"You really don't have to fold everything so carefully," Charlie said from across the room, watching Darius smooth down the corner of a t-shirt before setting it into a box with more precision than the occasion probably called for. "It's going into storage, not a museum." Two weeks had passed since the hearing, and somehow Darius's side of the apartment looked emptier now — every box packed away peeled back another layer of the place. Until half the unit felt like a home being dismantled and the other half, still cluttered with Charlie's things, looked exactly the same as it always had. "Old habit," Darius said, not looking up. "Keeps my hands busy." Charlie didn't push it, though the forced lightness in his voice didn't quite mask what was sitting underneath it. He'd been quieter than usual all morning, shoulders a little slumped even when he was joking, and Darius didn't need to ask why. In a few months, Charlie would still be

Valerio and his men stormed through the front doors of the Theranga base, four armed men flanking him as he tore through the building with barely contained fury. The base had witnessed its share of chaos from spoilt brats over the years, but nothing compared to the sight of Valerio sweeping a lamp off a side table with the back of his hand simply because it stood in his way. The lamp shattered against the marble, and one of his men laughed, kicking over a potted plant by the entrance for no reason at all beyond the sheer satisfaction of watching it topple. Before they'd left, Valerio has specific told them, "If they can't get the job done, let's show them how to do it. They think they can just take that much of money, and do nothing?" Another swept an arm across the reception desk, sending a stack of files and a cup of pens clattering to the floor, papers scattering like startled birds. "Where is he?" Valerio's voice rang out through the lobby, sh

Darius paced the length of the room for what felt like the hundredth time. His footsteps the only sound besides the low hum of the ventilation and the occasional muffled laugh drifting through the door from whoever was still lingering in the hallway. He'd run through every option twice over and landed on nothing. He couldn't perform a miracle on a body that had already gone cold and green at the edges. He couldn't talk his way out of a locked door held shut by men who'd already decided his freedom was conditional on the impossible. And he certainly couldn't just sit here and wait for them to eventually get bored, because something told him their patience for this particular game was going to outlast his. He stopped pacing eventually, dragging both hands down his face, and found himself standing over the bed again, staring down at what remained of Roberto Theranga with something between disgust and despair. If nothing else, he

"I'm fine," Jules said shakily, though his hands were visibly trembling as he unbuckled himself. "I think I'm fine." Trigger let out a long breath, flexing his fingers against the wheel like he was checking they still worked. "Fine. Bruised, but fine." They climbed out to assess the damage, and it took only a glance at the car's crumpled front end and the way it sat lopsided in the ditch to understand this vehicle wasn't taking them anywhere. Trigger popped the hood anyway, more out of frustration than any real hope, and stared down at the mangled mess of metal beneath it with a low, resigned curse. "Damn, we're so cooked!" Jules impatiently kicked his feet. "Cell service?" Darius asked, already knowing the answer from the single, useless bar that had disappeared from his phone an hour ago. "Nothing here," Jules said, holding his own phone up uselessly toward the darkening sky like that might summon a signal out of nowhere. "I think we'r

"I don't know," Darius said quietly, staring down at his own chest like it belonged to someone else. "I have no idea how did got here." "I can't comprehend possibly you are so calm. I don't know why you are being so nonchalant about this. We need to get you to a hospital right now." "You need to calm down, Rhea. I don't think the hospital's going to know what this is," Darius said. Rhea paused, brows knitting together, thrown completely off by the flatness of his tone. "What do you mean by that? Who else is gonna know if not the hospital? Are you drunk?" "I mean exactly what I said," Darius said. "I don't think they'll be able to treat this." She let out a short, disbelieving laugh. "Darius, I work at a hospital full of some of the most competent doctors in this city. Whatever this is, someone there will be able to diagnose it and treat it. We're going to the hospital, no more word from you." Without waiting for further argument, she hurried toward his closet, already pu