Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“So, instead of firing him… you had him killed.”
Helena stares at her nails before she shrugs. “Cost of doing business.”
“Why target me?”
She laughs. “Your the face of the company. Of the designs. What a better story than a war between developers, and with all the bullying… you snapped. Murdered. Nobody would even really blame you. The deepfakes all lead back to Benny, Ryan, and Alan.”
“You bitch.”
She laughs louder. “The one thing I didn’t expect was Gage. But he’s in jail now, and once you’re gone we can just pin the whole thing on him. Sometimes you have to learn to pivot.”
She leans in again, her breath hot near my ear. “Gage will look so good in an orange jumpsuit.”
“Leave him alone.”
Tasha comes strolling in, a look of pure satisfaction crossing her features. She stands next to Helena and smiles at her. “Everything’s set.”
Helena smiles back at me. “Great. We’re ready then. Soon the world will know about everything that happened here at NovaPlay.”
“How could you?” I ask Tasha. “You were my friend.”
Tasha’s stare turns hot in an instant. “Are you kidding? Everything is always, oh, woe is me. Sorry I no longer want to be part of the River pony show. You’re not the main character in this story.” She giggles. “Shame about Gage though. I sure would have liked to have a little fun with him before he gets locked up for good.”
I jerk against the restraints, fury flooding my system. “You won’t touch him.”
Helena straightens, her smile returning. “It’s too late for threats, River. We already have everything we need.”
She steps back toward the door. Tasha follows like a lost puppy.
Helena glances over her shoulder at me. “You should try to sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be… illuminating.”
The metal door slams shut behind them.
And I’m alone again.
But not broken.
No.
Not yet.
Gage is coming. I know he is. I feel it in my bones.
And when he gets here, I’ll be ready.
FORTY-TWO
GAGE
Arrow doesn’t ask if I’m ready. Instead, he just throws me the keys to his car and says, “Drive.”
Saint Pierce rips past in a smear of sodium streetlights and slick winter pavement. My knuckles are white on the wheel, jaw locked so hard it clicks. Knight rides shotgun feeding short updates from Render and Ozzy into our open channel. Lark’s in the back seat with a laptop balanced on her knees, ponytail threaded through a ball cap, fingers moving like she’s trying to outrun panic.
River is out there. Somewhere cold. Somewhere dark. Somewhere I am not.
I can’t live with that.
Arrow taps his phone and puts it on speaker. “Dean. It’s Arrow. We need the lights on.”
The voice that answers could cut glass. Calm. Command threaded with steel.
“Copy. Which lights?”
“All of them.”
There’s a beat. Then: “Address?”
“I’m bringing them to HQ.”
“Door will be open.”
The line goes dead.
Knight exhales. “He didn’t ask for details.”
Arrow half-smiles, humorless. “He knows I’ll bring the important ones.”
We turn down an unmarked ramp that looks like a service entrance, follow it to a gray door with a tiny keypad that flips to green before I even roll the vehicle to a stop. Inside is heat and concrete and the clean, quiet hum of money spent well: reinforced corridors, recessed cameras, a war-room that would make a three-letter agency take notes.
Maddox Security HQ.
We stride in like we belong—because tonight, we do.
Dean Maddox is already there, sleeves rolled to his forearms, tie gone, that particular brand of authority that makes the room settle even when no one asked it to.
Beside him stands a monster of a man who looks like he can bench press a semi. “This is my cousin, Sawyer,” Dean says. “And this,” he points to another man who’s even bigger if that’s even possible, “is Ranger. Over there,” he points to a woman seated at a computer, “is Rae. She’ll be on comms.”
“I’m just happy they’re on our side,” I say before shaking hands with Sawyer, and then Ranger.
Dean doesn’t waste a second. “Let’s head into the Aquarium where you can brief us.”
I share a glance with my sister, as we move toward a huge conference room surrounded by glass. It sits center in the command center, and is a bit intimidating.
Dean shuts the glass door once we’re all inside. “And go,” he says, getting right to it.
Arrow nods at me. My mouth is already moving.
“Her name is River Quinn,” I say. “Mid-twenties. Developer at NovaPlay Studios. She’s been the focus of a coordinated harassment campaign tied to Cathedral. We have reason to believe Cathedral’s admin ‘Regent’ is Helena Lune—head of HR at NovaPlay. We pulled up security cams at her place and saw that she was taken around nine-forty, and shoved into a black van. No plates.”
Sawyer glances at Rae. “Casualty risk?”
“Unknown,” I say, too fast. I force myself to slow down. “She was taken alive. Juno—” I point to her. “—was with her. Concussed. Said they referenced ‘finishing what Regent started.’”