MasukCATHERINE I must have forgotten how to breathe, or the air was too thick. Either way, my lungs stopped working, my ears rang, drowning out everything.A muffled sound echoed from above me.My head felt heavy, but I looked up anyway. His lips were moving, talking? No. His brows were knotted, his eyes wide , fear seeping out. The veins in his neck were bulging. Shouting.My gaze flickered to the ground. I was closer to it than it should have been. When did my knees give out?My grandmother’s words refused to stop replaying in my head.Your father isn’t dead.The cold that settled in my bones wasn’t from the harsh crashing of waves or the fact that we were close to the sea. It was from the realization that the worst of them all was still here… lurking in the shadows.A hand clamped down hard on my shoulder.I turned to meet Marcus’s wild eyes dragging over me like he was searching for injuries. His voice broke through the ringing this time, barely. “Catherine,” he barked, shaking me g
CATHERINE “I take it your martyr stunt didn’t work out as well as you thought it would.”I shuffled on my feet, pushing down that feeling that tried so hard to crawl back up. The look in Marcus’s eyes was plain and simple… disappointment. He had every right to.I swallowed heavily, taking a step forward.His gaze faltered, just for half a second before hardening.“Why are you here, Cath?” He said evenly, even as his fingers dug into his arms.“I’m sorry,” I whispered, my voice muffled by the steady sound of waves crashing into each other. Cold seeped into my bones but the weight in my chest thawed it out. The docks were practically empty, save for the security guard staring us down from the end of the boat. I pretended not to notice.His scoff was lost in the wind as he tilted his head heavenward. “I’ve got crates to offload, Cath.”“Marcus-“He snapped his head back to me, eyes narrowing. “No. You don’t get to run into a fucking death trap even when I begged you not to and now whe
RONALD“Found your little friend.” The man said, his dark gaze flicking to Frankie.For a moment I was certain I was hallucinating. Frankie had been halfway across the country, setting off his own plans against the threat we both faced.Now he was here. Bruised and barely conscious. His once pristine suit was jagged, soaked in crimson, his silver rings stained with blood. The sight of him reduced to something so fragile felt… wrong. Frankie was always untouchable. Until now.“Frankie?” Mason breathed. The disbelief in his voice only sharpened. “Well… that’s unexpected.”Frankie’s unfocused eyes blinked slowly as he struggled to lift his head. “Ronald…” he rasped. “You-.”A slow clap echoed through the chamber, cutting off whatever he was about to say.“Touching,” the man before us drawled, his tone laced with mock amusement. “Truly. Loyalty is such a rare commodity these days.”My gaze hardened on him. “You dragged him into this to make a point?” I asked coldly.His lips curved into
RONALDMason glanced over at me from the hood of the car, his brows furrowed.Me, on the other hand, was slightly confused. Talk.We just stormed into their base, with a hostage who was now dead and they wanted to talk? Why not just kill us?I didn’t let the thought linger.The fact was that we were probably surrounded on all sides. If they wanted to kill us, they would have before we even knew what was coming. And we didn’t have the luxury of declining.I pushed an exhale through my nose and stood slowly. Mason hesitated for half a second before following closely.My eyes scanned the empty road, the shadowed trees. They had gone silent again. Mason and I exchanged a glance.“So,” Mason said tightly. “We just going to wait to get slaughtered? I kind of like my head on my shoulders.”I scowled, leaning on the hood of the car. “Got a better idea?”He opened his mouth. Then shut it. Exactly.The next minute, the low hum of an engine steadily approached us, the headlights cutting through
RONALDThe low hum of the engine was the only sound that buzzed through the silence, vibrating through the car like a warning.My eyes stayed fixed on the metal door to the safe house, jaw ticking with restraint. Catherine was going to hate me. She already did. But it didn’t matter because she was safe… away from the madness that was about to unfold.That was enough.At least that was what I told myself. It didn’t stop my chest from tightening, a weight that I didn’t want to acknowledge pressing against my chest, making it almost impossible to breathe. I ignored it too.My phone buzzed in my pocket.I ignored.I already knew who it was. Frankie. He’d been calling nonstop for over a week… demanding updates, sending his men to lurk in the shadows, trying to find answers they weren’t ready for. He was restless. Restless Frankie was dangerous, but useful. His impatience worked in my favor.Another vibration rolled through me. Another ignored call.A low groan cut through the haze.My gaz
CATHERINEThe air went silent, no one spoke, no one moved.Or maybe they did. I couldn’t tell over the ringing in my ears, over the ice that spreading through my veins like poison.T’s words were on repeat, playing over and over like a broken record in my mind.Ellie was never in danger?She never was in danger.No. That was impossible. It had to be. “You’re lying.” I muttered under my breath.Even my voice had betrayed me, cracking at the end. I stepped forward anyway, ignoring the way Ronald stiffened or how Mason’s attention sharpened. Like both were unsure of what I was about to do.“What do you gain from this?” I demanded. “And don’t insult me by saying you were forced into it. You look like you enjoyed every second.”My voice dropped.“Picking into peoples lives. Turning them in one another… planting deceit, playing people like they’re-““But I was just the spark,” T cut in smoothly. “You lit the fire yourself.”My pulse stuttered. My vision swam with rage.His eyes flicked to
CATHERINEThe shrill ringing of my phone was what woke me up. For a second I thought I was dreaming but when the sound persisted I groaned, flailing an arm across my nightstand until my fingers brushed the phone.I squinted at the screen. It was… Ronald. My heart stuttered and I checked the time.2
CATHERINEThe office was way too quiet, the kind of silence that made the hum of the fluorescent lights sound like a swarm of angry bees. I tried to lose myself in the stack of reports on my desk, but my eyes blurred, and all I could see was the cookout. Stacey’s angry face before everything went t
CATHERINE It didn’t feel like drowning at first. It felt like floating in silence until the silence got too heavy.One second I was talking to Stacy and the next my lungs were screaming for air under water. The burn in my chest spread up to my throat, and my legs kicked out in a panic. My hands th
RONALDMy breath caught as the front door opened. Her brows drew together in confusion.“Ronald,” she breathed.I didn’t say anything. I just stared. It was insane, I know, but ever since she told me about that damn message, my mind hadn’t rested. Of course I threw every resource I had into trackin







