LOGINThe gunshot ripped open the alley.I didn’t even hear the bullet.I felt it.A hot scream through the air.A pressure wave slamming into my skin.A shock tearing through the space between heartbeats.I braced for pain.For impact.For everything to end.But nothing hit me.Nothing.Instead there was a grunta stumblea body dropping to its knees right in front of me.My father.He had moved faster than thought.Faster than instinct.Faster than death.The bullet hit him instead.He collapsed forward, catching himself with one trembling hand against the pavement. Blood pooled under him in a slow widening circle. His breath hitched. His shoulders shook.“No,” I breathed. The word barely made it out. “No. No. No.”The man in black stared at him with something monstrous curdling behind his eyes. “Fool.”My father spat blood onto the concrete. He tried to lift the gun again but his hand shook violently. “She is not yours.”“She came from me,” the man in black whispered. “She goes with me.”
The flash of the muzzle lit the alley like lightning cracking open the sky. I didn’t hear the gunshot at first. Not really. It was like my brain refused to register the sound because if it did then it meant the bullet was real and the bullet was flying straight at Adrian and I couldn’t lose him not here not now not like this.My body moved before my mind did.Or maybe it was my mind and my body wasn’t fast enough.I don’t even know.All I knew was the scream ripping out of me.“Adrian.”He flinched.Just a slight jerk.A reflex.A human reaction to death rushing toward him.Then another body collided with him from the side.My brother.He slammed into Adrian so hard both of them crashed against the wall. The bullet missed by inches. I heard it slice the air. I swear I felt the heat of it graze past my shoulder before it embedded itself into the bricks with a brutal thud.My legs buckled. My vision shattered.The man in black cursed under his breath, the first crack in his monstrous ca
My throat closed so fast I almost choked on my own breath. The alley tilted under me. Cold light flickered on wet pavement. That voice. That face. That impossible presence standing just feet away with a gun aimed steady at the man who had dragged me through hell.“My father is dead,” I whispered, the words tumbling out like broken glass. “He died before I could ever know him. My mother told me. You died.”He stepped closer.And the closer he came the more the world bent, rewrote itself, shattered at the edges. His eyes. God. His eyes were mine. Not similar. Not close. Mine. The same shape. The same fire. The same storm.“Your mother lied,” he said, voice low enough to shake the space between us. “To save you.”The man in black seized me tighter, his fingers digging into my ribs. “Do not listen to him.”My vision pulsed. Pain spiked through my abdomen so sharply I folded forward with a cry. The man in black pulled me upright again like I was a ragdoll and his grip was the only thing ke
We were falling.Not drifting. Not slipping.Falling.Air ripped past my ears so fast it screamed. My stomach shot into my throat. My mind broke into a dozen jagged pieces. My hands clawed at nothing, grabbing at air, grabbing at him, grabbing at the world that was rushing upward to meet us.I couldn’t breathe. My voice got trapped behind my teeth. My body curled instinctively around my stomach as if that would somehow hold the baby in place through gravity itself.The man in black tightened his grip on me mid plunge, arms locking around my waist like steel bands. His body twisted so he took the fall first. My head slammed against his shoulder. Pain shot through me. My ears rang.We hit the safety awning one level below with a violent bounce that tore a scream out of me. The fabric groaned under our weight, dipped dangerously, and for a second I thought it might rip straight through.It held.Barely.The world spun above us. Alarms blared inside. Security was shouting. My brother was
The guns all lifted at once and for a split second everything went silent. Not quiet. Silent. Like the fear sucked all the noise out of the hallway. I felt the man in black’s grip tighten around my waist, sharp and bruising, as if the threat only made him hold me closer.“Drop her,” one of the security officers barked. “Hands in the air. Step away now.”The man in black didn’t blink. He didn’t flinch. His breath didn’t even change. He just tilted his head slightly, eyes narrowing like he was evaluating which of them he could kill first.My pulse hammered so violently I felt it in my teeth.He whispered near my ear, “They will not shoot with you in my arms.”Something inside me snapped. “Do not use me like a shield.”He smiled. A faint thing. A terrifying thing. “You already are.”My stomach twisted. Pain shot through me again, sharp like a knife sliding under skin. My breath broke. My knees trembled dangerously.Behind us my brother dragged himself up on one elbow, gasping like broken
My knees nearly buckled again, but this time it wasn’t the blood or the pain. It was the impossible sound of my name tearing out of a stranger’s mouth with a familiarity that felt like my ribs cracking open.My brother.He said it like a truth I should have always known.I stared at him, my lips trembling, my breath slicing in and out of me in jagged pieces. His badge glinted under the flickering light. His clothes were smeared with dust and sweat like he had run through hell to get here. His eyes were the same shape as mine.No.No, no, no.That couldn’t be real.The man in black’s expression flickered. Not fear. Just irritation. Like this was a delay and not a threat to his entire plan.“You should not be here,” he said without looking away from me.My supposed brother raised his gun higher. “Take your hand off her.”The man in black turned his head a little. “Do you have any idea who you are pointing that at.”“Yes,” my brother said. “The man who ruined our family. The man my mothe







