I struggle again to wrench loose even as the vehicle pulls away, and Cato’s grip on my arm tightens like a vice. “Dom—”
“Don’t call me that!” I shout, fury and grief cracking my voice.
He yanks me around to face him, his honey-brown eyes filled with deep concern. They're pleading as they stare into mine, but there’s an urgency burning in them too.
“Fine.Bash, we have to leave right now. Are you with me, or do I have to throw you over my shoulder and carry your ass out of here?”
“He’sgone.” The hollow words shatter as they leave me, and his eyes soften further while I grab fistfuls of his shirt. “He said… he said he wouldn’t go…”
“Incoming!” Ego shouts from the alleyway.
Cato and Jayce both grip me tighter, and they drag me between the buildings. My heart thuds in a violent rhythm, so loud I can barely hear anything past the roar in my ears, but eventually, my feet move on autopilot. The mad dash to the compound blurs into a frantic rush of shadowy alleys and blending into crowds until we’re on familiar streets again.
Still, they hold on to me, as if they’re afraid I’ll bolt straight into the danger the moment they let go.
We take the back way to the building, circling the block an extra time to guarantee no one trails us. Sakane opens the rear entrance to let us inside, surveying everyone with quick, assessing glances as they rush through. Surprise lines his face when Cato practically drags me in, and I’m numb as I’m led into the conference room and dropped into a chair.
People fill the room, their hushed conversations growing louder and more concerned the longer I sit here. A deep baritone reaches my ears through the fog, and I turn to stare as Gideon talks to Cato.
“You left him.”
My voice is dangerously low, and the chatter lulls as Gideon meets my eyes.
“Don’t fucking look at me like that. He risked everything to get you out of that place, and youlefthim!”
“Dom—” Cato starts.
I whirl on him in a blaze of rage.
“I said don’t call me that!” I scream, the words exploding out as the room goes dead still.
Cato lifts his hands in surrender as I turn my fury back to Gideon. “You couldn’t have waited ten fucking seconds to help him, and now—”
“He told me to go,” Gideon interrupts, his voice steady despite the storm I’m unleashing, but another rush of adrenaline surges through me as I charge over.
“You didn’t have to listen!” I shout, and he cringes but doesn’t pull back. “No one else was going to risk pulling you out of there, but he did.He did, and you fucking left him behind!”
“Bash!” Cato grips my arm and tugs me away. What I intend as a shove to break free turns into a desperate hug as he wrestles me closer, and a gasping sob shudders out of me against his neck.
Four years of iron composure crumble in an instant, and my perfect control shatters. I fist Cato’s shirt, convinced he’s the only thing keeping me from falling apart.
“It’s my fault,” I whisper as the guilt nearly doubles me over. “He only went because he had something to prove to me. Because I refused to believe him. Because I chose to think theworst of him, just like everyone else in his life. I was supposed to be his safe space, Cato!”
Silence is suffocating as I try to compose myself, but those last moments replay in my mind on a reel.
The streak of blood over his lips.
The soft acceptance in his smile.
The words he mouthed in what felt like goodbye.
I never said I loved him.
Never told him I’d never stopped.
Cautious footsteps approach, and I glance over to find Gideon standing beside his brother. “Whatever I can do to help, I will,” he says, keeping his tone level. “Xeni and I weren’t what I’d call friends, but he kept his word. I owe him my freedom.”
“I don’t even know where to start,” I mumble into Cato’s shirt.
