Page 14

When I open them, things grow clearer.

We're back home in the Empire State Building. Raven slouches at the side of my bed and moonlight trickles in through the slats in the blinds. There's just enough light to illuminate Bradley, seated in the back corner with his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his large chest.

I survived.

But what happened to Sabina?

Bracing my arms on the bed, a low grunt escapes me before I can stop it as I push myself up. Raven's head lifts immediately and her blue eyes narrow to slits.

"Cassian." Her voice seems rough and there's a hint of red around the rims of her eyes.

"Raven."

"You asshole," she mutters. "I told you to be careful."

"I was careful," I reply, only to erupt into a rough coughing fit as the dryness in my mouth sweeps down my throat and threatens to strangle the words coming out of me. Raven surges into action and I only blink, then she's in front of me with a cup of water between her hands and a pink straw resting against the rim.

"A straw?" I glance up at her frowning features. "Really?"

"Drink," she scolds, urging the water closer.

Rather than argue, I lean forward and wrap my lips around the straw. The first few gulps of water burn their way down my throat, but the chill remains soothing and within a few more, I'm drinking easily.

"You weren't careful." Somewhere between my coughing fit and my quiet conversation with Raven, Bradley woke up. He stands at the bottom of my bed with both his arms crossed over his chest. "You almost got yourself killed."

"Par for the course, don't you think?"

Bradley's jaw works back and forth over words he refuses to say, then he sighs with the strength of a strong breeze. "You're lucky you're still with us. Another minute and you would have died in the street."

Raven guides the empty cup away and I glance down at the blanket covering my legs. Pain is dull so I'm definitely on some strong painkillers, but the sharp punch of the bullet hitting my thigh remains like a beacon in my mind.

"How close was I?"

"Too close," Raven scolds, slamming the cup back down on the tray. "Idiot."

"The bullet nicked the artery in your thigh," Bradley explains. "Another forty seconds and we would have been scraping your corpse off the road. Luckily, Valentina stopped the bleeding, but you lost a lot of blood. Most of it's been replaced, but if you feel lightheaded, then that's why. You'll be okay, though. Thankfully."

Bradley doesn't wear his emotions openly, but the worry in his eyes is as clear as if he said it out loud, so I nod once in his direction. "Thank you."

"Tell me what happened." Raven sits back down at my bedside and fixes those piercing blue eyes on me. "Tell me everything."

"You know most of it already. Sabina was kidnapped." My heart stutters as if trapped in a tight fist. "I was following. They nearly ran someone off the road, which is how they got distance on me, and then they caused my car to flip. Shit." My brows tighten, and I close my eyes as a pulse of tiredness stretches through my skull. "They knew who I was."

"They did?" Bradley asks.

"Mmhmm. When I was on the ground, Sabina was trying to stop the bleeding and I could hear them talking about the Suit. One of them, the older one, seemed to know us, but the younger one didn't seem to care. That's why they left me to die. He didn't want to kill the Jack."

Bradley's jaw tenses once more.

"Amelie is the name of the woman you terrified, by the way," Raven cuts in. "Don't worry. We compensated her and got her a new car, so she's all good."

I roll my eyes slightly and flash her a smile. "Thanks."

"While you were out, Valentina and Bradley stripped the restaurant apart. They found weapons in the flour and high-caliber guns hidden in other produce boxes." Raven speaks as if reeling off a shopping list. "So we think this was a trade deal gone bad."

I glance between the two of them and barely contain my scoff. "You can't be serious. You don't really think Sabina was mixed up in gang activity?"

"It points to it," Bradley comments. "If she was mixed up in the Mafia, then the skill of the men you encountered explains itself."