PROLOGUE
LARK
Ten Years Ago, Henderson Estate
I hate clocks.
All they do is tick, tick, tick. And I need more time.
This is a complicated hack, one that’s about to be thwarted by one of Gideon Henderson’s goons.Come on, come on, I think, sweat dotting my brow.
The internet connection is spotty, mostly because I’m running my process through seven different servers. Not to mention the rotating satellite.
Biting my lip, I narrow my gaze and move the device on the windowsill again.
Just a little closer to the edge. Enough to try to?—
There!
The bar inches along, making my foot tap.So close, so close…
A door slams, the echo of it causing me to freeze.
I’m wrapped up in Viv’s clothes—a sweater and a pair of jeans that I stole, both of which are too long for my shorter frame. But I needed to mask my scent. And who better to borrow from than the Beta in charge of my torture?
Of course, she doesn’t call it that. She says she’s our “trainer.”
God, this place is a nightmare.
I could have escaped it three years ago by simply giving Gideon my real name. If he had any idea which omega his guys had picked up off the streets, he would have put me on the first plane back to New York City.
But I didn’t want to leave Luna behind. It was her they came for that night. I was just a “bonus omega,” as one of the goons said.
“What’s your name, blondie?” one of them asked as he combed his fingers through my hair, stroking me like I was his personal pet.
I almost told him.
However, I knew he would either knock me out—causing me to lose Luna—or kill me out of fear of me giving his description to my father.
So I simply said, “Lark Black.”
A play on my hacker name.
“No family,” I lied. “I’m an orphan.”
They were giddy as hell, thinking they would score big points with the boss.
And they did.
Points I fully intended for them to lose once I broke Luna and myself out of purgatory, but then I met the others.
Lexi, Silva, Aries, and Briar.
And escaping became a lot more complicated.
We’re almost ready,I think, listening as footsteps sound down the marbled floors of the corridor. I’m not supposed to be in this part of the estate. Hopefully, Viv’s clothes do their job and keep me hidden.
Because she’s allowed to go wherever the fuck she wants here.
