“I’m not,” I mutter.
Travis glances at me. “What?”
“Nothing.”
The engines hum beneath us. The cabin lights flicker faintly.
“Tsk tsk, Seth,” Luke whispers. “By the time you land, she could already be bleeding out somewhere. You can barely keep your head straight.”
I force my breathing to slow.
“You’re not real,” I mutter under my breath.
Luke’s grin sharpens. “Doesn’t make me wrong.”
I blink, and he is gone.
The jet cuts through the night, the vibration settling into my bones. The medication Beau gave me dulls the worst of the physical pain, but it does nothing for the hallucinations.
Brooke is somewhere down there. Alone. Afraid. Carrying our child. Fighting through everything on her own while I am stuck miles above her, useless and furious.
I force my breathing to steady. To stay in control. To keep from putting my fist through the window.
We're closing the distance. Every minute in the air is another step closer to her.
And when we land, I am going to tear apart every person who thinks they can take her from me and live.
Chapter 14
Brooke
Idon’t feel like I’m in the room anymore.
Seth’s alive.
My breath shatters in my chest. Something inside me cracks wide open, too hard to contain. I can’t stop laughing. It echoes through the dining hall, cutting straight through the heavy silence.
All of them turn to stare.
Elliot’s face twitches, first in confusion, then irritation.
“What’s so fucking funny?” he rises slowly from his chair. “You think he’s coming for you? We’re off-grid, sweetheart. Even John doesn’t know where this place is.”
I keep laughing. It claws its way out of my chest like relief and fury twisted into one. They told me he was dead. They wanted me broken and hopeless.
But he isn’t dead.
He's fighting. He's coming for me.
Sophie leans in across the table, her smirk venom-sharp, arms folded like she is already bored. “That’s cute. You really think your boyfriend’s going to come save you.”
I look her straight in the eye, my laughter finally dying down, my voice hoarse from the scream that wants to follow it.
“Even if he is too late to save me,” I laugh. “He’s gonna fucking kill all of you.”
Elliot moves toward me slowly, savoring every step like he has all the time in the world. His boots click against the marble floor, the sound echoing through the cavernous dining hall. Every step closer feels like a countdown.
“Look at me,” he says.
