Zariah Gabriel ran straight into the storm. For one horrifying second, no one moved. The drones turned toward him in perfect unison, their blue lights cutting through the rain as every targeting beam shifted away from the house. He sprinted across the open lawn with a speed that didn’t match the exhaustion in his face, and for the first time, I understood that he hadn’t been trying to escape his past. He had been running toward the moment when he could finally pay for it. Malik shouted his brother’s name, but Gabriel didn’t look back. That alone told me everything. If he turned around, he might stop. If he stopped, the drones would turn back toward me, and whatever chance we had would disappear with him. “We move now,” Darius snapped. Malik looked torn in a way I’d never seen before. His hand tightened around the silver key Gabriel had pressed into his palm, but his eyes stayed on his brother. For one heartbeat, I thought he might run after him, and a part of me couldn’t blame hi
Last Updated : 2026-06-28 Read more