FAZER LOGINFor a long time, there was only sound, coming and going like waves that could not decide whether to reach the shore.Then, I kept on hearing a woman's voice, faintly coming sharp and steadily, calling for pressure, for more light, and for someone to hold still. Metal against metal.And I was also hearing my own name, being called over and over by different mouths, Kayla's voice cracking on it, Kade's voice gone rough and unfamiliar, and beneath all of it, one voice that never stopped, low and broken, repeating the same two words like a prayer he did not believe would be answered.Stay, please stay.Though I could not open my eyes. And neither could I find the strength to answer any of it, only a float somewhere just beneath the surface of my own body, aware of the pain in the distance, disconnected pieces, my shoulder, my wrists, and a deep ache along my ribs that flared white hot whenever someone shifted me.For once, I thought I felt a hand close around mine, carefully and desperate
Damian dropped to his knees beside me, and though my vision kept sliding in and out of focus, I felt his hands hover over me, shaking and afraid to touch anywhere that might hurt worse."Helena," His voice cracked completely, with none of the careful control he always wore anywhere left in it. "Helena, stay with me. Please look at me."I tried to, but the room tilted sideways again, and somewhere behind him I heard Ryder's voice, sharp and fast, radioing for the healer, for a car, and for anything that might close the distance between this warehouse and safety."Don't you dare," Damian said, carrying me carefully against his chest, with his arms trembling around me. "Don't you dare close your eyes. Not now, not after everything."A moment later, Kade burst into the room, skidding to a stop at the sight of us, his face going white. "Is she—""Alive," Ryder said, already moving to help lift me. "Barely, and we need to move now."Xavier arrived some seconds behind him, with his phone sti
Xavier's voice crackled through the radio just as Damian's team pulled up outside a fourth warehouse, the one that had never appeared on the original filing at all."I found it," Xavier said, breathless. "The shell company routed payments through a second name, and it has been buried three layers deep. And also, there is a fourth property, registered under a subsidiary nobody could have thought to check. It is two blocks from where you are right now.""Address," Damian demanded.Then Xavier rattled it off fast, while Ryder was already turning the car before he finished speaking, and the tires screeched against the wet pavement."How certain are you?" Damian asked, his knuckles white against the dashboard."Certain enough," Xavier responded. "One of Felix's contacts confirmed activity there over the last two days. Deliveries and Vehicles were coming and going at odd hours, as if the property was active for business."Then Kade's voice cut in over the radio, sharp with urgency. "We're t
Ryder had the security feeds pulled within a few minutes, every camera on the block canvassed to make out the plate of the car that had taken me, and by the time Xavier arrived from the estate, breathless and already working on three phones at once, they had a direction, if not yet a location."Warehouse district," Xavier said, spreading a map across the hood of the nearest car. "The plate traces to a shell company registered eight months ago. There are no employees on record, and àno real business activity, just enough paperwork to make it look legitimate to anyone who didn't dig deep enough.""Someone set that up in advance," Ryder said. "Long before today.""Which means today wasn't an opportunity," Damian said, his voice flat and cold in a way that frightened even his own men. "It was a plan someone had been waiting to execute once he got the chance."Kade kept on pacing the length of the street, with his fists clenched, and his usual easy energy stripped down to something raw and
The man did not return right away. So I lay there against the cold wall, testing the ropes at my wrists with slow, careful movements, and feeling the fibers cut deeper into my already raw, from struggling skin.Then, I heard voices drifting through a thin wall somewhere to my left, though it was low and indistinct at first, then it became clearer as I strained to listen."—She's more trouble than they said she'd be." A guard said. I still can't believe that she bit hard on my hand.""She's still just a girl, keep her calm, and this stays simple." Another responded."Simple enough for you, because you are not the one bleeding." The man said again.Then a third voice cut through, quieter, and colder than the other two, and something about its careful, measured tone made my whole body go still. "Enough, both of you. We are not paid to complain, we are paid to wait.""Wait for what?" the first voice pressed. "You said he would be here by now.""Well, he arrives when he wants to," the cold
Damian pulled me up from the chair so fast the room blurred, his grip firm on my arm as he pushed me toward the door ahead of him. Leaving Felix, who is still struggling to rise from his seat behind, with his cane clattering to the floor, and his face still looking pale with whatever he had been about to say."Go," Felix said, waving us on. "I'll follow. Do not bother yourselves about waiting for an old man."And by the time we got outside, chaos had already broken loose. Three unfamiliar cars blocked the street, with their doors thrown open, and men started pouring out with weapons drawn, and Ryder was already moving, putting himself between the threat and the porch where Kayla stood frozen, with one hand pressed to her mouth."Get her back inside," Damian shouted at Kade, who grabbed Kayla and hauled her through the front door without any argument."How many?" Damian asked, pulling me flat against the porch wall, using his body angled to shield mine."Eight, or maybe more," Ryder ca







