7 Seconds Criminal Minds Novels & Stories

PHOEBE The human mind, when subjected to extreme duress, does not process time in linear increments. It fragments. It stretches minutes into agonizing, hollow epochs, filling the silence with every worst-case scenario your imagination can assemble from the dark. For exactly twenty-three minutes, I was a prisoner inside my own sanctuary.

I needed to put space between myself and that room and that conversation and the look on his face when he said Nightfall Pack. What happened in those seven days? I had been unconscious for all of it, completely, helplessly unconscious while Adrian had seven days of unrestricted access to think, to investigate, to map out whatever picture he was building around me. Seven days was a long time for a man like him. Seven days was enough time to build something significant.

Through tears, she said, "Ash, if I had not gotten so close to Rowan back then, would this happiness have been mine? We would have had a lovely baby too..." "Nina." I interrupted her, looking at the lisianthus in her hands. "There are no ifs in this world. And I do not like lisianthus. I only like mermaid roses." Nina looked utterly shattered. In the end, she gave a silent smile, set the things down, and left. Before she went, she told me that Rowan had been arrested for suspected theft. During police questioning, they discovered that he knew the driver who had hit me. Digging deeper revealed that my accident had not been an accident at all; it had been planned.

My thumb hovered for half a second—like my body already knew what my mind was about to catch up to. I tapped the folder open and was greeted with several audio files, screenshots of conversations and documents. Time-stamped, each meticulously categorized in a clean manner. My jaw tightened as the first recording played. Lilith's voice filled the room—sharp, impatient, stripped of the softness she performed so well in public. "Fuck, I even slept with the fucking skank just to get the needed effect. And now you expect me to sit still while it falls apart?" Oliver didn't say a word. He didn't need to.

Blood poured out, the sight horrifying. No one around us dared to speak. Only the security guards stood nearby, tense, ready to step in at any moment. I watched her spiral into madness. There was no trace of emotion in me, only disgust and a creeping sense of dread. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before the police arrived and took Deanna away. Her case went to trial quickly. The investigation confirmed that she did murder Darren. His body had been hidden in the basement of the Cunningham estate. Her actions constituted intentional homicide. Combined with the financial crimes previously tied to Cunningham Group, the circumstances were especially severe. In the end, she was sentenced to death.

Reality hardening around us. "And Subject Seven. My disappointing fragment. The one who developed that problematic conscience. Still trying to play hero despite knowing heroes die first in stories like this." The screens multiplied. Showing different locations. Dr. Chen and her eleven subjects frozen mid-movement. Not dead. Suspended in quantum stasis. Trapped like insects in amber. "Forty seconds," the real X continued. "That's how long Dr. Chen's trap would have worked. She calculated correctly. I would be vulnerable for approximately forty seconds while accessing Eva's consciousness. She planned well. Positioned equipment precisely. Coordinated timing perfectly."

Too calm. Back at the estate, Aria refused to sit. She paced the nursery floor, staring at the empty crib like it might give her answers. Something felt wrong. Not just the kidnapping. The way it happened. No broken locks. No alarms triggered. Seven seconds of darkness. Seven seconds. Her eyes moved slowly toward the hallway camera mounted near the ceiling. Seven seconds meant someone knew the system. Someone inside. Her stomach turned. In the security room, Luca replayed the footage again. “There,” one of the tech men said.

Like they had gone into power-down mode, Colin thought. ‘How are you feeling?’ he mind linked Adina. ‘I’m fine, stop worrying,’ she told him, and he felt her thumb rub circles on top of his hand. “How long do you think this will take?” Sean asked out loud. “It could take an hour, or it could take a week,” Adina shrugged. She had barely uttered the words when the jury came walking in again. ‘Is it good or bad that it was so fast?’ Sean asked in a mind link.

After my brother and fake heir, Damon Stewart, runs someone over, he frames me for it. My fiancee immediately breaks off our engagement and marries him. I'm facing prison time, but Crystal Morgan—my childhood sweetheart who's also a lawyer—resolutely chooses to marry me. She works tirelessly to clear my name, and eventually she gets Damon sent to prison. However, her family runs into financial trouble, and her ailing mother is facing prison time herself. To repay a debt of gratitude, I, an accountant, take the blame for the crime and spend seven years in prison. But on the day I'm released, I overhear Crystal and her mother, Lilian Murphy, talking from behind the gates. "Crystal, Elija

I nagged, tapping through my phone screen with force. “We have caught the criminal!” My mind shattered into a million unpickable pieces. I was doomed!