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How did this happen? Cassian swore we would be safe here. He swore to protect us, and look what's happened.

A chilling numbness descends across my shoulders, seeping into my heart with long, icy fingers. It stays there as a woman with long, black hair leads me to a room where a doctor asks me a series of questions that I barely know how to answer. The pain from the crash doesn't even breach the numbness consuming me.

I was so close to getting her back.

So close.

Now this?

Each question I'm asked is answered vaguely, and I barely remember the answers until the kind doctor is pressing pills into my hand, telling me that I'm mostly okay. My seatbelt saved me from most of the damage, but the pain I'm feeling when I breathe is from a cracked rib. She advises me to be careful, to get some rest and track the bruising that will soon bloom across my torso. All the other small cuts to my face from the glass are superficial, and the blow that knocked me out doesn't seem to have given me lasting damage, but they will keep an eye on me in case I'm concussed.

She could have told me I'm growing a second head out of my ass and I still would have nodded and numbly said thank you.

The numbness doesn't lift until the same black-haired woman, Zira, I think her name is, ushers me into a small lounge where Cassian stands near the window.

"Cassian?"

He turns to face me and winces. One arm is in a cast, held diagonally across his chest, and he's changed into shorts due to a thick bandage across his thigh.

"Sabina!" He rushes toward me while his face scrunches in pain. "Oh, thank God, I was so worried something had happened to you!" He cradles the side of my head with his hand. "How are you?"

"Uhm… cracked rib, I think. And deep tissue bruising from the seatbelt but that-that doesn't matter, Cassian. What happened? Where's Illyana?"

"I can answer that." A soft voice rises up from the couch.

A woman sits there, her head buried in her laptop. She's so silent and unmoving that I didn't even notice her until now. A flinch rolls through me as the woman lifts her head and muddy brown curls cascade around her shoulders.

She locks onto me with striking blue eyes. "Hi. I'm Raven."

"Raven." I glance at Cassian who takes my hand in his and squeezes. "Okay, what happened? I'm going to explode if someone doesn't give me some damn answers. Please!"

"We can tell you what we know." Despite his large mass, Bradley enters the room while barely making a sound and I flinch in fright toward Cassian. Cassian tightens his grip on my hand and then leads me to the empty couch, where we both sit.

"Your convoy was attacked by military-grade weaponry," Bradley continues. "From what Raven's been able to piece together from the salvaged dashcams and surrounding CCTV, a missile hit the first car, and then the one that struck your vehicle hit the ground first, so your driver had no choice but to drive through the explosion as it struck."

I tighten my grip on Cassian. "I-I'm sorry, did you say the military?"

"Military-grade," Raven corrects.

"What's the difference?" I snap, unable to stop myself from latching onto an outlet as soon as it presents itself.

"In short, it's just a buzzword that can mean something that matches a high standard, but in this context, the weaponry you were attacked with was stolen from a military cargo ship about six months ago. Untraceable until now."

"What does this mean? Is Illyana alive? I mean, we're alive so she must be, right?"

"I saw her," Cassian says, and my attention locks onto him. "She looked okay. A little rough, but she was okay. Valentina told us that the explosion that hit their vehicle was on either side to bring the car to a stop, rather than on the nose like the others."

"Oh, should I be grateful?" I snap, then I hesitate when a wounded look flashes in Cassian's eyes. "I'm sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just…" I force a deep breath. "I don't understand how this happened."

"The man who took her was Boris Popov. We were able to confirm that with Cassian's description and the invitation they left to taunt us."

"Boris… who is that?" I glance at all three of them. "I've never heard that name before in my life."

"He has dealings with Leo." Cassian's voice remains soft. "We believe he may have been hired not long after we left Naples and tasked with returning Illyana to Leo. Boris is a dangerous man, but we have eyes on his people as we speak.”

"I don't care about him," I snap, and my chest tightens painfully. "I care about my daughter. What the hell does he want with her?"

"They wanted you too," Raven remarks, her gaze back on her computer. "They tried to take you, but the car was too mangled and it actually protected you. One could reason that they want you for the same reason Mario did. Your kidney. Which suggests Illyana will be well taken care of."