A scream pierces the night—one of the Vultures goes down, clutching his leg. Storm knocks another out with a brutal punch, Ash covers him with a shotgun.
Then, silence.
The Vultures are dead or gone, bodies scattered across the platform. Blood steams in the snow. The only sound is the whistle of wind and the soft, wet thud of flakes landing on bodies.
Albert Devereaux stands alone, his gun pointed at me, rage and betrayal twisting his face.
Phantom moves in, gun never wavering. “It’s over, Albert. Put it down.”
My father’s lips curl. “You always were her weakness, weren’t you? I should have killed you when I had the chance. My men told me you two were seeing each other behind my back.”
His finger tightens on the trigger, but he’s not aiming at Phantom.
He’s aiming at me.
I stare down the barrel, feeling nothing but a terrible, aching calm. This is how it ends.
But Phantom’s faster.
His shot explodes into the night, tearing through my father’s chest. Albert staggers, his gun falling from his hand, body pitching forward to the concrete. The blood stains the snow, soaking the ice in a spreading pool of red.
He doesn’t get back up.
I can’t breathe. I can’t move. My entire world tilts sideways as the storm inside me finally breaks free. My body shakes with a wave of emotions I can’t decipher just yet. My head and heart war between letting me scream with the pain ripping through me and the satisfaction of knowing the man who could kill my daughter is dead. He’s no longer a threat to her or me. Or the man I love.
The book drops from my hands to the ground, pages fluttering in the wind.
“Come here, baby.”
Phantom’s strong arms wrap around me, lifting me, grounding me. His warm scent fills my lungs—smoke, leather, something dark and fierce that is all my man. He presses my head to his chest, his hands splayed at my back, anchoring me when my knees buckle.
“It’s over,” he murmurs, voice ragged at my ear. “You did it. You’re alive. I’ve got you. Give me all your pain so I can take it from you.”
I sob into his chest reaches for my pain and together we stand there letting the past and the violent death of my father pull at our raw emotions.
He rocks me gently, fingers threading through my hair. He tenderly presses his forehead to mine. I feel his heart racing, thethrum of life beneath my palm, and it makes me believe, just for this moment, that survival is possible. That love can come back from the dead. Second chances never go as planned, and ours is proof of that.
Phantom pulls back enough to look at me, eyes shining in the cold light. “Come on. Let’s get you back to your brother.”
My vision is blurry with tears, but when we walk back, I see Micah leaning against a broken crate wearing a smile. He’s clutching his side, pale but alive. And smiling. I wrap my arms around his shoulders, pulling him in as tight as I can.
He lets out a shaky breath, leaning into me, his forehead pressing to mine. For a moment, we are just brother and sister again, the world shrunk to our battered, beating hearts.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper, voice hoarse. “I should’ve done more. I should’ve kept you safe.”
He shakes his head. “You did what you could. I should’ve known he’d find us out one way or another.”
“What happened?” My hands tighten on his jacket. “How did he know?”
Micah’s eyes fill with guilt and I swear I see a bit of humor in green eyes the same shade as mine. “Your video. You got the cops to his place. Hats off to you. The detective played it for him. Your voice was on there. You were telling Phantom all about our call.”
The blood drains from my face. “Me? Oh my God. I never thought about the audio.” I slap a palm to my forehead. “How stupid and careless.”
My breath catches, guilt crashing into me. “I’m so sorry, Micah. I never meant for this.”
He squeezes my hand. “Don’t be. It’s over for him. But it’s not over for Euphoria. Or the fucking Russian. Veles has every intention of keeping his supply chain running. He’s got every dirty cop in this state on his payroll. Our father was just one of many in the chain.”
Phantom crouches beside us, the black book in his hands. He thumbs through the ruined pages, face dark with determination. “It’s going to take forever to work through this and eliminate everyone. It’ll be a massacre by the time we’re done.”
