Every breath leaves my lungs so violently that it feels like I’ve been punched straight through the chest. She’s restrained exactly the same way. Her wrists are secured behind the chair, thick leather straps binding her chest and legs so tightly that I can see her trembling despite how completely she’s immobilized. A black cloth has been forced into her mouth, muffling the sobs that continue spilling past it, tears streamingendlessly down her bruised cheeks as strands of copper curled hair cling to her damp skin.
Her amber eyes find mine almost instantly, and whatever composure she’d been desperately trying to hold together shatters the second she realizes I’m awake. She begins shaking her head over and over again, frantic cries trapped uselessly behind the gag while another man presses the muzzle of a suppressed handgun against the side of her head with terrifying indifference.
My entire body reacts before my mind has the chance to.
Pain explodes through my ribs as I throw myself upright, every instinct demanding that I get to her, that I tear through every person standing between us and get her the hell out of this room. I barely make it halfway off the mattress before something jerks me violently backward. A sharp metallic crack echoes through the room as the handcuff secured around my right wrist snaps tight, ripping my arm sideways until agony shoots through my shoulder.
I grit my teeth against the pain and pull harder anyway, the entire hospital bed groaning beneath the force as the chain digs mercilessly into my skin.
“Get the fuck away from her!”
My voice tears through the room raw and broken, but nobody moves.
Maddie’s eyes squeeze shut as another muffled sob escapes into the gag, her entire body shaking so violently that the chair rattles against the floor beneath her. Benny isn’t much different. He thrashes as much as the restraints allow, making desperate, incoherent sounds behind the cloth stuffed into his mouth, his gaze darting wildly between me and the man standing behind him as though he’s trying to warn me about something I’ll never be able to understand.
The stranger near my bed watches the entire scene unfold without the slightest hint of concern. He doesn't rush to calm me down. He doesn’t bark orders at the men holding the guns. He simply slips both hands into the pockets of his black jeans and studies me with the same detached curiosity someone might reserve for a work of art hanging in a gallery.
“I’ve spent years trying to find Benjamin Thornton,” he says, his voice remaining infuriatingly calm despite the chaos swallowing the room. “Years chasing whispers, burned safe houses, abandoned accounts, and bodies left behind by a man who always seemed to know I was coming before I arrived. Every lead I followed ended exactly the same way. He disappeared, and I was left cleaning up another trail that had already gone cold.”
My breathing is uneven, every inhale scraping against the damage hidden beneath the bandages wrapped around my torso, but I don’t take my eyes off Maddie.
“If you touch her, I'll fucking kill you.”
A smile ghosts across his face. It’s small, almost amused. “You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t find that particularly convincing.”
His gaze drifts toward the handcuff attached to my wrist before returning to my face, reminding me just how helpless I really am.
“I’ll admit, though…” he continues, taking an unhurried step farther into the room. “Benjamin exceeded even my expectations. Slimy little motherfucker had a habit of slipping through my fingers every single time I got close enough to wrap a hand around his throat. After a while, I almost started respecting him for it.”
Benny’s breathing becomes even more frantic, desperate noises vibrating uselessly behind the gag as tears gather in the corners of his eyes.
The stranger glances at him with something resembling pity. “Almost.”
My heart pounds so violently that I can hear it over the monitor beside me. “Who the fuck are you?”
He finally looks back at me. “A man your uncle has inconvenienced for a very long time.”
“Answer the fucking question.”
“I suppose you've earned that much.” He inclines his head slightly. “My name is Ace.”
The name means absolutely nothing to me. I search my memory anyway, turning it over again and again, waiting for something to click. A face. A conversation. Anything that explains why this stranger is standing in my hospital room with my uncle and Maddie restrained at gunpoint.
Nothing comes.
“Okay, great. That’s fucking fantastic,Ace,” I rasp, every word scraping against my raw throat. My gaze never leaves the gun pressed against Maddie's temple. “Now, let. Her. Go.”
Ace studies me for several long seconds, his expression unreadable. Then he releases a quiet breath through his nose, almost as though I've confirmed something he'd already suspected.
“I was beginning to think Benjamin Thornton wasn't real.”
The corner of his mouth lifts into a faint smile as he turns away from me, taking a slow walk across the room. His boots barely make a sound against the polished hospital floor, yet every step seems impossibly loud in the suffocating silence.
“I had people searching for him in six different countries,” he says conversationally. “Every warehouse he ever owned. Every account he ever touched. Every person foolish enough to call themselves his friend.” He lets out a quiet laugh. “Every time I got close, he vanished before I could lay a hand on him.”
He stops beside Benny and rests one tattooed hand on my uncle’s shoulder with an almost unsettling familiarity.
“I'll admit, Benjamin…” he says, looking down at him. “After a while, I started wondering if I was chasing a ghost.”
