Se connecterLYSSANDRA The door swings inward with a soft, almost polite creak, and for the briefest, most fragile second, my heart lifts stupidly in my chest.Nyra.The name dies before it ever reaches my lips.It isn’t my sister standing in the hallway. It isn’t her dark eyes or familiar posture or the way she always leaned slightly to one side, like the world tilted better that way.It’s Cade.And behind him, half slumped against the wall like something dragged in from a war zone and left to bleed out slowly, is Arch.My breath leaves me in a sharp, involuntary gasp, like my lungs have been punched. My vision narrows, the edges of the hallway blurring as my brain scrambles to catch up with what my eyes are already screaming at me.Arch looks awful. Worse than awful. His shirt is torn open at the shoulder, soaked through with blood that has dried dark and tacky in places and freshened again in others. There’s a gash along his temple, crusted but angry, and his knuckles are split, red and swoll
LYSSANDRA I’m staring at my phone when it finally happens.Nyra’s name lights up my screen, and for a second I genuinely forget how to breathe. My fingers start shaking so badly that I almost drop the phone onto the bed. I have to sit down hard, knees weak, heart slamming against my ribs like it’s trying to get out of my body before I do something stupid.Nyra: Can we meet this afternoon? Just you and me.I read it three times, then a fourth, like the words might rearrange themselves into something safer if I stare long enough. My chest feels tight, full in that aching, overwhelming way that comes with relief and excitement colliding all at once. She’s alive. She’s here. She’s reaching out to me.I type back immediately.Yes. Anywhere. I’m free.The reply comes almost instantly, which only adds to the jittery energy crawling through me.Nyra: Two hours. I’ll send the address.Two hours.I press my phone to my chest and let out a shaky laugh that turns into something dangerously clos
ERDENThe drive to the hospital feels longer than it should, even with the siren screaming ahead of us and the road clearing like it knows better than to get in our way. I sit rigid in the passenger seat, jaw clenched, replaying Arch’s smile over and over again. That calm and confidence. I'd known something was wrong and I should have trusted my instincts instead of trying to force logic onto something that has never played by logical rules.Aksel drives like he’s trying to tear the asphalt apart, his hands tight on the wheel, knuckles pale. Kavev is in the back, phone pressed to his ear, barking orders and questions to people who don’t have answers yet. No one is saying what we’re all thinking, but it hangs between us anyway, undeniable. Arch did not show himself because he was desperate. He showed himself because he needed us somewhere else.The hospital is ahead. We don’t bother parking properly. Aksel pulls up at the curb, and I’m out of the car before it fully stops, my pulse
ERDENWe catch him at the edge of the trees, where the ground dips and the undergrowth thins just enough to slow him down. It isn’t graceful, and it isn’t clean, but it is inevitable. Arch trips on an exposed root, goes down hard, and when he tries to scramble back up, Aksel is already on him, driving him face-first into the dirt with a grunt of effort. I am there a second later, twisting Arch’s arm behind his back while Farouk circles wide, gun raised.Arch doesn’t scream, and that is the first thing that strikes me as wrong.He groans, sure, breath wheezing out of him as his cheek presses into the ground, but there is no panic in it. No fear. Just irritation, like this, is an inconvenience rather than a disaster. It sends a ripple of unease through me that I don’t bother trying to hide.“Get him up,” I say, my voice low and controlled, even though my heart is still pounding from the chase. “We’re not doing this out here.”They haul him to his feet, and when he turns his head, his
ERDENI am already halfway through a call when Lyssandra’s message comes in, and the moment I read Arch’s name, something tightens in my chest in a way that has nothing to do with surprise and everything to do with confirmation. I don’t stop what I’m doing, I don’t slow down, and I don’t pretend that this is anything other than exactly what I have been expecting all along. If Arch is bold enough to walk into her office and issue threats, then my father is closer than we thought, close enough to feel comfortable letting his dogs bark in public.I end the call I’m on with Lyssandra, and dial Farouk immediately, already walking toward the garage where Aksel and Kavev are waiting. When Farouk answers, I don’t waste time with greetings or pleasantries.“Are you still on Arch?” I ask, keeping my voice level even though my pulse has started to pick up.“Yes,” Farouk replies, and I hear the sound of traffic through his open window. “He left the office not long ago. I’m a few cars back. He’s
LYSSANDRAI don’t sit back down. I refuse to. The moment Arch opens his mouth again, something feral rises in my chest, claws scraping against my ribs, demanding release. I plant my palms flat on the desk instead, leaning forward like I might lunge across it at any second.“I’m not talking to you,” I say, my voice low and razor-edged. “In fact, you’ve got about five seconds to leave my office before I call the police and have your ass dragged out of here.”Arch just grunts, a sound of lazy disbelief rumbling from his throat, and tilts his head at me like I’ve said something mildly amusing.“You wouldn’t dare,” he says calmly.That alone almost does it. The certainty in his tone, the way he still thinks he knows me, owns me, and can even predict the limits of my fury makes me more furious. I straighten slowly. “Try me.”Nathan shifts uncomfortably beside him, but Arch doesn’t look away from me. His eyes stay locked on mine, calculating, like he’s already playing out the next ten move





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