Nothing there.
Just rain.
Trees.
Shadows.
Then—
“She was never collateral.”
Flick’s fingers curled hard into the back of my shirt.
I could feel her shaking now.
Rook lifted his rifle slightly.
“Keep talking, Shepherd.”
A soft laugh echoed through the storm.
“You think Mercer built this alone?”
My jaw tightened.
There it was.
The real game.
Politics.
Money.
Power.
The kind of evil that wore suits instead of masks.
Shepherd continued calmly.
“Her father stole something he was never supposed to find.”
Flick made a tiny broken sound behind me.
“What did he take?” Rook demanded.
Lightning split the sky.
And for half a second?—
I saw Shepherd standing farther up the ridge between the trees.
Watching us.
Watching Flick.
“Proof,” he said softly.
Then he smiled.
