Semua Bab Torin-Shattered: Way Down We Go (Part 1): Bab 91 - Bab 100

~Marlowe~The morning sunlight crept across the loft floor in long strips, warm against the wood but not warm enough to settle the restless beat under my ribs. The shadows clung to the corners as if they knew they were still needed. Danger didn’t vanish just because the sun came up. If anything, it made the fear easier to see.Rook stood in the kitchen filling a mug, the coffee smell bitter and sharp. He moved slowly, methodically, as though the routine could make the world stop spinning. Torin sat at the table with a stack of printed photos spread in front of him. His thumb dragged along one edge again and again, a restless scrape of skin on paper.I tried not to look at the images, but my eyes kept flicking toward them anyway. A warehouse. Men unloading crates. Metal glinting from inside. Evidence that Lucien hadn’t backed off, he’d dug in.Torin glanced up and watched me for a moment. His voice was steady when he finally spoke, but his jaw was tight. “You should eat something,” he s

~Marlowe~The loft still smelled faintly of splintered wood and gun oil the next morning. Torin had fixed the door well enough to keep us safe, but the memory of it crashing open lingered like dust in the air. I moved quietly through the kitchen, every sound too sharp, every shadow too detailed. Sleep had been thin, stretched like a thread about to snap.Rook stood at the window again, arms folded, watching the street. Torin sat at the table spreading a city map across the scarred wood. Red circles marked several locations. My stomach knotted as I saw the pattern.Lucien was not circling. He was building toward something.Jess arrived without knocking. Rook opened the door before Jess had the chance to raise a hand. Jess stepped inside with the confidence of someone who used to carry a badge, moving with that old investigative posture that never truly left him. Tannin followed, her ponytail swinging sharply, eyes sharp and assessing.“Morning,” Jess said as he set a paper bag of pastri

~Marlowe~I woke to the sound of footsteps and the soft scrape of gear shifting on the table. Dawn had barely stretched across the sky, the loft washed in pale silver light. I sat up slowly, pushing my hair back, watching Torin shrug on a jacket over his vest. Rook stood near the window, checking the street with the rigid posture of someone preparing for war.Jess had already left for the early part of the setup. Tannin texted half an hour ago to say the truck was ready and parked three blocks from the bar. Everything was moving. Everything was shifting toward the fight we had planned.Torin turned toward me. The morning light cut across his face, making the tension in his jaw look sharper. “You should stay in the bedroom today,” he said as he zipped his jacket. “Keep the door closed.”I threw the blanket aside and stood. “No,” I said. “I can’t hide behind a door again.”He crossed the room and stopped in front of me. His hands slid to my shoulders as he searched my face. “Marlowe, I n

~Marlowe~The sirens grew louder, filling the loft with their echo. I pressed my forehead against the windowpane, breath fogging the glass as I searched the street below for any sign of Torin or Rook. I couldn’t stop the trembling in my hands despite how tightly I clasped them together, as I peered harder, but I couldn’t see anything. No movement. No smoke…not even a shadow. Just the strobe-like flashing of blue and red against the buildings. Drawing in a deep breath, I whispered to the empty room. “Please be okay.”As I continued gazing out the glass, every gunshot I’d heard replayed in my mind. Every shout. Every heart-shattering silence that followed after. My stomach twisted with every image that flashed through my mind at what could be happening in that storage building. I thought of the way Torin had looked at me this morning, steady and fierce, promising me this would end today. Promising he would come back: the room felt colder without him.I paced from the window to the door,

~Marlowe~Rook refused to go to the hospital, which meant the loft turned into a makeshift medical ward the rest of the morning. Tannin fetched supplies from the pharmacy down the street, and Jess cleared off the kitchen table, grumbling the entire time about Rook being the worst patient in the known universe.Rook insisted on narrating the cleaning of his wound like it was a heroic saga.Tannin dabbed at the bandage again. “Stop talking,” she said as she held his arm still.Rook winced dramatically. “You act like you aren’t enjoying this.”“You’re annoying,” she returned.He smirked. “You like me.”“Don’t push your luck,” she said as she tightened the bandage.Jess watched them with narrowed eyes. “You two need therapy,” he said.“Probably,” Tannin answered.Rook pointed at her with his good hand. “Couples therapy.”Tannin froze mid-wrap. “Well, as we aren’t a couple….”Rook grinned. “I’m just saying—”“Finish that sentence and I’ll put you back in that storage building,” she said.I