Noah
She was right there.
One second, I saw her — rain-soaked, crying, standing in the alley like every part of her had just been torn open — and the next, someone had their arm around her throat and she was gone.
Gone.
I screamed her name, sprinting with everything I had. My boots slammed through puddles. My heart felt like it might explode. I saw her kicking, fighting like hell, heard the muffled sound of her voice—
And then I saw the needle.
“NO!” I roared, lunging forward.
Too late.
Her body slumped in the bastard’s arms. And before I could even reach them, a black van screeched around the corner. Doors flew open. Two more shadows yanked her inside.
I was feet away. Feet.
The van roared off, tires screaming on wet asphalt.
And she was gone.
I stood in the middle of the street, chest heaving, fists clenched so tight I felt blood.
Liz.
Taken.
Something inside me snapped. Not broke — snapped.
Clean. Cold. Violent.
“God help whoever touched her,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “Because I will kill them.”
I turned and ran.
Back through the storm. Through the gala doors like a hurricane. Guests shouted as I shoved through them, soaking wet, eyes wild, heart burning.
I found Liam first near the edge of the dance floor. He took one look at my face and dropped his drink.
“What happened?” he said, grabbing my arm.
“She’s gone,” I said, out of breath. “Liz—she was taken.”
His whole face changed. “Where?”
“Alley behind the museum. Van. Three of them. She fought like hell. But they drugged her.”
Adonis was already moving toward us, eyes sharp. “What?!”
I turned to him. “They have her. I couldn’t stop it.”
His jaw clenched, and then I saw it — that rare crack in his armor. Not fear. Not panic.
Rage.
Determination.
Protective fury.
He turned to find Lillian on the far side of the room. She was watching him, eyes wide — already sensing something was wrong.
He crossed to her fast, cupping her face. “I love you. I need you to know that. I’m going to bring her back.”
She started to protest, but he kissed her — hard and certain — then turned and walked with purpose.
Liam grabbed Mary by the hand, pulling her into a fierce hug. “I’ll bring her home,” he whispered into her hair. “I swear it.”
Mary looked shaken but nodded, tears threatening.
We didn’t wait for anything else.
The three of us charged out, soaked, furious, and laser-focused. The gala music kept playing somewhere behind us, as if the world didn’t just tilt sideways.
Adonis led us through the facility’s back wing toward his secured office.
No one said it, but we were already at war.
Because they didn’t just take a mission target.
They didn’t take a soldier.
They took Liz.
And we were going to tear down every wall, burn every stronghold, and destroy every soul in our way to bring
her home.
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The second we stormed into Adonis’s office, he was already unlocking the surveillance wall.
“Pull up every feed near the alley,” he barked. “Museum perimeter. Street cams. Traffic exits. Give me everything.”
Liam stood at his side, hands flying across the control panel. I paced like a caged animal behind them, soaked to the bone and boiling from the inside out.
Then the footage loaded.
And there she was.
My heart cracked all over again watching it—Liz, standing in the alley, shaking, crying… and alone. My Liz. My lightning girl. And then that shadow came from behind. The way she struggled, the panic in her face, the way she screamed my name—
I slammed my fist into the wall hard enough to leave blood.
Adonis didn’t flinch. “We’ll get her.”
“She fought,” I muttered, voice barely human. “She fought so hard.”
“Enhancing the license plate,” Liam said, zooming in as the black van peeled off screen.
Adonis cursed under his breath. “Goddamn it. It’s scrambled.”
But then the screen shifted. Another angle. A different feed. One that caught a flash of a face in the van’s window.
And I knew that face.
The sharp jaw. The cold, emotionless stare.
The man who trained her. Manipulated her. Built her.
And then sold her soul.
Her father.
“It’s him,” I said, my voice flat. “He took her.”
Adonis looked at me. “You’re sure?”
“I’d know that bastard anywhere.”
Liam’s jaw tightened. “Then we hit every black site we know he’s used. Hard. Quiet.”
Adonis nodded. “We move now.”
As they gathered gear, I stood still for a moment, staring at the frozen frame of her face as she was taken. Rain streaked down her skin. Her eyes—one blue, one green—wide with terror.
And I felt it.
That deep, lethal stillness. The one I hadn’t felt in years.
“She trusted me,” I whispered to no one. “I told her she was safe. And now…”
Liam turned. “Noah—”
I shook my head, eyes burning.
“If she’s hurt…”
I swallowed hard, fists trembling at my sides.
“If even a scratch is on her, God help them all.”
Adonis met my gaze.
“Because we won’t.”
And just like that, we left the room.
Hearts set. Weapons loaded. No mercy left.
They took what was mine, and so help me god I will get her back.