The conversation didn't end abruptly.
It settled.
Slowly.
Like something heavy finally being placed down after being carried for too long.
Maggie sat there for a while after Lucas finished speaking, her fingers still intertwined, her thoughts loud but her expression calmer than before. The fear was still there of course it was but it wasn't wild anymore.
It was… focused.
She looked at him, really looked at him this time not just as her son's boss, not just as a man standing in a dangerous world but as someone who had just laid everything bare without flinching.
"…If I let you do this," she said quietly, her voice steady now, "if I trust you with them…"
Lucas didn't interrupt.
"I need more than words," she continued. "I need to know that when things go wrong...and they will...you'll choose them. Every single time."
No hesitation.
No second guessing.
Lucas leaned forward slightly, his gaze locking onto hers.
"You have my word," he said.
Simple.Direct.Unshakeable.
Maggie held his gaze for a few seconds longer, searching for something anything that felt uncertain.
But there was nothing.
Just certainty.Just control.Just… truth.
She nodded slowly.
"…Then I'll trust you." The words weren't easy, but they were real.
"And I'll hold you to that," she added, her voice firm again.
Lucas gave a small nod.
"I expect you to."
Silence followed but this time, it wasn't heavy.
It was understood.
The kind that didn't need more words.
LATER ON
Lucas didn't stay long after that.
There was nothing left to say that hadn't already been said.
He stepped out of the house, the calm air outside greeting him again but this time, his mind wasn't quiet.
It was working. Fast. Sharp.
Because one thing was clear.
D'uther wasn't just a problem anymore.
He was a threat.
And threats had to be handled.
Lucas got into his car, shutting the door with a soft click before pulling out his phone.
He didn't call the office.
He didn't go back to work.
Instead, he dialed a number.
"Kellan."
A pause.
"Call everyone." His voice was calm.
But there was something underneath it now.
Final.
"I want you, Ethan, Matteo, Elijah… and Kayla in the house before I get there."
Another pause.
"No delays."
Kellan didn't ask questions.
He never did when Lucas sounded like this.
"…Understood."
Lucas ended the call.
Then made another.
"Elena."
"Yes, sir."
"I want everything prepared," he said as he pulled out onto the road. "Tea, food, snacks… everything."
A slight pause on the other end.
"Will there be guests, sir?"
Lucas's eyes darkened slightly as he drove.
"No," he replied.
"…Family."
Another pause.
Then—
"I understand."
He ended the call.
The car sped forward, cutting through the streets as the sky slowly shifted toward evening.
Because tonight, wasn't just another meeting.
It was the beginning of something bigger.
Something heavier.
Because it was finally time, to decide what to do about D'uther.The moment Lucas stepped into the house, his presence shifted the air.
No greetings. No pause.
Just long, purposeful strides carrying him straight through the hallway and into the open dining hall where everyone was already gathered.
They were waiting.
And judging by the looks on their faces,
Confused. Concerned. Alert.
Kellan was the first to speak, his brows pulling together slightly as he studied Lucas from head to toe.
"Are you okay?"
Lucas gave a small nod as he pulled out his chair.
"I'm fine."
But the tone in his voice made it clear.
This wasn't casual.
Matteo leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on the table.
"So where exactly did Neo's mom drag you to?" he asked, curiosity sharp in his voice.
Lucas didn't hesitate.
"To meet D'uther."
Silence.
Then, everything broke at once.
"What?"
"You went there?"
"Are you serious right now?"
"Elaborate."
Questions flew across the table, overlapping, pressing in from every direction.
Lucas didn't rush.
He answered them one after the other, calm, controlled laying out just enough for them to understand the gravity of the situation without losing the room to panic.
Yes, he went.
Yes, Maggie knew where D'uther was.
Yes, they walked into his territory.
Yes, they walked out.
And yes, there was a gunfight.
That last part settled heavily.
The room went quieter now.
More focused.
"But that's not why I called this meeting," Lucas said, his voice cutting clean through the tension.
That got their full attention.
"I didn't call you here because I was shaken," he continued, his gaze moving across each of them. "And I'm definitely not calling this out of fear."
A pause.
"But I need every single one of you to be highly active from this moment forward."
The weight in his tone sharpened.
"Alert. Calculated. No assumptions."
Kellan leaned back slightly, watching him closely.
"Why?" Elijah asked, his voice lower now.
Lucas's expression didn't change.
"Because whatever training D'uther is running over there…"
A brief pause.
"…is not something to take lightly."
Silence settled again.
Thicker this time.
Then Lucas moved.
He stepped back slightly from the table and gestured once.
"Bring it."
One of the staff moved quickly, placing a laptop in front of him.
Lucas didn't sit.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device sleek, almost unnoticeable.
A remote.
He clicked it and the screen lit up, then,
The footage began to play.
Clear.Sharp. Unfiltered. Lucas hadn't gone there empty handed he wore a spy brooch anywhere he went so as to never miss anything he ordinarily he would have skipped the cameras wouldn't.
From the moment they entered the mansion…
To the confrontation…
To the shift in tension…To the gunfight.
Every movement.Every reaction.Every shot.
The room stayed completely silent as they watched.
Not casual watching.
Studying. Analyzing.
Eyes tracking every detail.
The way the four figures moved.
Their positioning. Their timing. Their control.
The way they anticipated attacks before they happened.
It wasn't random.
It wasn't raw aggression.
It was trained precision and neither was it some clumsy move made by people in their early 19 going 20's.
When the footage ended, the silence lingered for a few seconds longer.
Then—
"They move like…" Matteo started, leaning forward again.
"Aiden and Neo," Kayla finished quietly.
Kellan's gaze darkened slightly.
"…Yeah," Elijah added. "Same structure. Same rhythm."
Lucas nodded once.
"Because it's the same trainer," he said simply.
That settled it.
No more guessing.
No more doubt.
D'uther wasn't just building something, he had already built it.
"And that's not all," Lucas added.
That pulled their attention back to him immediately.
"I didn't go in there empty-handed."
A slight shift in posture across the table.
Interest.
Focus.
Lucas leaned forward slightly, resting his hands against the table.
"During the fight," he continued calmly, "while everyone was distracted…"
A small pause, "I planted devices."
Kellan's eyes narrowed slightly.
"How many?" "Enough," Lucas replied.
A faint smirk ghosted Matteo's lips.
"Damn…"
Lucas didn't smile.
"We hear everything now," he added. "Conversations. Movements. Patterns."
Kayla straightened slightly.
"So we're inside." Lucas nodded. "We're inside."
Silence again.
But this time, It was strategic.
Because now, they had an advantage.
Lucas's expression hardened just slightly as he continued.
"The third reason I called this meeting…"
He let the words settle.
"…is to figure out their next move."
No one spoke.
Because they all understood what that meant.
D'uther had already made his move.
Now it was their turn, to anticipate the next one. "To understand how they operate now," Lucas finished, his voice steady. "Not how they used to. Not what we think."
His gaze swept across the table.
"But what they are right now."
A pause.
Then, "We don't react late," he said quietly. "We move before they do."
And just like that,
The room shifted.
From confusion, to strategy, to complete understanding and having the same thoughts, because this wasn't just a meeting anymore.
It was war preparation.The room stayed quiet for a moment after the strategies had been laid out.
Not because there was nothing left to say,
But because everything that needed to be said… had weight.
Lucas stood still by the table, his gaze fixed on the frozen frame of the footage still displayed on the screen, the three figures mid-motion, precise, controlled, dangerous.
Then he spoke.
"We don't need to inform the boys about this yet."
That pulled a few looks across the table, but no one interrupted.
"We'll use that to our advantage," he continued, his tone calm but firm. "D'uther expects them to react. To remember. To fall back into whatever he built into them."
A pause.
"But we won't give him that satisfaction."
Lucas's jaw tightened slightly, his expression hardening into something sharper.
"They may be trained… but they're not fully there yet," he added. "Not in the way he wants them to be."
His eyes flicked briefly to Kellan, then back to the screen.
"And that gives us leverage."
Kellan nodded slowly, already understanding where this was going.
"They've already been through that system once," Lucas went on. "Which means they can recognize it. Break it down. Reproduce it if necessary."
His voice lowered just slightly.
"They'll be able to read those patterns."
Matteo leaned back, exhaling softly. "So we turn their training against him."
Lucas didn't answer with words.
Just a single nod.
Agreement moved quietly across the table.
No resistance. No doubt.
Because it made sense.
But then,
Lucas's expression shifted.
Subtle, but it was clear.
"However…"
The room stilled again. "We must protect them."
That wasn't strategy.
That was something else.
His gaze hardened, something deeper settling behind his eyes now.
"At all costs." No one spoke maybe Because they understood it and they could hear it.
The difference in his voice.
"This isn't negotiable," Lucas added quietly.
A pause.
Then,
"I made a promise."
Not loud. Not dramatic.But with a final say.
"And I don't break my word."
His eyes lifted from the screen, meeting each of theirs one by one.
"Not now."
A beat.
"Not ever."
Silence followed.
But this time,
It wasn't heavy.
Because all had been understood.
Because in that moment,
This wasn't just about strategy anymore.
It was personal.
And everyone in that room knew exactly what that meant.
The screen flickered off.
The meeting ended.
But the war, maybe they could say might actually begin sooner than they anticipated