Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 60768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60768 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
I love you, I mouth silently, desperately.
She nods once, lips forming the words back even as tears spill down her cheeks. I love you too.
The SUV bounces harder over rough ground, carrying us deeper into the unknown. Serafina’s laughter drifts back from the front seat, low and victorious and endless.
This isn’t over.
Not by a long shot.
But right now, strapped in beside the woman I love more than life and my captured team, all I can do is hold on and wait for the next opening.
Because we will find one.
We have to.
Or we all die trying.
EPILOGUE
Render
The road stretches out like a gray scar through the endless pine forest, twisting and turning as if the trees themselves are trying to swallow us whole. I keep the speed steady at sixty-five, not a mile faster, not a mile slower. Every curve, every shadow between the trunks gets scanned twice. My eyes flick from the rearview mirror to the side mirrors and back again. No headlights behind us for the last forty miles. No suspicious vehicles. No drones in the sky that I can spot. Still, my shoulders stay locked tight, jaw clenched so hard it aches. This is not just some Sunday fucking scenic drive. This is survival. And Enley’s sitting right beside me— Poe’s little sister, the girl I pulled out of that basement two weeks ago, the one person I’m not allowed to fuck this up with.
We barely know each other. I mean, not really. Sure… she used to annoy the fuck out of us when we were younger. But now… the woman she is remains a mystery.
I rescued her. I went in, did the job Maddox assigned me, and got her out alive. She was half-dead from fear and whatever Serafina’s people did to her, and I carried her out like she was made of glass. Now she’s here in my passenger seat, knees pulled up to her chest, sneakers kicked off on the floor mat, arms wrapped around her shins like she’s holding herself together with sheer willpower. Her pink hair falls loose around her face, hiding half her expression, but I can still see the way her lower lip trembles every few minutes. She hasn’t said much since we left the last motel at dawn. Just quiet breathing and the occasional soft sigh that cuts straight through me.
I shouldn’t be noticing how beautiful she is. She’s Poe’s sister. My best friend’s sister. The same Poe who’s probably chained up somewhere right now because he traded himself to save her. Touching her, wanting her, even thinking about her that way feels like a betrayal. But every time she looks at me with those wide, trusting blue eyes, something in my chest twists hard. I’m supposed to protect her. That’s the job. Nothing more.
My burner phone vibrates in the cupholder. Knight’s name flashes on the screen. My stomach drops instantly. Knight doesn’t call unless it is bad.
Enley’s head snaps toward me immediately. Her eyes are wide, already filling with fear. She says, “What is it?”
I slow the car and pull onto the shoulder, tires crunching over gravel. Dust kicks up around us. I put the phone on speaker and set it on the dash so she can hear everything. “Knight,” I say, voice low and controlled. “You’re on speaker. What’s up?”
There’s a pause on the other end, the kind that stretches too long and makes my skin crawl. When Knight finally speaks, his voice is tight and clipped. “Render. We have a situation. A bad one.”
Enley’s hand flies out and grabs mine without hesitation. Her fingers are ice cold. I don’t pull away. I squeeze back, trying to offer something solid while my own pulse hammers in my ears.
“Tell us,” I say.
Knight exhales. “Serafina hit the safehouse. She knew the hack was fake the second she looked at it. Took everyone. Ozzy, Poe, Orchid, Lark, Arrow, and Gage. All of them. Maddox and the BRAVO team were too late. Ozzy and the team acted alone, rushing in there without backup. It was an ambush. We lost visual on the convoy about forty minutes ago. They’re gone.”
The words land like punches. One after another. Ozzy. Poe. Orchid. Lark. Arrow. Gage. My brothers. My family. The people who have had my back through every dark op, every blood-soaked night. Captured. By Serafina.
Enley makes a sound like she’s been punched in the gut. A small, broken whimper that turns into a sob. Her grip on my hand tightens until her nails dig into my skin.
“Poe,” she chokes out. “They have Poe? No. No, Knight, please tell me you’re wrong.”
“I wish I was,” Knight says, softer now. “But it’s real. Ozzy got one short burst out before they stripped his comms. He said they’re alive. For now. Serafina’s pissed about the fake hack. She’s making examples. Maddox is losing his mind trying to track the vehicles, but she’s using decoys, switching plates, rerouting through tunnels. We’re working every angle. Traffic cams, satellite pings, even old contacts in the city. But it’s going to take time.”