My heart stops.
Milo.
The car stops and we get out—carefully, since Talon’s still injured. Ghost meows indignantly as I lift his carrier.
“Mara.”
I set down Ghost’s carrier and make my way over to him. He pulls me into a hug. The kind of hug you give someone when you don’t know if you’ll ever see them again.
“You’re really leaving. You’re really doing this,” he says against my hair.
“I have to. It’s not safe here, not anymore. You know that.”
His voice breaks. “I just don’t know when I’ll see you again.”
He pulls back, hands on my shoulders, and I see it—all the years of standing by while our father controlled me. All the times he told himself he was protecting me when really he was just making my cage more comfortable.
“I’m sorry, for everything. For not seeing it sooner. For not standing up to him. For letting Chase … for letting any of ithappen. I thought I was helping. I thought if I just followed the rules, played the game, you’d be safe, but I was wrong. I was so fucking wrong.”
I grip his arms. “I know. But you see it now, that’s what matters.”
“Does it? You’re leaving, Mara. You’re disappearing, maybe forever, because of what I helped build—what I helped maintain. That’s on me.”
I shake my head firmly. “No, that’s on the Syndicate—on Father. On every man who decided our lives were theirs to control. You were trapped too, Milo. Just a different cage.”
“Maybe. But I could’ve let you out. I should’ve.”
Tears burn my eyes. “You’re letting me out now by not trying to stop me. By being here to say goodbye instead of dragging me home. That’s enough.”
He shakes his head like he doesn’t believe me, but doesn’t argue.
“Listen to me,” I say, gripping Milo’s jacket to make him focus. “What we started last night … someone has to finish it. Edmund and the other guy are still out there.”
“I know.”
“Then finish it. You, Valen, Kade, whoever else you can trust. Take what we learned, what we gathered, and burn the rest of it down. Make sure James Steele’s death wasn’t for nothing.”
Milo’s jaw tightens. “You’re asking me to?—”
“I’m asking you to be what I needed you to be all along—brave, strong, willing to fight instead of just surviving. Can you do that?”
A long pause.
“Yes.”
“You sure? Because this is not going to be safe. They’ll come after you when they realize what you’re doing.”
“Someone has to finish this. Someone has to make sure no other girl gets sold to the highest bidder—no other sister gets trapped. If that’s me, then fine. I’ll do it.”
This is the brother I always wanted.
The one who protects instead of controls.
Who fights instead of compromises.
I reach into my bag, pulling out a flash drive. “Good. This has everything we gathered. Schedules, security protocols, financial records Beck compiled, as well as locations, safe houses, bolt holes. It’s all yours now.”
He takes it.
