And then I saw them.
Two chairs in the center of the room.
Two figures tied to those chairs, ropes binding their wrists and ankles, gags shoved into their mouths.
Two men I recognized immediately.
No.
Nano.
And Oscar, my brother. Both of them were bound. Both of them gagged. Both of them were surrounded by Brotherhood members holding guns. Guns pointed directly at their heads.
No. No, no, no!
“No!” The word ripped out of me, raw and broken as I tried to stand, tried to run to them, but Carver grabbed the back of my neck and shoved me forward. I hit the concrete floor hard, my palms scraping against the rough surface.
“Stay down,” Carver ordered.
But I couldn’t. I couldn’t stay down. Not when Nano was right there, his eyes locked on mine, his expression unreadable behind the gag. Not when Oscar was staring at me with a mixture of fury and fear that made my chest cave in.
“What did you do?” I screamed, my voice breaking as I looked up at Carver. “What the fuck did you do?”
But it wasn’t Carver who answered.
It was Morpheus as he stepped out of the shadows, his expression cold and calculating as he looked down at me. “You think you have all the leverage, Alexandra,” he said quietly. “But so do I.”
And then I understood. This wasn’t about Michael. This wasn’t about the information I refused to give. This was about control. This was Morpheus showing me exactly what happened when I defied him. This was him taking everything I cared about and holding it hostage.
Nano. Oscar.The two people in this world I couldn’t afford to lose, and Morpheus knew it.
“So here’s how this is going to go,” Morpheus continued, his voice calm and measured. “Life is all about choices, Alexandra, and choices have repercussions. What you choose leaves a mark, not only in your life but in the lives around you. Do you understand?”
I nodded as tears streamed down my face.
“Good. Now, you’re going to tell me everything you know about Michael. Where he is. How to find him. Every detail you’ve been holding back.” He paused, as his eyes bored into mine. “Because if you don’t, I’m going to put a bullet into one of their heads. So choose, Alexandra. Choose who gets to live and who dies?”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Nano
I felt them before I saw them.
The shift in the air behind me. The subtle displacement of space that told me someone had moved into position. My instincts screamed a warning half a second before Garrote’s hand clamped down on my left shoulder and Scythe’s fingers dug into my right.
Fuck.
I knew. In that instant, I knew exactly what Morpheus intended to do.
“Wait!” I started, but the word had barely left my mouth before they yanked me backward with brutal efficiency as my chair scraped against the floor. I tried to plant my feet, tried to resist, but Garrote and Scythe were enforcers for a reason. They knew how to move a body that didn’t want to be moved. They knew how to apply pressure in exactly the right places to make resistance futile.
“Morpheus!” I shouted, my voice raw with desperation. “Don’t do this! She’ll talk. I can make her talk. Just give me more time!”
But Morpheus didn’t even look at me. He sat at the head of the table, his expression carved from stone, his eyes fixed on some point beyond the church doors. Waiting. Planning.Executing the strategy he’d already decided on before I’d even walked into this room.
“Morpheus!” I roared again, thrashing against the hands that held me. “She’smine! I claimed her. You can’t!”
“I can do whatever the fuck I want,” Morpheus sneered quietly, his voice cutting through my protests like a blade. “And right now, what I want is results. You had your chance, brother. Now it’s my turn.”
