I press harder into the shadow of the doorframe, forcing my breathing slow and silent, every sense stretched tight as wire.
I understandexactlywhat it means to be found by people who want to hurt you.
The moment survival instinct kicks in, your body realizes the danger before your brain can catch up.
And I amnotletting that happen here.
Not again!
I move low across the office floor in the dark, using the familiarity of the room like a compass, skirting the edge of my father’s desk until I’m crouched behind it with my back against the heavy wood. From here, through the narrow gap in the window blinds, I have a thin sightline to the east fence. I can still see them, their shapes moving in and out of the floodlight’s reach, stopping at the equipment bays, pausing at the locked storage units. One of them crouches near the fence post and photographs the padlock.
With shaking hands, I slide my cell out of my pocket, trying to keep the glow of the screen hidden from sight. I find his name by feel more than sight, my thumb knowing the screen well enough that I don’t have to look.
It rings twice, and he answers.
“Hey, Mill—”
“There are two men on the mine property.”My voice comes out quieter than I intend, stripped of everything except the bare facts. It almost doesn’t sound like me. My heart slams hard enough to rattle my ribs, but keeping my voice steady settles something inside me too, enough to stop the panic from taking a real foothold. “I don’t know who they are…” I say carefully, “… and Ireallydon’t want to find out.” My free hand presses flat against the floor beside me, my palm against the cool concrete, grounding myself to something solid. The cold seeps into my skin, a small anchor amid the adrenaline rushing through my veins. My fingers curl slightly, nails scraping faintly against the grit of dust tracked in from the yard.
He’s silent for a moment, clearly thinking through his plan. Then Sin’s voice comes back down the line, low and immediate. “Stay hidden. We’re coming. Be there in eight minutes.”
Nine words. Clear, precise, and absolute without hesitation.
I end the call and brace myself for the longest few minutes of my life.
Eight minutes.
Sin said ‘eight minutes,’and I believe him instantly, because one thing I’ve learned about Defiance over the years is that when these men say something in that hard, certain tone, they mean every damn word of it. Buteight minutesfeels like a long time from where I’m crouched behind my father’s desk with my knees folded against my chest.
Outside, a shape moves past the far fence line again, and I shift my weight carefully and angle my head just enough to see through the thin slit between the blinds.
The two men are still there.
One of them crouches near the fence, his phone lighting his face in pale blue for half a second before the glow disappears again. The other stands watch, his attention sweeping across the property in slow passes.
My stomach twists hard.
He’s studying the place, learning the layout, taking in exits, blind spots, distances.
Clearly preparing for something.
My thighs are starting to tremble from holding still. My pulse keeps trying to sprint ahead of my breathing, and I force air slowly through my nose, counting it out the way my therapist once showed me after everything that happened…
After the Hidden Hand Alliance had kidnapped me.
In for four.
Out for four.
Outside, the men keep moving. I shift slightly, careful not to let the blinds rattle, and peek again. They have reached the maintenance shed now.
One of them lifts his phone again.
Flash.
He takes a photograph.
My fingers tighten around my own phone until the edges bite into my palm. The folder Dad asked me to grab is wedged under my arm, the paper crinkling faintly when I adjust my grip, and the sound feels impossibly loud in the stillness of the office.
