She scanned the shadows, her pulse jumping at every snap of a twig. ‘Where are they?’ she wondered, her eyes burning with unshed tears. ‘Tedmond... Marek... Hugo?’She wanted to scream their names, but she knew better. The men with silenced rifles and thermal goggles were still out there. She was a target, and she had to stay small.**A mile away, near the scorched earth where the helicopter had fired its initial payload, two shadows moved cautiously through the smoke. Hugo was limping, his hand gripping Molly’s shoulder for support.When they reached the clearing, Hugo stopped dead, his face twisting.The area had been hollowed out by the blast; craters pocked the ground, and the trees were blackened skeletons."No," Hugo choked out. "Lottie was near here. She was supposed to be right here."Molly scanned the destruction, her heart sinking. "Hugo, look at this place. If she was caught in the blast...""No! Look there!" Hugo pointed toward the steep incline leading down to the dar

"Go ahead. Push. Let's see if you have the stomach to break the skin of the man who used to feed you. Or have you forgotten that everything you are, every breath you take, was paid for by my hand?"Lottie’s face burned with humiliating heat. Every word was a lash, a reminder of the years she had spent under his thumb, beholden to his "generosity.""You didn't give me anything!" she hissed, her anger bubbling into a jagged, desperate rage. "You stole my life and called it a gift!""I gave you a name! I gave you a future!" Caleb roared. His voice turned thunderous as he stepped closer, forcing her to either stab him or retreat. "And look at you now. Cowering behind a tree, starving, bleeding, and holding a toy. We both know who is stronger here, Charlotte. You’ve always been the bird, and I’ve always been the sky. You can fly as hard as you want, but you’re still inside me."He reached out, his hand closing around her wrist with the crushing strength of a vise."Drop the toy before y

Caleb watched their display of defiance, his finger hovering over the trigger. He didn’t fire. Instead, he lowered the barrel and began to laugh, a deep, mocking sound that echoed beneath the dark canopy.“Oh, this is precious,” Caleb sneered. “The damsel in distress and the court jester think they’re a strike team. What’s the plan, Charlotte? You’re going to punch me with those delicate knuckles while the boy tries to prune me like a hedge?” He took a mocking step forward, completely unafraid. “Do you truly believe your fists and that rusted sliver of metal are faster than a 9mm round? I can put a hole in both your hearts before you even cross the three-yard line.”“Maybe,” Lottie said, eyes locked on his gun hand. “But you’re arrogant, Caleb. You want us alive so you can claim your prize. You won’t shoot to kill… not yet. And that’s your mistake.”Hugo tightened his grip on the knife, the rusted metal biting into his palm. He looked at Lottie, saw the unshakable resolve in her b

The forest floor was a chaotic tapestry of churned dirt, shredded leaves, and the metallic tang of Caleb’s blood. Every few seconds, the rhythmic crack of Ivy’s rifle split the air, pinning the high-ranking commander behind a decaying log like a beetle under a boot.Caleb scrambled, his white hair now matted to a muddy gray, his expensive tactical gear torn by thorns. He lunged for a fallen branch to use as leverage…CRACK.A bullet barked into the wood an inch from his ear. He flinched back, breath hitching in ragged, humiliated gasps.“Come on, Commander!” Ivy called, her voice light and mocking. “I thought you were the king of this jungle. You’re looking more like a panicked rabbit.”Caleb gritted his teeth, eyes darting frantically. He spotted his discarded tactical vest a few feet away, the one he’d tossed aside in arrogance.If he could just reach the flashbang in the side pocket…He bolted.CRACK.The round hissed past his thigh and bit into the mud. Caleb dove, fingers claw

Ivy stepped forward, the monofilament wire singing as she snapped it taut.Her eyes were cold, sharp as the glass shards littering the forest floor, locking onto his.“I’ve been watching you for a long time, Caleb,” she whispered, low and hauntingly personal. “Tell me… has life been good for the ‘Great Commander’ while you spent the last decade making women’s lives miserable?”Her gaze hardened.“Did you sleep well after the Eastern Sector? After the lives you shattered just to climb the ladder?”Caleb flinched, as if struck, taking a hesitant step back, boots dragging through the mud.The way she said his name, not as a title, but as a target, sent a shiver of real fear down his spine.“How do you know my name?” he demanded, voice cracking. “I never introduced myself. You’ve been calling me ‘Caleb’ since you stepped out of those vines. Who the hell are you?”Hugo exchanged a glance with Lottie, brow furrowed in suspicion.“Lottie… how does she know him? She’s not just a bodyguard. Sh