Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 354(@200wpm)___ 283(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
My stomach tightens. “I know.”
Her eyes sharpen. “Arrow knows?”
I nod. “Arrow called Dean. Maddox systems went down. Someone hacked them.”
Salem goes still, her face paling. “So it’s true.”
“It’s possible,” I say. “But we don’t panic. We get smart.”
Salem stares at her hands for a moment, then lifts her gaze back to me. Her eyes are glossy but fierce. “I was so scared.” The words are small, and they slice straight through me.
I move closer and press my forehead to hers, careful of her bruise. “I know.”
Her breath shudders. “I thought… I thought I was never getting out.”
My throat burns. “You’re here.”
She grips my wrist harder. “You came in.”
My chest tightens. “Always.”
Salem exhales, and something inside her shifts. Like a wall that has been holding for too long finally cracks open. “I don’t want to go back to my life,” she whispers. “Not the old one. The one where nobody cared if I disappeared.”
My jaw clenches. “You are not going back to that.”
Salem’s voice trembles. “Promise.”
I lift my head and look at her. I want her to see the truth in my face. “I promise.”
Her eyes search mine like she’s trying to memorize me.
I feel something in my chest rise, hot and urgent, because there is no clean, perfect moment for this. There is only now. I inhale slowly. “Salem?”
She blinks. “What?”
My voice comes out rough. “I love you.”
Her eyes widen. For half a heartbeat, she looks stunned, like she doesn’t know what to do with the words. Then her expression changes, something soft and fierce blooming at the same time. Her throat works. “Ozzy…”
“I’m serious,” I say, my hands sliding to her sides, steadying her. “I know the timing is ugly and insane and not romantic. I know we’re in a hospital and we’re talking about moles and syndicates and your father being half dead. I don’t care. I love you.”
Salem’s eyes fill. A tear slips down her cheek, and she wipes it away like she’s angry at it. Then she cups my face with both hands, fingers trembling. “I love you too.” The words hit me like oxygen. Like relief. Like the only good thing in a world that keeps trying to rot.
I close my eyes for a second, pressing my cheek into her palm. When I open them, she’s still looking at me like I’m real.
She whispers, “I don’t even know how.”
I give a small, shaky laugh. “Neither do I.”
Salem leans forward and kisses me. It’s not wild. It’s not desperate.
It’s solid.
A promise.
A stake in the ground.
When she pulls back, her forehead rests against mine again. “This isn’t over,” she whispers.
“No,” I agree. “But we’re not alone.”
Her mouth tightens. “What if the mole is someone close? What if it’s someone we trust?”
My stomach twists again, but I keep my voice steady. “Then we find them.”
Salem swallows. “And Serafina.”
I nod. “We find her too.”
A knock sounds at the door. Sawyer’s voice comes through, calm but urgent. “Ozzy. Salem. We need to move.”
I pull back, keeping my hands on Salem’s waist. “Ready?”
Salem nods, then hesitates. Her eyes lock on mine again. “Say it again.”
“I love you,” I say without blinking.
Her lips tremble into a smile that is both broken and beautiful. “Okay.”
I stand and help her off the bed. Her knees wobble slightly, but she steadies herself fast.
When we open the door, our people are there, waiting. Arrow’s face is tight. Juno looks worried but steady. Gage’s gaze sharpens on Salem, protective. River offers Salem a small smile that says she understands what it means to love a dangerous man. Knight and Lark stand close together, Lark’s hand brushing Knight’s arm like she is anchoring herself.
We move down the hall as a group, drawing eyes because we look like trouble. A nurse watches us pass, suspicion and curiosity in her face.
As we reach the exit, my phone buzzes.
A message from Rae, short and chilling.
SYSTEMS DOWN. INTERNAL ACCESS USED. WE ARE COMPROMISED.
My stomach drops.
I tuck the phone away and keep walking, keeping Salem close enough that my shoulder brushes hers.
She looks up at me. “What is it?”
I keep my voice low. “Rae says internal access was used.”
Salem’s face tightens. “So the mole is real.”
I don’t answer out loud. Because I do not want to speak that possibility into the air where anyone could hear. But as we step into the cold night outside the hospital, with sirens in the distance and the world feeling too big and too hungry, one truth settles heavy in my chest. Someone inside Maddox Security wants Salem back in a cage.
And they already know where we’re headed.
TWENTY-SEVEN
SALEM
The ride to HQ feels like we are outrunning a storm that already knows our name. Streetlights smear into pale streaks across the windshield as Arrow drives, hands steady, jaw locked. Juno sits up front with him, one hand braced on the dash every time we take a turn too fast. Knight, Lark, River, and Gage are in the other vehicle behind us, and I can see their headlights in the rearview mirror like a tether we cannot afford to lose.