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Then Liv says my name. A warning.

I start to turn, but the man coming from the other side of the doorway catches my wrist. The gun jerks out of my grasp.

I pull Liv behind me and drive my elbow back. It connects. The grip loosens long enough for me to wrench free.

Another man hits me from the side.

My shoulder strikes the frame. Pain flashes through my arm. I keep hold of the gun until a hand slams my wrist against the wood.

The weapon falls.

I kick backward, trying to make room for Liv. Someone catches my throat from behind. I drive my head back and hear a grunt.

“Ari, stop.”

Jax’s voice. Close now.

I do not stop.

Liv screams when they force me to my knees. I look for her, find her trying to get past Jax, and struggle harder.

“Don’t touch her.”

Jax takes the gun from the floor. “You came alone.”

I spit at his feet.

He looks down, then back at me. “You should have waited.”

Something sharp presses against my neck.

I jerk away too late.

Liv’s voice changes. She pleads with him now, saying my name, telling him I haven’t done anything.

I want to tell her to stop begging. I want to tell her to run. I have already failed her that way once.

My arms feel heavy, and the floor tilts beneath my knees. I try to turn toward her, but the hands holding me no longer need to work as hard.

Jax crouches in front of me. His face swims, then settles into focus. “I’m taking you with us.”

I try to answer, but my mouth won’t form the words.

He watches me struggle, and I understand that this is the part he wanted to see.

Not just the gun on the floor. Not just Liv with nowhere to go.

Me, realizing I’m caught too.

The last clear thing I hear is Liv telling him not to hurt me.

Then the room is gone.

I surface long enough to feel something dragging beneath my boots. Gravel, perhaps. An arm pulled painfully above my head.

Light reaches through my closed eyelids.

Liv says my name again. Nearer now.