Her eyes flashed. Archie stared at her.

“You survived once,” he reminded her. “You have convinced yourself that makes you impossible to kill.”

“If you force me to choose between your anger and your funeral⁠—”

“Don’t finish that sentence, Tone.” His voice broke. Tone’s breathing quickened. Archie lifted one hand toward her, then stopped before touching her, as though he no longer trusted the violence in his own body.

I watched in rapt fascination as their argument unfolded. There was something in the two of them, in the way they turned toward each other, that made me ashamed to be in the room for it.

Raze returned to his chair. “This is getting us nowhere.”

Archie turned on him. “What is getting us nowhere is pretending this is a business dispute. My wife is carrying my child while you discuss provoking men who sell girls and would do anything to protect their production line.”

“She’s also carrying a vote,” Raze pointed out.

“She shouldn’t be.”

Tone’s head snapped toward Archie. He realized his mistake too late.