LOGINThe laser tag place looked like a rave had crashed into a warehouse and never emotionally recovered.
Sky stepped inside and immediately felt at home.
Neon lights pulsed along the walls in aggressive shades of blue and purple. Fog drifted low across the floor like it had unfinished business. Somewhere nearby, a group of ten-year-olds screamed with the kind of unfiltered joy adults only experienced during tax refunds or arson documentaries.
Sky grinned.
“This i
Sky thought she must’ve heard it wrong the first time. Her brain refused to process the words. It felt like they had been said in another language. Something close enough to understand, but just far enough to not make sense.“What?” she asked.Charlie didn’t look away.“I told him where to find you,” he repeated.Sky shook her head slowly. “No,” she said. “No, you didn’t.” Her chest tightened painfully, like something was pressing down on it. “Say something else,” she snapped. “Say you’re joking. Say you’re lying. Say anything else.”Charlie sighed. “I am not lying. I told him where you were, and I am officially quitting my job as your bodyguard.”“What do you mean?” she asks, still not believing her own ears.Charlie didn’t flinch. “I said I’m done working for your father.”Sky let out a short, breathless laugh that didn’t sound like her. “No,” she said again, but it came out weaker this time. “No, you don’t just…say that and expect it to make sense.”“It makes perfect sense. You’re
Sky did not go without a fight. The entire time they dragged her through the house, she twisted, kicked, and shoved against the man’s shoulder, her hands clawing at anything she could reach. She did not care if it hurt him. She wanted it to hurt him.“Put me down!” she shouted again, her voice hoarse now.He adjusted his grip like she was nothing more than an inconvenience. “You are making this worse for yourself,” he said calmly.“Good,” she snapped, struggling harder.They moved fast through the hallway. She caught flashes of chaos around her. One guard was down near the wall. Another was crouched behind a corner, weapon raised. Someone shouted. Another gunshot echoed, too close.Her heart slammed harder. This was real. This was actually happening.They pushed through the front door and the cold air hit her face hard, stealing her breath for a second. Snow crunched under boots. She twisted again, trying to throw off his balance.It did not work.“Hold still,” he said, his tone losin
Sky paced back and forth in her room because she didn’t know what else to do. It has been over 48 hours since the attack and still no news of Charlie.Her phone was still in her hand. She had not realized she was gripping it that tightly until her fingers started to ache. The word did not sit right in her head. It kept slipping. Like her brain refused to hold onto it for too long.“No,” she muttered. “I can’t believe this is happening.” The door opened quietly behind her, but she did not turn around. A tray was set down on the small table near the window.“Miss,” the guard said carefully. “You should eat something.”“I’m not hungry,” she snapped. “Just leave it,” she added.He nodded and left.Silence again.Sky turned her head toward the table. The food sat there untouched. Steam curled faintly from the plate. It smelled warm and delicious. She stared at it like it offended her.He could be hurt out there and they expected her to eat?She turned away again and resumed pacing, faster
River stood by the window, hands clasped loosely behind his back, staring out at the empty stretch of land beyond the glass. From the outside, it would have looked like he was calm and composed. Inside, something far colder had already settled in his chest.Someone was knocking on the door, but he did not turn. “Come in,” he said gruffly.The door opened. One of his men Stew, stepped inside, posture rigid, careful. “We found something,” he said.River looked at him. “Start talking,” he said impatiently.“Sir…there may have been a leak,” Stew said nervously.“Explain,” River said.Stew swallowed. “The cabin location was compromised before the attack. Communications were cut too clean. Too early. They knew where to hit and when.”River’s gaze sharpened. “That is not an explanation. How did this happen?”“Yes, sir,” Stew said quickly. “We traced internal communications. One of the men assigned to outer rotation sent a signal before the breach. Encrypted, but not well enough.”The room we
“Good,” The man said. He stood up slowly and stepped closer to Charlie.“My name is Adrian Voss,” the man said.Charlie did not react. He had no idea who this man was. “Never heard of you,” he said.Adrian’s mouth curved faintly. “That’s alright. You were not supposed to.”Charlie tilted his head slightly. “Then how about a proper introduction?”Adrian smiled. “I am not much different than River Foster. Merely a rival syndicate,” he explained.Charlie leaned back just a fraction, easing his stance again, letting the conversation feel less like a standoff and more like…something else. He didn’t know what exactly. The rival part was obvious. It wasn’t like River’s best friend would try to kidnap Sky. “Alright,” he said. “Why are you trying to kidnap Sky?”Adrian’s gaze sharpened just slightly, like he had been waiting for that question too. “Because she’s the only one who isn’t trained,” he said.Charlie raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”“You know what I mean,” Adrian went on, calm
The car smelled like leather, cold air, and gun oil.Charlie kept his head down, his breathing steady now, controlled again after the chaos. His hands were restrained behind him, tight enough to remind him they were there, not tight enough to cut circulation.Oh, how sweet of them.The door on his side had a child lock. He had checked that within the first five seconds. Not that he could jump out anyway. The windows were too darkly tinted to see much beyond blurred shapes and streaks of white as they moved.He shifted slightly, testing the space, the angle, the distance between him and the man sitting beside him. He was sitting very close to him. Too close to try anything stupid. Good to know.No one spoke for the first few minutes. The engine hummed steadily beneath them, tires cutting through the snow with a low, consistent sound.His ankle throbbed with every small movement of the car, each bump in the road sending a dull pulse of pain up his leg. He ignored it. Pain was just infor
The next twenty minutes felt too fast.Marcus grabbed the keys and checked the route, speaking low into his radio. The other guards rotated positions outside, engines starting, headlights cutting through the snow. Sky barely noticed any of it.She stood near the couch, arms wrapped around herself,
Sky’s smile faded instantly. The teasing vanished from her face like someone had flipped a switch.“What do you mean, wrong?” she asked, already dropping to her knees beside him.Charlie tried to wave it off, but she saw it in the tightness around his mouth, the way his hand gripped his ankle like
Charlie’s mouth was warm, and for a second she forgot where they were. Who they were.The weight of him anchored her to the mattress, his breath mingling with hers. Her heart hammered wildly in her chest, a chaotic rhythm that seemed to say: this is happening, this is happening, this is happening.
Sky stared at the structure in front of them and tried very hard to believe this was a joke.“What the hell?” she exclaimed.It wasn’t even a house. It was a squat, crooked thing crouched at the edge of a pine forest, half-swallowed by shadow. The roof sagged in the middle like it had given up year







