“I don’t know. A rumor, maybe.” He swallowed hard. “Someone said they lost someone months ago. A girl. From a warehouse. They look for her everywhere now.”
My spine went rigid.
Voodoo’s breath caught—barely. Bones shifted his weight toward me a single inch, subtle but protective.
“They have a name for her?” Bones asked.
Luis nodded. “La Perdida.”The Lost One.
Ice slid down my back.
“Luis,” Bones said, voice flat as a blade, “look at me.”
The man obeyed instantly.
“You didn’t tell them anything,” Bones said. “You didn’t speak into that radio.”
Luis shook his head. “No—no, I didn’t. I didn’t have time. You—all of you—moved too fast.”
Bones leaned closer. “If you had?”
Luis’s voice cracked. “They would’ve come. They don’t care who else dies around the target.”
The target.
Me.
He meant me.
Voodoo’s jaw clenched, and I saw his fingers flex once like he wanted to break something.
Bones stood slowly. He exhaled through his nose, long and controlled. Then he looked at Legend.
“He’s staying quiet,” Bones said. “Tie him. He’s not going anywhere until we’re done.”
Luis started to tremble. “Please—I?—”
Voodoo stepped in, voice low but not cruel. “Luis, this is your safest possible outcome. Believe me.”
Legend peeled duct tape from his pack with a soft rip and secured Luis’s wrists behind him—not tight enough to injure, but tight enough to keep him from running straight back to the people who’d kill him for failing.
Bones turned toward me next, expression shifting from stone to something gentler around the edges. “Dollface?”
I straightened even though my heart still felt lodged in my throat.
“You good?” he asked.
It wasn’t a casual question. Bones didn’t do casual checks. He was asking if I was triggered, if I needed space, if I was slipping.
“I’m okay,” I said quietly.
My voice didn’t shake. Good.
Voodoo slid closer, his fingers brushing the back of my hand. “You did everything right.”
I didn’t look at him because if I did I might not look away.
“Guys,” AB said suddenly, tension crackling. “Big update.”
