Collateral Damage Book Novels & Stories

I saw Nathan barreling towards us right before Claire's finger twitched on the trigger. Nathan's hard body slammed into her at the same time she pulled the trigger. Everything seemed to go into slow-motion. Nathan tackled Claire to the ground, fighting her for possession over the weapon the whole time. The bullet came closer to me and I flew all my weight to the right to avoid the bullet. But before I could really move, the small piece of metal launched into my skin, puncturing my right bicep.

Because disobedience meant death. And maybe worse. --- Far in the distance, the last of Kael’s convoy sped through the forest roads, tires grinding against wet gravel, engines humming like shadows fleeing the storm. Inside the Rolls-Royce Cullinan Black Badge, Kael sat in the passenger seat, the ancient tome resting on his lap. The Book of Damned. Bound in something no one dared identify. Etched with runes that seemed to slither under the eye. Heavy as if filled with the weight of every soul it condemned.

Just confusion. I step inside and close the door behind me. “It’s business.” “That’s not an answer.” She stands slowly, the paper trembling slightly in her hand. “This says you knew about the acquisition before Gabriel even suspected it.” “Yes.” “It says I was factored into risk projections.” There it is. The real wound. “I needed to assess fallout.” “Fallout?” Her voice cracks just slightly. “Is that what I am? Collateral damage?” I walk closer, slow and controlled.

It was alarming that the severed rib bones were able to be seen and then pulled through all the deep, red blood that had pooled in the open wound. Previously silent, hyper-focused on the work that he was doing, Corbin began speaking yet again. "This is history in the making. This is something that should be able to go in the history books but can’t thanks to our ways being a secret. If Elliot here were a simple human, he would have been dead by now, but those secrets are what’s keeping him alive.”

A mercenary yanked her upright by the arm. “Add her,” Miller said casually. “Family leverage.” My heart pounded so violently I thought I might black out. “Please,” I said, the word tasting like ash. “They have nothing to do with this.” Miller’s gaze flicked to me. “You are the future of Rhodes,” he said. “Collateral damage is inevitable.” Behind him, flames were beginning to lick along the walls of the east wing. Smoke thickened, swirling around chandeliers that had once glittered at galas and celebrations.

That was the day Collen's life began spiraling out of his control. Not only did he lose a good friend. But when he arrived at Walter Reed he learned just how bad the damage was. The shrapnel to his abdomen was the more minor issue. His leg had been hit by quite a bit of shrapnel and had a few fractures. In one sense he was extraordinarily lucky to have kept his leg, in another the outcome was just as horrible as losing his leg.

“He couldn’t beat him head-on. But if he fractures everyone around him—me, you, the company—he weakens Nathan’s foundation.” “So we’re collateral damage.” “No,” he said firmly. “We’re leverage.” I inhaled deeply, nausea curling in my stomach. “That’s disgusting.” “It's Damian,” Alex said with a shrug. “He’s always been that kind of monster.” Liana let out a loud burp, and we both turned to her, momentarily distracted. She grinned like she’d just solved world hunger. “Remind me to raise her in a bubble,” I muttered, and Alex chuckled.

I thought about it honestly. "Like something that started in grief and damage is becoming something that protects people," I said. "The specific knowledge Mae has. The way it was acquired. The damage it produced." I paused. "It is not redeemed. Redemption is the wrong word. But it is being used in the direction it should have been used all along." I paused. "That matters. Even if I do not have a clean word for why it matters." "It matters because people are safer," Colt said. "Yes," I said. "That is the clean word."

He has to get to his child. We can push the door open far enough for me to slip into the opening. It is handy to be small sometimes. I enter the room, seeing the cause of the obstruction is a bookshelf. It must have tipped and lodged itself against the door during the earthquake. I tip the bookshelf back against the wall, letting Brixtius have access to the room. A room with furniture strewn all over the place. "Eurydice!" I yell out, hearing her cries from under a fallen dresser. Brixtius moves with speed and lifts the wooden furniture like it weighs nothing.

CHAPTER 20 — Collateral Damage POV: Melanie The first headline Melanie saw that morning made her stomach twist. CROSS ENTERPRISES EXECUTIVE ACCUSED OF CORPORATE CLEANSING She stared at the screen from the edge of Damien’s bed, her coffee untouched, the city outside the penthouse window looking exactly the same as it always had. Bright. Expensive. Indifferent. The article didn’t mention her name. That didn’t mean she wasn’t in it. She scrolled.