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Chapter 38: Luc Returns Shaken

Auteur: Mara Sinclair
last update Date de publication: 2026-04-08 19:10:08

The second shot didn’t come.

That was the strange part.

The warehouse held its breath after the gunfire, as if even the men who fired the first round were listening to what it had done to us. The silence wasn’t peace. It was calculation.

Renaud kept me pinned behind the forklift, one arm across my shoulders, his body angled to block the open floor. I hated how safe it made me feel. I hated more that I needed it.

Gabriel crouched a few feet away, weapon raised,
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  • VOWS IN THE WAR ROOM   Chapter 40: Sabine’s Sweet Knife

    The door didn’t open.It stopped halfway, like the person outside wanted me to feel the near-miss. Wanted me to imagine what would happen if the lock gave way.Then the handle eased back to center.Silence.Julien didn’t move. Not at first. His hand hovered near the knob, like he was deciding between courage and foolishness.“Don’t,” I whispered.He froze.The printer finished and chirped like a cheerful idiot. The papers sat in the output tray, crisp and accusing.I crossed the room and snatched them up. My hands shook so hard the pages fluttered.Julien finally spoke. “We need to tell Renaud.”“I know,” I said. “But I need one minute.”“One minute for what?”“To breathe,” I snapped. Then softened it because Julien wasn’t my enemy. “To think without someone else deciding what I’m

  • VOWS IN THE WAR ROOM   Chapter 39: The Father’s Network

    I woke before the house did.The estate always had its own rhythm. Soft footfalls from staff in the corridor. The hush of thick walls. The distant sound of a kettle that belonged to someone who believed in mornings.I didn’t believe in mornings anymore. Not since I’d learned how easily a quiet day could turn into a headline.I slipped out of bed without waking Renaud. He was awake anyway. I could tell by the way his breathing didn’t change. He stayed still, like stillness was a weapon.“Where are you going?” he asked, voice rough.“To see my brother,” I said.A pause. The kind that meant he wanted to argue but had decided not to.“Take the west stairs,” he said. “And don’t stop for anyone.”“Is that your version of good morning?”“It’s my version of staying married.”My mouth tried to smile. It didn’t land.

  • VOWS IN THE WAR ROOM   Chapter 38: Luc Returns Shaken

    The second shot didn’t come.That was the strange part.The warehouse held its breath after the gunfire, as if even the men who fired the first round were listening to what it had done to us. The silence wasn’t peace. It was calculation.Renaud kept me pinned behind the forklift, one arm across my shoulders, his body angled to block the open floor. I hated how safe it made me feel. I hated more that I needed it.Gabriel crouched a few feet away, weapon raised, eyes locked on the office window and the shadows along the far wall. Julien was behind a stack of pallets, pale and sweating, his folder-hand empty now.My phone buzzed in my pocket. I didn’t reach for it. Every movement felt like an invitation.Above us, the office window shifted again. A shape moved behind the glass.Then a voice drifted down, amused. “No more shots. Not yet. We’re not here for blood.”“Then bring him out,” Renaud said, v

  • VOWS IN THE WAR ROOM   Chapter 37: The Empty Warehouse

    The industrial side of the river always smelled like cold metal and old rain.I sat in the back seat of Renaud’s SUV with my hands folded the way polite wives do when they are trying not to shake. My coat was buttoned to my throat. My hair was pinned up, neat enough to pass inspection, even if my nerves were doing cartwheels.Wife camouflage, I reminded myself.Beside me, Renaud stared through the windshield like the night had personally offended him. The dashboard light cut a clean line along his jaw, catching the faint scar near the corner. He looked calm. Too calm.Gabriel drove. Both hands steady on the wheel, eyes moving in small, careful checks…mirrors, road, mirrors again. He didn’t speak much, but he didn’t miss anything either.Julien sat in front, clutching a slim folder like it was a baby bird.On the speaker, Sabine’s voice slid in and out of the quiet.“You’re five minutes out,&r

  • VOWS IN THE WAR ROOM   Chapter 36: A Rescue Plan

    The door didn’t open.For three long seconds, the handle stayed angled, held in a patient grip.Then it eased back into place.No footsteps retreating. No hurried escape.Just… absence.Renaud’s eyes stayed fixed on the door as if he could burn a hole through it with attention alone. He didn’t reach for dramatics. He reached under the console and pulled out a compact earpiece, then pressed it into his ear.“Gabriel,” he murmured.“Already,” Gabriel said, and I heard keys tapping in the background. “Cameras on that corridor glitched eight seconds ago. Someone looped the feed.”Renaud’s mouth flattened. “Inside help.”“I’m sending two men,” Gabriel said. “Quiet. They’ll sweep.”“No,” Renaud replied. “Not two. Four. And keep them off the main stairs.”He looked at me then,

  • VOWS IN THE WAR ROOM   Chapter 35: The Threat Message

    My phone buzzed once.Not a call. Not even the polite trill I’d assigned to family. Just a hard vibration against the wood of the war-room table, like something knocking from the inside.Renaud was standing at the spot where he’d been when he said it… Your mother left something behind. He had one hand on the back of a chair, knuckles pale, as if the chair might try to move.I glanced at the screen.Unknown number.A photo loaded before I could talk myself out of tapping it.Luc.My brother’s face filled the screen, grainy and close. His eyes were too wide. A bruise was starting to bloom at his cheekbone, purple under yellow light. He looked like he’d been dragged out of bed and reminded, the hard way…that fear has rules.The room behind him was bare…a concrete wall, a metal chair, no windows. Someone had taken the photo from above, making him look smaller than he was.

  • VOWS IN THE WAR ROOM   Chapter 34: The Shield Claim

    “A shield,” I repeated, because if I didn’t say the word out loud, it might not be real. Renaud stayed still, hands at his sides, as if he’d already decided not to touch me again. Maybe he didn’t trust himself. Maybe he didn’t trust what touching did to me. “What people?” I asked.

  • VOWS IN THE WAR ROOM   Chapter 33: The First Tender Touch

    Luc’s front door shut behind me with a soft click that felt louder than the street.I stood on his tiny landing for a second, breathing through my nose like I’d been taught to do in meetings with angry suppliers. Same trick. A different kind of anger.My brother had begged. Then he’

  • VOWS IN THE WAR ROOM   Chapter 32: Brother Cornered

    Luc’s apartment smelled like cheap cologne and panic.The hallway outside his door was too quiet. One of those old buildings where the walls held sound like secrets. I knocked once, then twice, then harder.“Luc,” I called. “Open the door.”Nothi

  • VOWS IN THE WAR ROOM   Chapter 31: The Missing Footage

    Smoke still clung to my hair when the last fire truck rolled away.Morcant Glassworks looked the same from the road…old brick, tall windows, the chimney that had watched over three generations, but the air had changed. The kind of change you taste. Bitter. Metallic. Like the buildin

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