The refinery was collapsing around us. Fire licked the walls like hungry tongues, steel groaned and split, sparks rained down as if the sky itself had caught flame. But all of it—the chaos, the smoke, the screams—faded into a distant roar when I locked eyes with Lucian.
He wasn’t just another Blacklist operative. He was the one. The commander, the spider at the center of the web that had ensnared us for months. His presence filled the burning ruin like a dark gravity, pulling everything toward him.
And Adrian—Adrian froze.
For a heartbeat, his gun lowered, his breath faltered. It was so subtle Kael and Nora didn’t see, but I did. I’d been watching him too closely not to notice.
Lucian smiled, that cruel, knowing smile. “Hello, brother.”
The world tilted.
Brother.
The word sliced thr
