I’m in love with her.
Love is a vulnerability I’ve spent my entire life avoiding. Love is weakness, distraction, and compromise.
Yet here I am, ready to burn down the entire organization I helped build, prepared to kill the man who mentored me—all for Aurora.
“You okay?” Penn asks, studying my face.
“No,” I answer honestly, strapping on my tactical vest. “I won’t be okay until she’s safe.”
I’ve never needed anyone before. Now I need Aurora like oxygen.
4
AURORA
Olivia paces our small cell, her beautiful masquerade gown dragging along the concrete floor. The silence between us feels heavier than the metal door keeping us trapped.
“Liv,” I say softly. “I’m so sorry. I should have told you about Hunter from the start.”
She stops pacing, her shoulders dropping as she releases a long breath. Her expression softens, the anger in her eyes fading.
“I know,” she says, sitting down beside me on my cot. “I was just hurt, Aurora. Not because of Hunter—God knows I don’t love him—but because we’ve always told each other everything.”
Her hand finds mine, fingers intertwining like when we were children, making a pact to be like true sisters despite only being related through marriage.
“Remember when we promised? No secrets between sisters.”
I squeeze her hand. “If that’s the case, why didn’t you tell me about Ari?”
Olivia’s lips curve into a rueful smile. “Touché.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, looking down at our joined hands. “I was ashamed, I guess. Dating my fiancé’s friend while being engaged to Hunter? It sounds terrible when said out loud.”
“No worse than sleeping with your sister’s fiancé,” I reply, attempting a weak laugh that comes out more like a sob.
Olivia shakes her head. “Maybe if we’d both been honest with each other from the beginning, all of this could have been avoided.”
“Or we’d still be stuck in this cell, just with fewer secrets between us.”
She leans her head against my shoulder. “I’m sorry I got so angry with you. Finding out while we were being kidnapped wasn’t exactly ideal timing.”
“And here I thought there was a perfect moment to tell your sister you’re sleeping with her fiancé.”
For the first time since we woke up in this nightmare, Olivia laughs.
“We’re quite the pair, aren’t we?” she says.
Olivia pulls away from me, her eyes scanning our concrete prison. The cell feels smaller by the minute, the walls somehow closing in despite their solid construction.
“How are we going to get out of here, Aurora?” Olivia’s voice trembles.
I run my hand along the cold wall, feeling its unyielding surface. The electronic lock on the door is far beyond our ability to tamper with. There are no external windows, no vents large enough to crawl through, nothing that offers even a hint of escape.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I really don’t.”
Olivia’s shoulder touches mine as we sit side by side. “You mentioned this Jax person. Who is he? Why would he take us?”
I think about the brief glimpses of information Hunter shared, the genuine fear in his eyes when he mentioned Jax’s name, the urgency in his voice when he told me to keep the necklace on—the necklace I lost during our abduction.
“Hunter never fully explained, but Jax King is his... boss? Leader? Something like that. They’re part of an organization that requires absolute loyalty.” I twist my hands in my lap. “I think Jax sees me as Hunter’s weakness.”
