Page 66 of Vengeance

“The money came from a trust created under Elena Manzo’s maiden name.” Chloe covered her mouth, and Vengeance couldn’t feel his hands. His mother was alive, and she was helping Dante hunt Chloe. Or perhaps she was the one controlling the hunt.

Bowie’s voice crackled through the radio. “You need to leave the safe house.”

Vengeance looked toward the windows. “Has the location been compromised?”

“I don’t know,” Bowie said.

“That isn’t good enough,” Vengeance growled.

“It’s all I have.” Vengeance released the receiver and began checking the ammunition in his pistol.

Chloe stayed beside him. “Where do we go?” He looked at her. Two months ago, he would have ordered her to pack. He would have decided the route, the destination, and exactly how much truth she could handle, but not anymore.

“We have two choices,” he said.

She waited. “We run before they get close.”

“Or?” she asked.

“We stop hiding and find out why my mother wants you.”

Chloe’s face paled. “Do you think that she could be working with Dante?”

“She could be running the Black Veil,” he said.

“You think she’s behind all of this?” Chloe asked.

“I think Dante was terrified when he saw her name in Savage’s journal.” That fear finally made sense now. Dante hadn’t been afraid Savage had evidence against him. He had been afraid Savage knew Elena was alive.

Chloe reached for his hand. “What do you want to do?” Vengeance looked around the safe house. Their coffee mugs sat beside the sink, and her boots rested beside his near the door. One of her books lay face down on the table. For two months,this place had become something dangerously close to a home. Dante and Elena had already stolen enough from both of them. He wouldn’t let them steal this too.

“I want to end it,” he admitted.

Chloe nodded. “Then we end it together.” Vengeance tightened his fingers around hers. The peaceful part of their lives was over, but this time, they weren’t running as protector and an obligation. They were facing the war as something far more dangerous—a man and woman with everything to lose.

Chloe

The silence after Bowie's transmission felt louder than the static. Chloe stood frozen in the middle of the kitchen, her fingers still wrapped around Vengeance's hand as the old radio hissed quietly on the counter.

His mother was alive. His brain refused to make sense of those words. She'd spent the last two months learning who Vengeance really was beneath the scars and guilt. Every piece of him fit together now—the nightmares, the constant vigilance, the crushing weight he carried on his shoulders. But this changed everything.

She looked at him, and his face had gone completely blank. It was the same look she'd seen on veterans interviewed after coming home from war. A man whose brain simply refused to process what it had been told.

"Vengeance." He didn't answer. His eyes stayed fixed on nothing. "Baby." That got through to him.

His gaze slowly found hers. "I don't understand." His voice sounded almost childlike. "My father buried her."

Chloe stepped closer until she could cup both sides of his face. "Maybe he buried an empty coffin."

"He made me watch." The pain in those four words nearly broke her heart. "He wanted me to believe she was gone." His breathing became uneven. "Dante cried."

Chloe frowned. "What?"

"I saw him cry."

She'd never heard him talk about Dante with anything other than hatred. Now, he sounded confused. "He touched the casket." His eyes drifted past her. "He told me she'd gotten sick." His voice cracked. "He told me she died because weak people don't survive."

Chloe wrapped both arms around his waist before he could drift away into whatever memory was threatening to swallow him. "You were a little boy."