EliasIt didn’t matter how many times I’d been shot at, stabbed, hunted, or betrayed. Nothing compared to walking away from her.I did it anyway.Because if I stayed, she’d be next. And I’d kill too many people trying to stop that from happening. There wouldn’t be a soul left untouched by the fire I’d bring down.So I left before the burn started.By the time Roarke’s people caught up to my trail, I was already in Savannah. I’d left false footprints along the back channels, pinged my location through three burner phones, and sent up smoke where I knew they’d look.And still, they came too fast.Roarke had mobilized everyone. Not just mercs. Not just corrupt suits. Everyone. The cartel-adjacent dealers. The washed up government agents he’d bought with blackmail and blood. Hell, I even spotted one of the twins from Morocco.He wasn’t playing around.And neither was I.---The alley reeked of oil and mildew. My leg was bleeding again nothing fatal, just messy. I’d taken the shot to the t
Celeste The first thing I noticed when I woke was the cold. Not the kind that comes from air conditioning or poor insulation. No this was the kind of cold that wrapped around your bones like a warning. The kind of cold that only made sense when you realized something was missing. Elias. His side of the car was empty. Driver's seat vacant. Door ajar. The blanket we’d shared lay folded across the console, untouched, too neat. Too intentional. I sat up quickly, heart already racing. "Elias?" No answer. I shoved open the door and stepped outside into the damp morning air. Mist clung low over the grass, and the rusted Shell sign above the gas station creaked softly in the breeze. Nothing. No sign of struggle. No note. No tire marks. Just... gone. He left me. The thought hit like a punch to the chest. Not because I didn't expect it. But because deep down, I thought maybe just maybe he'd stay this time. I turned in a slow circle, scanning the horizon, listening. Wai
Elias There are two kinds of silence in this world. The kind that gives you peace. And the kind that presses a blade to your back and waits for you to move. The silence now at the edge of this empty rest stop, buried in a tangle of woods and cold wind was the second kind. Roarke was coming. I could feel it in the pressure behind my ribs. The way my body hadn’t unclenched in over an hour. It was like I’d swallowed tension whole and forgotten how to breathe it out. Celeste was still asleep beside me, curled under the blanket, her cheek pressed to the curve of my arm like it belonged there. She didn’t know I was wide awake. Didn’t know I hadn’t closed my eyes once since Carmen’s message came through. Roarke landing in Savannah meant one thing: this was personal now. He wasn’t sending contractors anymore. He wanted to handle the job himself. And when Roarke got personal, people died. --- I got out of the car just before dawn, letting the chill slap me back into my old skin.
Celeste The moment we crossed into Charleston, the air changed. It tasted like memory. Like panic wrapped in perfume. I kept my eyes on the road ahead, but the skyline made it impossible to forget. Every steel edge, every glass window, reminded me of a life lived behind them one where I smiled for photos, kept quiet at dinners, and learned how to cry silently into thousand-thread-count sheets. Now I was coming back with a gun tucked against my spine and the weight of a man’s lies in my pocket. I didn’t know if I was returning home… or walking into a trap. Beside me, Elias hadn’t spoken in over twenty minutes. He was watching the mirrors like a wolf scenting blood, the tendons in his hands tight against the steering wheel. “You don’t have to come inside,” I said, not because I wanted him to stay behind but because if something went wrong, I wanted at least one of us to make it out alive. Elias didn’t look at me. “I’m not letting you walk into that place alone.” The
CHAPTER FIFTEENEliasThe woods didn’t creak.That’s how I knew someone was there.Not a twig snapped. Not a branch rustled. Just a silence too perfect to be natural. And I’d survived too many missions to mistake perfect silence for peace.Carmen had set up sensors. Nova had layered in comms jammers. The cabin was supposed to be a fortress. But Roarke had reach. Enough to make tech fail. Enough to make a man like me feel like prey.I stood at the edge of the clearing, every muscle pulled taut, my hand resting lightly on my sidearm.Behind me, Celeste slept on the cot in the corner of Carmen’s reinforced bedroom. Her breathing was steady now soft and shallow. But she hadn’t fallen asleep easily. Not after last night.Not after what we did.I still felt the imprint of her fingers against my ribs. The weight of her breath in my mouth. She hadn’t said the words, but she didn’t have to.She chose me.And I had no right to want her as much as I did.But I wanted her anyway.A flicker in the
*Celeste* The name echoed like gunfire in my head. Ilyan Roarke. I’d never heard it before—not once in all the years I’d smiled through charity galas or sat quietly at lavish dinner parties by my husband’s side. But I could feel it in my bones now. The weight of that name. The threat coiled behind it. Roarke wasn’t just the man who’d paid to erase me. He was the reason my life had been rewritten. I didn’t know what he looked like. Didn’t know why I mattered to him. But as Nova’s words hung in the air, the certainty locked in like a blade against my spine: This wasn’t just about Elias. It was about me. “You’re sure?” Elias asked, voice low but sharp enough to cut through steel. Nova didn’t flinch. “I traced the contract back three different ways. The alias led to a shell company. The shell company led to a numbered account. And guess who’s the only one arrogant enough to sign off on a black contract with a biometric lock?” She tossed him a small drive. “Yours to