Chapter 81 Harper
Harper
Carter’s arms were still around me when the sound of heavy boots and dragging footsteps cut through the night. I turned just enough to see them—the others hauling a man between them, his wrists bound, his face pale but twisted with arrogance despite the blood on his leg.
A shiver tore through me. This wasn’t just another faceless mercenary. I could feel it in the way River’s grip on him was iron, in the way Gideon’s jaw was set hard, in the way Cyclone’s eyes burned with loathing.
This was someone bigger. Someone who mattered.
Carter’s hand slid up my back, steadying me. “Don’t look at him,” he said, voice rough, protective.
But I couldn’t look away.
The man—Sable, they called him—lifted his head, and his eyes found mine. Cold. Calculating. Like he already knew my name without anyone saying it.
“Pretty,” he murmured, lips curling. “No wonder you’ve been such a useful pawn.”
The words hit like ice water. For a heartbeat, I couldn’t breathe.
Then Carter shoved me gently behind him, his body blocking mine, his voice a lethal growl. “One more word and you’ll regret not bleeding out on that floor.”
River yanked Sable forward, none too gently, and the moment broke. They dragged him toward the cabin, his laugh low and poisonous, echoing against the trees.
I pressed closer to Carter’s back, my chest heaving. “That’s him, isn’t it? The one who… who put my name out there.”
His head tipped slightly, his voice low but certain. “Yeah. And he’s going to give us everything. Every name. Every account. Every shadow.”
I wanted to be strong, to believe it was enough. But as I stared at the man who had turned my life into a target, I knew this wasn’t the end.
It was only the beginning.
I clutched Carter’s hand, lacing my fingers through his, grounding myself in the one truth I could hold on to: no matter how dark it got, I wasn’t facing it alone.