Chapter 7
1261 Words
Safe house sat on the edge of the city, half-swallowed by mist and silence.
It wasn’t much to look at — peeling paint, boarded windows, the faint hum of traffic from the expressway beyond — but inside, the lights were low, the air thick with tension and sea salt.
Selena sat on the worn couch, still in her sequined gown from the gala, her hair tangled, her pulse refusing to slow down. Jason moved quietly across the room, checking the locks, the windows, the corners — the way someone who’s lived too long in danger does without thinking.
He finally stopped at the small table where a first-aid kit sat open. The sleeve of his shirt was torn, a shallow cut tracing along his arm. Blood.
“You’re hurt,” she said, standing before she could think.
“It’s nothing.”
“Jason—”
He gave her a look. The kind that said he’d been through worse and didn’t have time for sympathy. Still, she crossed the room and grabbed the antiseptic anyway. “Sit,” she ordered.
He smirked faintly. “You’re giving orders now?”
“Someone has to,” she murmured, dabbing his wound with gentle precision. He flinched slightly but didn’t pull away.
For a long moment, the only sound was the soft clink of glass and the rhythmic crash of waves beyond the walls. Their eyes met — and held — longer than either intended.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she finally whispered. “About Keane. About all of this.”
Jason looked away, his jaw tightening. “Because knowing the truth puts you in danger. You were supposed to stay out of it.”
She laughed — bitter, disbelieving. “Stay out of it? My brother’s men attacked me. I think that ship’s sailed.”
He looked back at her then, something raw flickering behind his calm. “I never wanted you caught between us, Lena. You don’t deserve that.”
Her hands stilled. “You keep saying that — like what happened between you and Brad has nothing to do with me. But it does. You were family once. You were…” Her voice trailed off, the rest caught behind the lump in her throat.
Jason’s hand brushed against hers — just a ghost of a touch, but it sent a current up her arm. “I never stopped caring,” he said quietly.
She turned away, blinking hard. “Don’t,” she whispered. “Not right now.”
The silence stretched again, heavy and unspoken.
Jason stood and walked to the window, parting the curtain just enough to scan the street below. “We can’t stay here long.. Keane’s people will be looking for the boat. I’ll have to move you before sunrise.”
Selena folded her arms. “And go where?”
“I know someone who can help — someone who still owes me a favor.”
“Who?”
Jason hesitated. An investigator. Used to work in Monroe Innovations’ cyber division before Keane forced him out. He’s the one who helped me gather the proof.”
She studied him. “So this isn’t just revenge for what happened?”
Jason’s lips curved slightly, but his eyes stayed cold. “Revenge is easy. I want justice.”
Selena’s gaze dropped to the flash drive on the table — small, ordinary, but heavy with secrets. Proof that could burn everything down.
“Brad won’t believe me,” she said softly. “Even if I show him this.”
Jason turned, his expression unreadable. “Then you have to make him see it. But you can’t tell him you got it from me. Not yet.”
“Because he still thinks you’re the enemy,” she said bitterly.
Jason’s jaw tensed. “Because Keane’s listening. Your brother’s phone, his office — even his home network. Everything’s compromised.”
The weight of it settled over her like fog. “So what now? I just pretend nothing happened?”
“For now,” Jason said, stepping closer. “You go home. You act like the confused little sister who fainted after the attack and remembers nothing.”
Selena arched a brow. “You really think I can play dumb?”
He smirked faintly. “You’ve played polite for years. It’s not that different.”
Despite herself, she almost smiled. “You’re impossible.”
“And yet,” he murmured, brushing a strand of hair from her face, “you’re still here.”
Her breath hitched. The air between them tightened, humming with everything unsaid — the history, the hurt, the hunger neither could bury.
Then he stepped back, breaking the moment before it could become something dangerous. “Get some rest,” he said softly. “We move at dawn.”
⸻
Later that night…
Sleep never came easily. Selena lay awake on the couch, watching the flicker of shadows on the ceiling. Jason was still by the window, silhouetted by the faint orange glow of the city beyond. Guarding. Thinking.
“Do you ever stop watching the door?” she asked quietly.
He didn’t turn. “Habit.”
“From what? Being hunted?”
“From surviving.”
Something in his tone made her sit up. “You sound like a man who doesn’t expect to make it out of this.”
Jason finally faced her, his expression unreadable. “I stopped expecting anything a long time ago.”
“Don’t,” she said, voice trembling slightly. “Don’t talk like that. Not tonight.”
His eyes softened, and for a second, the tension cracked — revealing the man she remembered before the chaos, before the betrayal.
“I’ll get you out of this, Selena,” he said quietly. “Even if it means going down myself.”
She stood slowly, crossing the room until they were face to face. “You can’t keep trying to save everyone, Jason. Not me, not Brad—”
“I’m not saving Brad,” he cut in, voice low and firm. “I’m saving the part of him that used to believe in something good.”
The silence stretched again, thicker this time.
Then, from outside — a faint sound. Tires. Gravel. A car door shutting.
Jason froze.
Selena’s heart kicked up. “Is it them?”
He motioned for silence, crossing to the table and slipping the flash drive into his jacket. He killed the lights, the room falling into shadow.
Another sound — a footstep on the porch. Then another.
Jason pulled her close, whispering against her ear. “Stay behind me.”
The doorknob rattled.
A second later, the window shattered.
Glass exploded across the floor as a dark figure climbed through, flashlight cutting through the dark. Jason moved fast — one sharp motion, tackling the intruder before he could raise his weapon. The fight was brief, brutal. A grunt. A crash.
Then silence.
The man lay unconscious, Jason breathing hard, eyes burning with focus.
Selena’s voice came out shaky. “Who—who is he?”
Jason knelt, pulling off the man’s mask.
The breath left her chest.
It wasn’t one of Keane’s men.
It was someone she knew.
“Marcus?” she whispered. “Brad’s driver?”
Jason’s expression darkened. “He’s not just a driver. He’s been feeding Keane everything from inside your brother’s circle.”
Selena felt the floor tilt beneath her. “Then that means—”
Jason looked up at her, voice cold and certain. “Keane’s already inside. And your brother’s next.”
- Writer
