“I don’t say no to that kind of money. Criminal or not, I don’t discriminate. They pay, I don’t ask questions.”
Liar, liar, Audrey’s mind whispered.
“Oh, I’m aware of how you run a business,” Emerson said. He paused, his shoulders stiffening slightly. Something about the room changed. His eyes looked once toward the back door before he added, “When is she coming back for the ID?”
“In a few hours. Needs to make the next jump,” Jaxon said—then hesitated. “Unless Mihail decides to move sooner.”
A click sounded. Audrey’s head turned to see light pouring from a door she’d missed. A man stepped through, two guns already leveled.
She hadn’t heard the hinges or felt another mind enter. She’d been too wrapped in Jaxon’s words, too busy cataloging hope and worry.
“We’ll take it from here, Jaxon,” the man said. “He doesn’t like people interfering with his business.”
“Fuck,” Audrey breathed.
The gunman was bald and inked from scalp to throat, tattoos swirling under his skin. His eyes were dark as oil, not Ryker’s black, but close enough to churn her stomach.
“Hands up,” he ordered.
They obeyed. Fury flowed from Emerson, making the air suffocating.
“Stand,” the tattooed man growled.
They rose. Audrey’s heart throbbed.
“What did you do, Jaxon?” Emerson asked, his voice edged with something lethal. “Think carefully before you answer.”
Jaxon shrugged, smoke drifting around his head like a lazy halo. “I owe him more favors than you,” he said. “This was a setup. Sorry to disappoint.”
“I said stand up,” the man snapped. Audrey’s skin crawled. She hadn’t felt Jaxon’s aura at all—he’d masked his mind the moment they arrived. A pro, then. Someone who moved around telepaths. She’d never seen concealment like that—except maybe Ryker, but even he sometimes let her sense him.
Emerson rolled his shoulders, slow and loose, and got to his feet. His face looked bored. His aura was not.
Audrey carefully rose from her chair, mirroring Emerson’s movements with restrained caution, her body tense and ready to respond if needed.
“Nikos, you promised not to kill them,” Jaxon said.
“I personally won’t kill them,” Nikos said. “Now. Outside.” He jerked his head toward the door behind him, wherever it led. They moved in single file, Emerson first, then Audrey, Nikos behind them with both guns tracking their backs.
As she passed, she looked closer. Nikos was huge, broad-shouldered, with muscle and ink. He looked like someone who broke bones, not talked. Jaxon was right. It was a trap, but it didn’t feel like Sophia’s work.
Either way, they’d fallen for it.
Disappointment descended heavily. Sophia might be their only chance to clear Audrey’s name. Besides Ryker, her mother alone witnessed the real events of the night Audrey was accused; her confession could prove Audrey's innocence. Emerson risked everything to find Sophia and make her pay. They had to escape. The stakes stood higher than ever.
Nikos motioned for them to speed up with an angry gesture and a glare. Audrey quickened her steps, aware that any delay risked escalation. Nikos announced, “He’ll want to speak with you personally,” unmistakably referencing the person in charge.
When she reached out to Nikos, his mind was sealed tight. Still, she sensed obedience twisted with fear. Whoever Nikos answered to was powerful, someone people dreaded. All thought had been edged out by terror. She caught a flash: a big male hand, a tattoo—a raven outlined by a black sleeve. The face was hidden, but the recognizable dread jolted her. The vision evaporated, severed abruptly.
Audrey shivered, unsettled, but stayed vigilant.
She and Emerson marched in silence with only their footsteps sounding in the hallway. Water dripped somewhere in the gloom. At the far end, a metal door shone dimly orange around the edges from a lamppost outside.
Emerson moved first. It happened so fast, Audrey thought she’d imagined it. One second, Nikos was behind them, guns steady. The next, Emerson spun and attacked like a serpent.
A gun dropped to the floor. Emerson jerked Nikos’s other arm up, the barrel pointing uselessly toward the ceiling, then jammed his forearm across Nikos’s throat.
He went down hard. Nikos hit the ground with a crack, and Audrey’s breath stuck. It looked like his neck had snapped, but the slight rise and fall of his chest proved otherwise.
