Chapter 621
Chapter 621:
It was a fatal, arrogant mistake.
The air in the back of the van was not just stale; it was recycled despair, heavy with the metallic tang of blood and ozone. The memory of the ambush was a fractured kaleidoscope in her mind: the deafening roar as the lead armored truck—the one she had foolishly climbed into—hit the IED buried in the asphalt; the world spinning as the heavy vehicle flipped like a toy; Alistair’s SUV screeching to a halt behind a wall of fire, cut off from her by the collapsing overpass.
Now, the suspension of the black van was nonexistent, or perhaps the road leading into the mountains was simply that unforgiving. Every pothole sent a jolt of pain through Skye Sterling’s body, rattling teeth that felt too loose in her gums.
She lay on the floor of the vehicle, her cheek pressed against the cold, corrugated metal, smelling the distinct, acrid scent of gasoline and old blood. She had been dragged from the wreckage before the smoke cleared, thrown into this getaway vehicle while gunfire kept her rescuers pinned down.
She wasn’t drugged. Not really.
But she had to be. Or at least, she had to pretend to be. The withdrawal symptoms were her only camouflage now.
Skye let her eyelids flutter, keeping them mostly closed, watching the world through the screen of her lashes. Her hands trembled—a rhythmic, uncontrollable shaking she had practiced in the mirror of her mind a thousand times, drawing on the memories of the addicts she had seen in her previous life, the ones who had lost everything to the very substance Lucian Graves now peddled.
“Lucian, sir,” a voice whined from the front passenger seat. It was Bianca, a mercenary he’d picked up after his main network began to crumble. Her voice grated on Skye’s nerves like sandpaper on glass. “My payment… the transfer didn’t go through yet p>
Lucian Graves sat in the captain’s chair of the customized escape van, his silhouette dark and unmoving against the passing blur of trees outside the tinted windows. He was still wearing the torn suit from the arrest, though he had discarded the handcuffs. He didn’t turn around. He was cleaning his fingernails with a small, silver pocketknife.
“We aren’t there yet, Bianca,” Lucian said. His voice was smooth, cultured, and utterly devoid of warmth. “Patience is a virtue you seem to have pawned p>
𝘋o𝘸𝗇𝗹о𝗮𝘥 𝗳𝗿e𝖾 𝘰𝘯 bеlո𝗼𝘃е𝗅ѕ.𝖼𝗈𝗺
The van lurched to a halt. The sudden stop sent Skye sliding forward, her shoulder slamming into the base of Lucian’s seat.
She let out a low, pathetic moan, curling into a tighter ball.
“Get her out,” Lucian commanded.
The side door slid open with a mechanical hiss. The air that rushed in was thin, cold, and smelled of pine and damp earth. They were high up. Somewhere off the grid.
Rough hands grabbed Skye by the ankles. She went limp, dead weight, allowing herself to be dragged across the metal floor. Her head bumped against the doorframe, a sharp spike of pain that she didn’t have to fake, but she added a whimper for effect.
She was hauled out onto gravel. She scrambled to her feet, swaying dangerously, her knees knocking together. She made her eyes wide, unfocused, darting around as if chasing invisible insects.
“Walk,” a guard grunted, shoving her forward.
They were standing in the driveway of a sprawling estate that looked less like a home and more like a mausoleum. It was built of dark gray stone, looming against the twilight sky, surrounded by dense forest that seemed to swallow the light.