FATED REJECTION: BOUNDED BY LOVE, DIVIDED BY FATE의 모든 챕터: 챕터 71 - 챕터 80

Avery’s POVThe air in the SUV was thick with exhaustion and adrenaline. No one spoke as we sped down the highway, the city lights growing brighter in the distance. Every mile that passed felt like a countdown to something bigger, something inevitable.Lisa was still ahead of us.She had let us go because she knew we'd come back. And she was ready.I glanced at Noah. He was still pale, his head leaned against the window, but his breathing was steadier. The pain must have been unbearable, but he hadn’t complained once.“You good?” I asked quietly.His eyes flicked open, and for a second, they softened. “I’ve been worse.”That was a lie, but I let it slide.Raven was still typing on her laptop, her face illuminated by the glow of the screen. Dominic kept his eyes on the road, his grip on the wheel tight.Finally, Raven exhaled sharply. “Alright. I’ve got a lead.”Dominic glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “Talk.”She turned the laptop so we could see. “Lisa’s scheduled to meet at a

Avery’s POVThe gunshot ripped through the night.Pain exploded through my shoulder, knocking me backward. The ground came up fast, the cold concrete jarring against my spine. My vision blurred, and for a second, all I could hear was the ringing in my ears.Someone was shouting my name.I tried to move, but fire licked up my arm, spreading through my entire body. My breath came in short, shallow gasps as I pressed my hand to the wound. Warm, sticky blood seeped between my fingers.Lisa stood over me, gun still raised, a smirk playing at her lips.“Did you really think this would end any other way?” she mused, tilting her head.I forced my body to move, my fingers curling toward the gun I had dropped, but Lisa stepped forward and kicked it away.“I have to admit,” she continued, crouching down beside me. “You were persistent. Annoying, but persistent.” She reached out, brushing a strand of hair from my face like she actually cared. “That’s why I liked you, Avery. You had fight.”I clen

Avery's POV The SUV sped through the darkened roads, a whiff of burnt rubber still hanging in the air. The sound of gunfire had finally faded away behind us, while inside the vehicle, the tension was all-consuming. Nobody said anything, but the unspoken truth was palpable—we had barely managed to escape, and Lisa would not let us go that easily.I leaned my head against the cool window, while my body rattled with tremors from blood loss and an adrenaline crash. Every now and again, I would slip in and out of consciousness as Noah clutched me tighter into him to keep me propped upright. His face hard with concern. He held my hand as though he were afraid to let go, his eyes on my face."Stay with me," he said roughly.Dominic was still gripping the gun in the front seat, still glancing intently between the side mirror and the road ahead. "How bad is she?"Noah bit out, "She needs a hospital. She's losing too much blood."I tried to speak, to soothe them, to say I was okay, but my tong

Avery’s POVLisa grunted as we fell down, her haggard hair disarrayed in perfect arrangements; her face sculping great twists of frustration. I didn't allow her even a second of respite. I straddled her, took the front of her pricey silk blouse and slammed her head against the marble floor.She gasped, but I could barely hear it over the chaos that erupted around us. Gunfire cracked through the air, and Dominic's deep curses mixed with the sharp clicks of Raven's tech. Noah was shouting my name, but I couldn't focus on him right now.To put it another way, Lisa has been tearing my life apart over many years. If I did not end this thing now, she would never stop.She recovered quickly, raising her knee into my ribs to knock the breath from my lungs. I rolled away instantly to just slide out of the way of her next attack when she lunged at me.Well, she was not some pampered socialite-she was trained and ready for situations like this. Her punches are controlled, deliberate, but mine ar

Avery’s POVThe night dragged on in silence, thick and suffocating. Sleep wasn’t an option, not when my mind wouldn’t stop racing. Lisa was out there, hunting us. We had barely escaped the warehouse, and now we were holed up in a safe house that felt more like a waiting room before a battle.I sat by the cracked window, watching the city beyond the darkness. A few flickering streetlights cast long, distorted shadows across the empty road. The world kept moving, oblivious to the war we were about to start.Behind me, the soft click of a keyboard filled the room. Raven was still working, hunched over her laptop, eyes flickering across the multiple screens in front of her. Dominic had disappeared into one of the back rooms, probably getting whatever sleep he could manage. Noah was standing near the doorway, arms crossed, his entire body rigid with tension.“We should be doing more,” he muttered, barely loud enough for me to hear.I turned to him. “Raven’s doing everything she can. We hav