Delacroix’s reach ran deeper than anyone liked to admit. If Lucien moved to settle a score, it wouldn’t be me who felt the first strike — it would be Darren. My chest tightened at the thought.
Then my phone buzzed in my pocket.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
Evenlyn’s name lit the screen — Eagle’s sister. I thumbed it open before my brain had finished sorting the danger wordless in my gut.
“Yeah?” I said.
“Kael… please… save me…” Her voice was a thin rope, frayed and shaking.
I tightened my fingers around the phone. “Where are you? What happened?”
A man cut in, smooth and cold as ice. “Kael George, I warned you this isn’t over.”
The voice was one I knew — and hated. It didn’t have to shout to carry menace.
“If you want to save the girl,” he said, “come to—” He barked an address, clipped and fi
