Epilogue
Render
The road stretches out like a gray scar through the endless pine forest, twisting and turning as if the trees themselves are trying to swallow us whole.
I keep the speed steady at sixty-five, not a mile faster, not a mile slower.
Every curve, every shadow between the trunks gets scanned twice.
My eyes flick from the rearview mirror to the side mirrors and back again.
No headlights behind us for the last forty miles.
No suspicious vehicles. No drones in the sky that I can spot.
Still, my shoulders stay locked tight, jaw clenched so hard it aches.
This is not just some Sunday fucking scenic drive.
This is survival. And Enley’s sitting right beside me— Poe’s little sister, the girl I pulled out of that basement two weeks ago, the one person I’m not allowed to fuck this up with.
We barely know each other. I mean, not really. Sure… she used to annoy the fuck out of us when we were younger. But now… the woman she is remains a mystery.
I rescued her. I went in, did the job Maddox assigned me, and got her out alive.
She was half-dead from fear and whatever Serafina’s people did to her, and I carried her out like she was made of glass.
Now she’s here in my passenger seat, knees pulled up to her chest, sneakers kicked off on the floor mat, arms wrapped around her shins like she’s holding herself together with sheer willpower.
Her pink hair falls loose around her face, hiding half her expression, but I can still see the way her lower lip trembles every few minutes.
She hasn’t said much since we left the last motel at dawn.
Just quiet breathing and the occasional soft sigh that cuts straight through me.
I shouldn’t be noticing how beautiful she is.
She’s Poe’s sister. My best friend’s sister.
The same Poe who’s probably chained up somewhere right now because he traded himself to save her.
Touching her, wanting her, even thinking about her that way feels like a betrayal.
But every time she looks at me with those wide, trusting blue eyes, something in my chest twists hard.
I’m supposed to protect her. That’s the job. Nothing more.
My burner phone vibrates in the cupholder. Knight’s name flashes on the screen. My stomach drops instantly. Knight doesn’t call unless it is bad.
Enley’s head snaps toward me immediately. Her eyes are wide, already filling with fear. She says, “What is it?”
I slow the car and pull onto the shoulder, tires crunching over gravel. Dust kicks up around us. I put the phone on speaker and set it on the dash so she can hear everything. “Knight,” I say, voice low and controlled. “You’re on speaker. What’s up?”
There’s a pause on the other end, the kind that stretches too long and makes my skin crawl. When Knight finally speaks, his voice is tight and clipped. “Render. We have a situation. A bad one.”
Enley’s hand flies out and grabs mine without hesitation. Her fingers are ice cold. I don’t pull away. I squeeze back, trying to offer something solid while my own pulse hammers in my ears.
“Tell us,” I say.
Knight exhales. “Serafina hit the safehouse. She knew the hack was fake the second she looked at it. Took everyone. Ozzy, Poe, Orchid, Lark, Arrow, and Gage. All of them. Maddox and the brAVO team were too late. Ozzy and the team acted alone, rushing in there without backup. It was an ambush. We lost visual on the convoy about forty minutes ago. They’re gone. ”
The words land like punches. One after another. Ozzy. Poe. Orchid. Lark. Arrow. Gage. My brothers. My family. The people who have had my back through every dark op, every blood-soaked night. Captured. By Serafina.
Enley makes a sound like she’s been punched in the gut. A small, broken whimper that turns into a sob. Her grip on my hand tightens until her nails dig into my skin.
“Poe,” she chokes out. “They have Poe? No. No, Knight, please tell me you’re wrong.”
“I wish I was,” Knight says, softer now.
“But it’s real. Ozzy got one short burst out before they stripped his comms. He said they’re alive.
For now. Serafina’s pissed about the fake hack.
She’s making examples. Maddox is losing his mind trying to track the vehicles, but she’s using decoys, switching plates, rerouting through tunnels.
We’re working every angle. Traffic cams, satellite pings, even old contacts in the city. But it’s going to take time.”
Enley’s shaking now, full body tremors that make the whole seat vibrate.
She’s Poe’s sister. The girl I carried out of hell on my back while she cried into my neck.
The girl whose brother trusted me with her life.
And now that same brother is in Serafina’s hands.
I feel sick. Guilty. Furious. I should’ve been there.
I should’ve seen this coming. Instead I’m here on the side of the road, holding Enley’s hand while she falls apart.
“He did this for me,” she cries, voice cracking. “He walked into that warehouse for me. He let them take him so I could be free. And now he’s the one locked up. I should be there. I should be the one they have, not him.”
“Enley, no,” I say, my voice rough. I pull her across the console and into my lap without thinking, wrapping both arms around her.
She’s so small against me, trembling, face buried in my neck.
Her tears soak through my shirt instantly.
“Your brother would lose his mind if you went back in. He fought like hell to get you out. You staying safe is the only thing keeping him going right now. I promise you that.”
Knight clears his throat on the line. “Enley, listen to Render. Your brother is tough. Tougher than any of us. He has Orchid with him too, and she’s not going down easy. They’re going to be okay. We’re going to get them back. All of them.”
Enley lifts her head enough to speak into the phone, voice raw and cracking. “What about the others? Ozzy? Arrow? Gage? Lark? Are they hurt? Did she… did she do anything to them?”
“We don’t know the details,” Knight admits. “But Maddox has eyes on a few leads. Serafina’s moving them to a secondary location. She’s cocky right now. She thinks she has the upper hand. That’s when people make mistakes.”
I feel the rage building in my chest, hot and black and ready to explode.
Serafina has my team. My brothers. Enley’s falling apart in my arms because of her.
I want to turn this car around right now, floor it back to the city, kick every door down until I find them.
But I know better. Rushing in gets people killed.
“Knight,” I say, forcing my voice steady for Enley’s sake. “What do you need from us?”
“Stay gone,” he answers immediately. “Do not come back. Don’t try to play hero.
Serafina doesn’t know we got Enley out clean.
That’s our only real advantage. You two stay off the grid, keep moving, change cars again in the next town.
Use the new IDs I sent yesterday. Stay dark until we give the all-clear.
Maddox is calling in every favor we have.
We’re setting up a full counter-operation.
But it’s going to take time. Days, maybe a week.
If you show up now you become another bargaining chip.
Or worse. She already has six of us. Don’t give her seven. ”
Enley shakes her head against my chest, fresh tears soaking through. “I can’t just hide while my brother is suffering. I can’t.”
I stroke her back, slow and steady, trying to pour every ounce of calm I don’t feel into her.
“We’re not hiding forever,” I tell her and Knight both.
“We’re staying smart. Poe needs you alive and free when this ends.
He needs all of us. If we go in half-cocked we lose.
I’m not losing you, Enley. I’m not losing any more of the team.
We wait. We prepare. And when Maddox says go, we go in hard and we end her. ”
Knight lets out a long breath. “Render is right. This ends soon. One way or another. Serafina finally overplayed her hand. She thinks she broke us. She has no idea what she just started. Stay safe, both of you. I’ll check in every forty-eight hours. If anything changes I’ll call.”
The line goes dead.
Silence fills the car again, heavier than before.
Enley stays in my lap, trembling, her fingers twisted in my shirt like it’s the only thing keeping her anchored.
I hold her tighter, pressing kisses to her temple, her hair, careful not to let my lips linger too long.
That’s the line I can’t cross, no matter how right it feels to have her in my arms.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper. “I should’ve been there. I should’ve seen this coming.”
Enley pulls back just enough to look at me.
Her eyes are red and swollen but there’s steel in them now.
“Don’t do that. Don’t blame yourself. You saved me.
You got me out when no one else could. Poe knew the risks.
He did it anyway. Because that’s who he is.
And now we have to be who we are. We stay alive.
We stay ready. For him. For all of them. ”
I nod and rest my forehead against hers for a moment, breathing her in.
She’s so close. Too close. I can feel the warmth of her breath, the rapid beat of her heart against mine.
I want to kiss her so badly it hurts, but I don’t.
I can’t. Not when Poe is out there somewhere counting on me to keep his sister safe.
I help her back into her seat, buckle her in with careful hands, and start the engine.
The car rumbles to life beneath us. I pull back onto the road, checking mirrors again out of habit.
The pines swallow us once more. The sun’s climbing higher, turning the sky a pale, cold blue.
Somewhere behind us my team is locked up with a monster.
Somewhere ahead is the fight that ends all of this.
But right now there’s only the road, the woman I’m fighting not to fall for, and the vow burning in my chest like a live wire.
Serafina thinks she’s won. Fucking bitch.
She has no idea what she just unleashed.
This isn’t the end of the story.
This is the beginning of the final war.
And when we come for her, we’re coming with everything.
I glance over at Enley. She’s watching the trees fly past, but her hand is still in mine. Steady now. Strong.
We drive.
We wait.
We prepare.
And when the call comes, we’ll be ready.
Because some bonds are stronger than blood.
And this one is going to burn the whole world down before it breaks.