LOGIN“Ye…” I started but then thunder cracked across the sky and I flinched so hard I almost stumbled.My grip on his arm tightened instantly, fingers digging into the fabric of his jacket. I’ve always been terrified of storms. The sound of thunder, the way the sky goes dark, the feeling of being trapped under something bigger than me—it had always set something off deep in my chest. And right now, after everything, it felt ten times worse.Somewhere nearby, rain was probably falling hard. I could hear it moving through the trees, a heavy rushing sound getting closer by the second.I held onto him tighter, almost pressing against his side without meaning to.“You said they might come for me again,” I went on, voice shaking. “You can’t just leave me here to fend for myself. Look at me, I can barely walk. I don’t even know where the hell I am. And as you can probably guess by now, I don’t work for any organization. I’m not some trained agent or bounty hunter. I’m just… me. And I’m too invo
I opened my mouth, still not sure what the hell I was supposed to say, when a phone buzzed in the tall one’s pocket. He answered it without looking away from me.“Yeah.”A short pause. I could hear a low voice on the other end, but not the words.“Okay.”He cut the call and stood up slowly, still watching me.“They’ve gotten in,” he told the shorter man. “No point digging for answers anymore. Just kill her.”My blood ran cold.The shorter one frowned. “Seeing that Noah’s got her tied up here might mean she knows something valuable.”The tall one shook his head. “If that were the case, they would’ve already killed her.”Noah?What the fuck did they mean by NOAH keeping me here?It was James. James and Seraphina. They were the ones holding me so I wouldn’t be able to find Noah. Not the other way around. My mind scrambled, trying to make the pieces fit, but nothing did.Before I could even open my mouth to ask what the hell they were talking about, the shorter one sighed.“Okay then.”H
RILEY °❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:・ Hours Earlier ❁✿❀ I was so fucking pressed I thought I might actually piss myself right there in the chair. I’d been holding it for hours, shifting every few minutes, clenching hard, praying James would come back soon so I could beg him to untie me to use the bathroom. My bladder felt ready to burst and every small movement sent an ache through my lower stomach. Even with the zip ties biting into my wrists and ankles, my ankle throbbing from the jump, and my entire body hurting, the urgent need to pee was starting to outweigh it all. When I finally heard the door open, relief crashed through me so hard I almost cried. FINALLY. “You’re back,” I let out, my voice rough from disuse. “I need to go. Bad. Please—” But the footsteps were wrong. I frowned. There were two sets of them, both lighter and quieter. My heart suddenly started kicking hard against my ribs. Mr. James didn’t walk like that and his steps were heavier. Soon they stepped into the room. A
I stared at him in a daze. And it took me a long moment to realize the gunshots inside the house had stopped. The sudden silence was worse than the noise. “No,” I whispered. Then louder, panicked. “No, no, no—” I scrambled to my feet, slipping in the mud, heart racing so fast it hurt as I ran, stumbling toward the front door, bare feet sliding on the wet ground, the gun still clutched in one hand. I reached the door, yanked the door open— —and slammed straight into someone coming out. I stumbled backward, nearly falling, but a strong hand was fast enough to catch me by the waist just in time and pulled me upright. For a split second I was ready to fight my way out. But then I looked up. And… it was Noah. Rain-soaked, bloodied, breathing hard, but ALIVE. His dark eyes locked onto mine, wide with shock. He was still holding a gun in one hand, the other holding my waist tightly. “Saraphina, are you hurt? I heard gunsho—“ I didn’t let him finish and immediately threw myself a
Even through the roar of the storm, the deafening blast tore through the air as violent recoil slammed up my arms.The man staggered back with a choked sound, clutching his side as blood bloomed dark against his wet clothes, looking at me in shock like he couldn’t believe what had just happened.Without waiting to see if he’d fall, I scrambled to my feet with the gun still clutched in my shaking hands and ran toward the house again.I needed to get to him. Fast. He could be bleeding out for all I knew, and that single thought was enough to make my lips tremble.Just as I was closing the distance, something heavy slammed into me from behind. Kai tackled me hard, sending both of us crashing to the muddy ground. The impact knocked the air from my lungs and the gun from my grip as it skidded away into the wet grass, completely out of reach.“Let go!” I snarled as I fought like a wild animal. Kicking, clawing, and twisting under him.Doing everything I could in my power to free myself.
The question caught him off guard. A drop of rain slid from his split lip as he froze, every line of his body signaling a hard refusal to answer that question. He opened his mouth to speak, thought better of it, and closed it. When he finally found his voice, it was to say something that had nothing to do with what I’d asked. “We should get you inside before you catch a cold,” he said instead, reaching for my arm again like he could steer me toward shelter. I jerked back. “No. Answer me.” For a moment, he just stared at me. A moment that felt like forever in the freezing rain. Then, a slow smile curved his mouth, crinkling the bruised skin around his eyes. “It was on the day of your prom,” he said quietly. “I saw your photo before it got taken down. You looked… beautiful. Like a person who didn’t belong in that world. And then, somehow, you ended up here. Close to me.” He let out a short, disbelieving laugh. “Look me in the eye, Saraphina, and tell me that isn’t fate.” “…”







