All Chapters of Bride by Default: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

(Adrian)We were out.That didn't mean we were safe."Reroute," I said to the driver. "Not the primary. Take the secondary and hold until I confirm."Harbinger was on comms beside me, running status on his remaining people, his voice low and efficient. I listened with half my attention and used the other half to monitor everything else. The road behind us. The route ahead. The comms traffic that might tell us whether Jolene's people had pursued past the perimeter or pulled back.Those gun shots had to have drawn attention. The police were sure to respond.I still wasn’t sure if we should just let them intercept us or not.Sienna was in the seat to my left.Still upright. Still pressing her hand to her side. Still looking out the window with the expression that gave nothing away.I kissed her on her temple and watched her and kept talking and kept thinking and told myself the hand position was manageable and the paleness was adrenaline and the slight forward lean was fatigue and all of

(Sienna)Light first.Then the kind of silence that meant controlled environment rather than empty space. Then the low ache in my left side that told me everything I needed to know about the last few hours without requiring detail.I was in a bed. Clean sheets. Low ceiling. A room set up for this purpose rather than converted.I was not in the grey room.That took approximately four seconds to establish and I spent a fifth one just letting it be true.Adrian was in the chair beside the bed.Not asleep. Not on his phone. Just there, forearms on his knees, watching me. His expression didn't need reading from this angle.He'd stayed.I hadn't doubted that he would. But there was a difference between knowing something and finding it true when you opened your eyes, and the difference landed somewhere in my chest in a way I wasn't going to examine right now."You're awake," he said."I am."Neither of us said anything else for a moment.That was fine.Then he said: "You got out.”"We did."

(Adrian)I was still standing in the corridor when the phone buzzed.Blocked number. Clean block, not a withheld number, the kind that came from a routing system rather than a personal setting.I knew before I answered."Swift," I said."You're moving faster than I expected."Jolene's voice. The same register she'd used in the building. Calm. Precise. Flat in a way that suggested emotion had been set aside so long ago it had stopped arriving.I said nothing.She didn't need me to."I was wondering when you'd find Voss," she said. "I left it buried, but not so deep that someone looking wouldn't find it eventually. I wanted you to find it." A pause. "It was important to me that you understood.""Understood what.""Where this started." Another pause. "You always were good at recognising patterns. Just not when you were part of them."I looked at Sienna's door."Edmund Kessler," I said."My grandfather built that company over twenty years." Her voice didn't change. "I watched him build it

(Adrian)Celeste's name appeared on the screen thirty seconds later.I answered because not answering would cost more than the conversation."What the hell is going on?" Her voice carried hours of confusion and a reordering she hadn't consented to. "Is she actually missing? The news is saying she's missing, Adrian, and nobody is telling me anything and I've been calling her phone for two hours—""She's alive," I said.Silence. The shocked kind."What does that mean? That means something happened. What happened?""She's alive and she's being looked after. That's all I can tell you right now.""That's not—""Celeste." I kept my voice even. "I need you to not repeat anything you've seen in the media. To anyone. I need you to stay where you are and not make any statements and not answer any calls from journalists.""Are you being serious right now? She's my sister—""I know. Which is why I'm asking you to trust me for the next few hours."A long silence."She's really okay?" she asked."S

(Adrian)I stepped into the corridor and called.She picked up fast."Tell me you have something," she said."Maya. I'm going to tell you something and I need you to listen before you react."A beat. I heard her go still."Sienna is with me," I said. "At a safehouse. We’ve been here since last night."Silence.Then: "What?""She's injured. Gunshot wound, left side. She's stable and she's going to be fine but I need you to hear that before anything else.""Gunshot—" Maya stopped. A beat that told me she was processing something she hadn't been prepared for. "Shit. How bad?""She needed medical attention. She got it. She's awake and she's already working the problem, which should tell you everything you need to know about her condition."A longer pause."Why didn't you tell me?" Her voice was quieter now. Not accusation. Something more complicated than that."I didn't know which channels were clean," I said. "I still don't. But I need you now and I need you fully, which means you needed