Chapter 44 REICH
REICH
Hanging up with Keenan and Nael should’ve given me relief. It should’ve lessened the weight crushing my chest. But it didn’t. If anything, it made it worse.
The risk was still there—gnawing, ruthless.
One wrong move.
One second too slow.
And Sage was gone.
Not lost. Not missing.
Gone.
I dragged a hand down my face, inhaling slow through my nose as if that would force air into my lungs that barely worked right now.
Nael had said the plan was solid. Foolproof.
But I knew better.
Nothing was ever foolproof. Not when human lives were involved. Not when your heart was on the line.
And Sage was my heart.
Even if I’d been too fucking blind to admit it to myself until now.
Too busy protecting her in the only ways I knew how—by holding back, by keeping distance, by pretending I could manage this without getting blood on her.
What a joke.
I was drowning in it now.
I wouldn’t believe anything until I had her in my arms.
Until I could feel the pulse of her heartbeat under my hands.
Until I knew she was still alive.
I clenched my fists, knuckles popping with the pressure, the leather of my gloves creaking with the force.
Never again.
Those words had become a mantra.
A promise and a curse.
We’d narrowed her location down to three sites, all tucked deep in the forested mountains east of Providence.
Bunkers.
One old one. Two newer ones.
All tied to the Armaros cult—the same cult the Ovitt brothers had aligned themselves with.
The same cult within the ENA that I’d been tasked with dismantling.
I barked a bitter laugh under my breath.
Irony was a cruel bastard.
And I was done playing by his rules.
If there was one thing I’d learned—one thing I kept learning, over and over—it was this: If you want something done right, you do it yourself.
And next time, I would.
Nael.
God. Nael and I went back years.
He was two years younger, but that had never mattered. He’d always carried the weight like he was older. Always seeing things that others didn’t. Always planning ten steps ahead.
If I’d ever had another brother—it would’ve been him.
And maybe, that’s why I trusted him now.
Even though trusting anyone else with Sage felt like I was gambling with loaded dice.
Even though the idea of anyone else being responsible for her life made me sick.
He didn’t know her the way I did.
He didn’t care about her the way I did.
But he was the one I needed.
Keenan was different.
All fire and impulse.
He reminded me of Castor when we were younger and still does.
Felt everything too much. Held nothing back. And sometimes, that kind of recklessness was what you also needed.
Keenan didn’t question motives.
He didn’t weigh consequences.
He acted.
I needed both of them.
Even if I hated needing anyone at all.
The quiet gnawed at me.
The waiting always did.
But then—I heard it.
The low, hungry growl of Nael’s Camaro as it closed in the distance up the drive.
That sound was a time machine.
Took me back to a simpler time.
Late nights. Fast drives. Faster deals.
A brotherhood forged in fire, bone, and blood.
We hadn’t always been clean men.
But when we did something, we did it right.
No hesitation. No second guessing.
We got the job done.
The car slid to a stop, headlights cutting through the fog.
They got out together.
Unchanged, but heavier.
Like me and Castor.
Older, wiser and meaner since our days back in college.
Nael was the first to move. Eyes dark and unreadable, but there was something there—a recognition of what this was.
Of whom this was for.
He wasn’t here for ENA.
He wasn’t even here for me.
He was here to save her. My girl.
He nodded once, the closest thing to an embrace we’d ever shared.
I returned it. He understood. That was enough.
"Haven’t seen the old Camaro in a while," I said, forcing something like normalcy out of my throat. It tasted wrong. “She looks good.”
Nael smirked. "Thanks. Might actually be done now.”
I shook my head. “Every car guy says that.”
He huffed a quiet laugh. “And they’re all liars.”
A voice came from inside the car, “Talkin about this old car again, Nael?”
The passenger door slammed and Keenan stalked toward us, zero hesitation, fire in his eyes. He was a hurricane wearing skin and when he hit me with a crushing hug, I let it happen.
“Still breathing, Reich,” he muttered against my shoulder.
It was both a statement and a question.
I nodded, teeth grinding together, “Barely.”
Castor was already at my side, arms crossed. His eyes flicked between them. He didn’t speak. He didn’t need to.
Nael smirked. “Some people actually care about my car, Keenan.”
He grinned wide. “Bro, I care. I’m just saying… you talk about her like she’s your girlfriend.”
Nael didn’t blink. "Lyla’s never hurt me."
Something in my gut twisted.
“Lyla?” I echoed.
Keenan barked a laugh. “The car, dumbass.”
But Nael didn’t smile. Not really.
I cut through the air between us with one question, “How’s Blythe?”
Keenan stilled and his jaw ticked, as I watched the light dim in his eyes.
“We’re going to get her,” Nael said, smooth and sure.
But there was doubt in the spaces between his words. There always was when you said something enough times you stopped believing it.
Blythe had been taken because Keenan had gotten too close.
Because he’d loved her too much.
The ENA didn’t like love.
Not when it complicated the chain of command.
Not when it made you loyal to someone more than them.
They called it a breach.
And they punished him for it.
“If there’s anything we can do,” I said, quiet.
Castor nodded, solemn. "Anything."
Nael met my gaze, before he spoke, “We find Sage first.”
I nodded.
Because this wasn’t about me.
Not anymore.
Every second wasted was another second, they could be hurting her.
“You got the coordinates?” I asked.
Nael tapped the screen of his phone. “Already marked. We hit the primary site first. If they moved her, we have backups.”
I forced myself to breathe, “Good.”
As the Camaro’s doors opened, and we climbed inside, for one sharp second, it felt like the old days.
Before we were broken men..
Before we forgot why we did this.
But this time…this time we weren’t hunting for profit.
Or power.
Or vengeance.
This time, we were hunting for her.
And I would burn every last man alive to get her back.
Nael killed the lights as we crept up the path, headlights going dark.
Our tires crunched slow over gravel.
No one spoke. We didn’t need to. We were already synced.
Just like always.
Keenan’s voice sliced through the silence, “You remember the plan?”
Castor’s nod was a shadow. “We take the perimeter.”
Nael’s grin was pure hell. “We clear the inside. We find Sage.”
And I finished, “We end this.”
I loaded my gun. Checked my knife. Checked the second gun. Holstered both. And when I spoke again, it wasn’t to them.
It was to the men inside that bunker.
To the Ovitt brothers.
And to Klay.
“I’m coming.”
And hell was coming with me.
Because I didn’t care what the ENA did to me after this.
I didn’t care what this cost.
I didn’t care if I didn’t walk away from it.
She was the only thing I gave a fuck about anymore.
And I was going to bring her home.
Even if I had to bury myself to do it.