Chapter 21
Ava
The second he says my name—
I know.
It doesn’t come as a realization.
It hits like something I’ve been avoiding finally stepping out into the open.
Cold.
Certain.
Unavoidable.
“You’ve been busy,” Hayes says, his gaze dragging over me like he’s cataloging something he already understands.
I don’t answer.
I don’t need to.
Because I see it now.
Clearer than I want to.
Ethan shifts beside me.
“What is it?”
My voice comes out quieter than I expect.
Tight.
“He’s one of them.”
His brow furrows.
“One of who?”
I turn just enough to meet his eyes.
“The people I was running from.”
The words land between us.
Heavy.
Final.
And just like that—
this isn’t just his fight anymore.
It’s mine.
Hayes’ smile returns, faint and controlled.
“You disappeared on us.”
On us.
Not on them.
On us.
“Yeah,” I say. “I didn’t like the company.”
A flicker of amusement crosses his face.
Gone almost as soon as it appears.
“You were always difficult,” he says. “Even when you didn’t remember.”
Something tightens in my chest.
I don’t let it show.
“And you were always wrong.”
That lands.
His expression shifts.
Subtle.
But there.
Less amused.
More focused.
“You should have stayed where you were.”
“I tried that,” I fire back. “Didn’t work out.”
Ethan steps closer to me.
I feel it before I see it.
The shift in his stance.
The way he angles slightly toward me without thinking.
Protective.
Always.
“I don’t like this,” he mutters.
“Yeah,” I say.
“Me neither.”
Hayes watches us.
Not the way an enemy watches targets.
The way someone watches a pattern.
Calculating.
Reading.
Then—
he makes his decision.
“Kill them.”
The word drops like a switch flipping.
Everything explodes.
Gunfire tears through the space.
Delta Five moves instantly.
No hesitation.
Ronan takes the high ground, shots clean and precise—
Cal pushes left, dropping targets before they can adjust—
Jonah locks down the rear—
Aaron cuts through the center like controlled chaos—
Ethan grabs me, pulling me down—
“Move!”
We hit cover hard.
Return fire—
Two go down—
Then another—
They’re fast.
Disciplined.
But we’re faster.
Because we expected this.
Because we’re done reacting.
“Push forward!” Ronan calls.
We move.
Together.
Side by side.
No space between us now.
No hesitation.
This is where we belong.
Hayes is already moving.
Falling back.
Disappearing into the chaos.
Of course he is.
He was never here to die.
Not yet.
But this—
This isn’t over.
Not even close.
Because now we know.
Who he is.
What he’s part of.
How deep this goes.
And more importantly—
He knows we’re not running anymore.
We’re coming for him.