The shed out back was quiet. Too quiet for the kind of monster we had locked inside.
I stood in my office, arms crossed, watching the room fill with heat and ghosts. Ariella sat near the window, her face unreadable but her hands trembling in her lap. Jace stood behind her, jaw tight, eyes darker than I’d ever seen them. Ripper and his boys flanked the door like sentinels. Luca and his sons mirrored them on the other side. Kat sat between them, her silence louder than any scream.
Hovack leaned against the wall, arms folded, waiting for my signal. He knew what was coming.
“We’ve got Boris,” I said. “He’s in the shed. Tied. Gagged. Breathing—for now.”
Jace’s voice was low. “He didn’t know who Ariella was. Just saw a pretty girl and thought she was inventory.”
My stomach turned. I looked
