“She thinks she can take him,” I mutter. “She thinks she can takeyou.”
The lights flicker. The hum of the generator dips low.
I don’t have a plan yet. Not a good one. Not one that doesn’t end in fire. But I will.
Because I made a promise once—to her, to him, to myself.
That whatever the universe took from me, I’d never let it take them.
I step out into the rain. The cold hits like knives.
“I’ll find you,” I whisper into the storm. “Both of you.”
Autrua made a mistake. She thinks this is a legal battle.
She doesn't realize she just declared war on a father who has nothing left to lose.
I swear—on my name, on my blood, on everything the war burned out of me?—
I’ll fix this.
Even if I have to burn it all down to do it.
CHAPTER 41
ELLA
Iwake to empty air.
The first thing I feel is the cold. The kind that crawls under your skin and sets up camp in your bones.
The unfamiliar ceiling of the safehouse is dark, the smell of damp concrete heavy in the room. I try to sit up, but my head swims with a thick, unnatural fog.
I shouldn't be this tired. I only closed my eyes for an hour after we arrived.
My hand reaches out before my brain’s even online—searching for warmth, for the little rise and fall of his breath beside me.
There’s nothing.
The sheets are twisted. The travel crib I set up is empty.
My heart starts pounding so hard I think I can hear it echo.
“Vex?” My voice comes out rough, too soft at first. Then louder. “Vex!”
No answer.
The blanket’s on the floor, crumpled like he dropped it mid-dream. I touch it. Cold.
My throat goes dry. The taste of copper floods my mouth as I spin toward the door—half-hinged, splintered down the middle. Forced.
They got in while I slept. They drugged me.
Oh, gods.
I don’t remember standing up. I just move.
“VEX!” I scream again, tearing through the next room. Nothing. My pulse is in my ears, drowning everything else out. I rip open the storage crates, the ones I packed myself hours ago, half-expecting to find him hiding, playing, something.
