Chapter 169 Formal

Chapter 169 Formal
Cade woke to sunlight already high in the sky, later than he'd slept in weeks, his whole body aching in places he didn't know could ache.

Lyra was already up, moving quietly in the kitchen, and the smell of coffee pulled him out of bed before his body fully agreed to it.

"You let me sleep," he said, finding her at the counter.

"You needed it." She poured him a cup and studied him carefully. "How do you feel?"

"Like I got hit by a truck and then the truck backed up and did it again." He took the coffee gratefully. "Better than I expected, honestly."

"Dante called twice already this morning."

Cade winced. "Of course he did."

"He said there's no rush. Whenever you're ready." She handed him a plate of something simple. "Eat first, then go save the world."

He managed a tired laugh. "That's the plan."

The clubhouse felt different that morning. Dante was already at his desk when Cade arrived, looking like he'd slept even less than Cade had, papers spread across every surface.

"How's Renzo," Cade asked, taking a seat.

"Sore. Annoyed at being told to rest. Otherwise fine." Dante rubbed his eyes. "Lina's apparently appointed herself his personal supervisor for the next week."

"That sounds about right."

"Noted, and moving on." Dante allowed himself a small, tired smile before it faded back into business. "We need to talk about Garza."

Cade sat forward. "He's not going to just walk away after yesterday."

"No," Dante agreed. "If anything, yesterday probably made him more determined, not less. He lost people. He lost face and men like Garza don't absorb that quietly."

"So what's next."

Dante spread a fresh sheet across the desk, notes he'd clearly been working through most of the night.

"We hold the south end permanently now, not just for a deadline. Full-time presence, proper structure, not the makeshift reinforcement we threw up this week."

"That's expensive," Cade said. "And it changes how the club operates long term."

"Everything's about to change long term," Dante said. "That's the other thing I want to talk to you about."

Cade waited. "The legitimization plan," Dante said. "I was going to wait until things settled with Sofia and Marco fully before pushing forward, but yesterday changed my mind. If we're going to survive threats like Garza long-term, we need more than muscle. We need structure, real business standing, something that gives us leverage beyond just holding ground with guns."

"You want to move faster on it."

"I want to move on it properly," Dante said. "Starting soon. I need people I trust running pieces of it. You're one of them."

Cade nodded slowly. "And Lyra."

Something in Dante's expression sharpened with interest. "She's proven herself more than once now.

"I've been thinking about giving her something more formal, a real position, not just help when we need it."

Cade felt something complicated move through his chest, pride tangled with old protective instinct. "She'd be good at it."

"I know she would." Dante studied him. "You have a problem with that."

"No," Cade said, honest. "I have feelings about it. Different thing."

"Talk to her," Dante said. "See what she thinks before I make it official. I don't want to spring something like that on either of you without warning, not after everything this week already put you through."

"I will."

Dante leaned back in his chair, some of the tension from the past week visibly settling deeper into his shoulders now that the immediate crisis had passed. "Garza's not the only thing on my mind this morning."

"What else."

"Marco." Dante rubbed his jaw. "He hasn't heard from Garza directly since Sofia confirmed the debt situation. I don't know if that means Garza's cut him loose now that the bigger plan's in motion, or if he's just biding time."

"You think Marco's still in danger."

"I think we don't know enough to say either way," Dante said. "And I don't like not knowing, especially not right after yesterday."

"Want me to talk to him."

"Not yet." Dante shook his head slowly. "Let him breathe a few days. He's been carrying enough guilt without me adding pressure to it before we actually have something new to act on."

Cade nodded, respecting the restraint even as his own instinct pushed toward faster answers. "What about casualties from yesterday. Anyone we lost."

"Nobody fatal on our side," Dante said, some relief audible in his voice even now. "A few injuries beyond Renzo. Garza's side took the worse hit, by every report I've gotten so far."

"Small mercy."

"Yeah," Dante agreed. "Doesn't mean it doesn't cost us. Every fight like that costs something, even the ones we win."

"You did well yesterday," Dante said eventually. "Holding the north position. I want that said plainly."

"Thank you."

"I mean it, Cade." Dante's voice carried something rare in it, an openness that didn't come easily to him.

"I've watched you grow into someone I trust completely over these past months. That matters more to me than you probably realize."

Cade felt something warm settle in his chest at that, unexpected and quietly appreciated. "It matters to hear it."

Dante nodded, the moment passing back into business almost as quickly as it had arrived. "Go home. Rest more if you need it. We'll start properly rebuilding the south end presence next week, once everyone's had time to recover."

"And the legitimization plan."

"That starts soon too," Dante said. "Talk to Lyra first. Then we'll talk details."



Cade found her again that evening, the apartment quiet around them, the exhaustion of the week finally settling into something more like normal tiredness instead of the sharp edge it had carried through Friday.

"Dante wants to talk to you," he said. "About something bigger than what you've been doing so far."

Lyra looked up from where she'd been reading, setting the book down. "Bigger how."

"A real position, formal. He's been thinking about it for a while, but everything with Sofia and Garza kept pushing it back." Cade sat beside her. "He specifically mentioned you."

"What kind of position."

"He didn't say exactly, but I think he's serious about moving the club toward something more legitimate, and he wants people he trusts helping build it." He watched her carefully. "I told him I'd talk to you first, before he makes anything official."

Lyra thought about that for a long moment. "I think I want to hear what he actually has to say," she said finally. "Before I decide anything."

"That's fair," Cade said. "Whenever you're ready."

"Soon," she said. "Not tonight, though. Tonight I just want this. You, home, safe."

Cade pulled her closer, some of the week's weight finally easing out of both of them. "That I can do."