“I’ll be downstairs if you need anything,” he says. “Penn and the others are actively tracking Olivia’s location. I promise we’ll find her.”
Another promise. I stare through him rather than at him.
He hesitates at the doorway, looking back at me one last time. “I’m sorry, Aurora. More than you’ll ever know.”
The door closes with a soft click. His footsteps fade down the hallway.
I stand frozen, listening to the sudden silence. The mountains outside have disappeared into darkness. No more sunset. Just black emptiness pressing against the window.
My legs give out first.
I slide down the wall, hitting the floor harder than expected. The pain barely registers. The first sob rips through me like aphysical force, bending me forward until my forehead touches my knees. I wrap my arms around myself, trying to hold the broken pieces together.
Every tear feels like betrayal. I shouldn’t be crying over him. I should be focusing on Olivia.
But the tears come anyway, hot and relentless. For my father. For the truth, I never knew. For twelve years of misplaced anger. For my stepsister in the hands of his killer. For the love I thought was real.
I press my palm against my mouth to muffle the sounds, not wanting Hunter to hear me fall apart. Even now, I can’t bear the thought of him seeing this final weakness.
18
HUNTER
Dawn breaks through the windows at the end of the hallway, painting the corridor in soft gold. I haven’t moved from outside Aurora’s door all night. My body aches from hours on the floor, shoulder wound throbbing beneath fresh bandages. None of it matters.
I understand what true fear feels like. That raw, primal terror of losing someone irreplaceable. I’ve built my empire, destroyed enemies, yet I’m powerless against the locked door separating me from Aurora.
Hours pass in silence. The security team’s footsteps echo periodically down the hall, their gazes averted from my uncharacteristic position. Penn brought coffee at 3 AM, saying nothing about finding me slumped against her door.
The handle turns. I scramble to my knees, ignoring the sharp protest from my injured shoulder. The door swings open, revealing Aurora—eyes swollen, face pale, dark hair tangled around shoulders that somehow still look strong despite everything.
She freezes, clearly not expecting to find me here, much less on my knees before her. I clasp my hands together like a man in prayer.
“I will spend the rest of my life earning your forgiveness,” I say. “Not because I expect it, but because you deserve nothing less than complete honesty from this moment forward.”
Aurora tries to walk past me, eyes averted, her body language screaming for distance. Without thinking, I catch her hand gently—not gripping, just a touch, something she could break if she wanted to.
“Ask me anything. Everything. No more secrets. No more lies. I swear it.” My voice catches, unfamiliar vulnerability scratching my throat.
She stares down at me—at Hunter Reed on his knees, a man who’s never begged for anything in his life, now pleading for a chance. Something shifts in those azure eyes. Not forgiveness. Not yet. But perhaps the possibility of it.
“I need to find my sister,” she says, voice hollow from renewed grief. “That’s all I care about right now.”
I nod, still holding her hand like it’s the most precious thing I’ve ever touched. “I have every resource mobilized. Penn’s team tracked their movement to a private airfield. We believe they’re heading west.”
Her fingers tremble in mine, and I fight the urge to pull her close, to shelter her against me. That’s not what she needs from me now.
“You knew.” It’s not a question. “When I stood at that cliff edge wondering why my father would leave me, you knew the truth.”
The accusation lands like a physical blow. “Yes, but in my defense, I didn’t know who you were at that point. And unfortunately, more than one man has gone over the cliff during initiation.”
“How can you say that with so little emotion? How many families have been broken by your Vipers’ initiation?”
“Because I’m a monster,” I admit simply. “Because I’ve spent years burying my conscience so deep, I couldn’t find it anymore. Until you.”
I exhale slowly, my hands shaking slightly. This is the moment I’ve dreaded since the day I found her on that same cliff.
“We were the first,” I begin, voice low. “Five of us—me, Blaine, Ari, Grayson, and Penn. We were approached by a professor, Jax King, if you can believe it, during our final year at Westlake Academy. We helped him build the Vipers from nothing. Your father... he was part of our first official selection, including the six of us. The rules were we all had to pass initiation as recruits. It was before I purchased the house next door to your father’s. Jax's contact rented us the house to conduct our first initiation.”
