Chace on his knees beside him, hands slick and red, shouting for medics, for help, for anyone.
The knife buried deep in Trey’s ribs.
So much blood I can’t tell where it’s coming from anymore.
Trey’s eyes find mine through the chaos.
His breath stutters.
“I’m sorry, baby—”
The memory shatters as the vehicle jerks again, throwing me hard into the door. Pain lances through my shoulder and I cry out, my throat burning like I’ve been screaming for hours.
I don’t know if my husband is dead.
I only know I watched him stop breathing.
Husband. My husband.
My breathing turns ragged. My heartbeat pounds faster and faster. I start to fight, twisting, scratching, spitting in blind, futile rage, lost inside my head like a rabbit in a snare.
No. No. No, no, no.
A sharp bark explodes behind me.
Artemis. Klause.
The sound yanks me fully back into my body. I twist as far as the restraints allow, heart slamming against my ribs. I realize I’m calling for them—soft, broken sounds slipping past my lips. My fear whipping them into a frenzy.
“I’m here,” I whisper hoarsely. “I’m here.”
They don’t calm.
The SUV swerves again, harder this time, tires screaming on wet asphalt. Dark trees streak past the windows, headlights slicing through rain.
A figure leans over me, quick and precise, cutting into the restraints around my arms. The plastic snaps away, granting a small freedom of movement while my wrists remain bound together.
“Stay down.”
The voice is low, controlled.
It freezes my blood.
I lift my head just enough to see the driver through the haze.
Johnathon Baker grips the wheel with one hand. The other clicks a device in his ear. His expression is carved from focus, eyes locked on the road as though nothing else in the world exists.
“I have two vehicles on us,” he says evenly. “Armed. Rear pursuit. Failed pit maneuvers…yeah. Amateurs.”
My chest tightens.
Of course they’re coming.
Gideon never let’s go. He takes everything in pieces, slow, methodical, until there’s nothing left but ruin.
He took my home. My freedom. My faith.
And then he took Trey.
