SHADOWS BENEATH THE FLAME (completed)

A Fire in Her Blood

📘 Chapter 6: A Fire in Her Blood

The video played on repeat in Lena’s mind.

“You can’t trust anyone. Not even the ones who say they love you.”

Her father’s voice had never sounded so certain. Or so final.

Jay sat across the room, staring at the files still open on the laptop, but Lena barely saw him. She was staring at a wall that wasn’t there — lost in a memory she didn’t ask to relive.

“What if you’re wrong?” she asked suddenly.

Jay looked up. “About what?”

“My father. What if he was wrong about you?”

Jay didn’t answer right away. He closed the laptop, the hum cutting off like a severed thread.

“I ask myself that every day,” he said. “If I could’ve done more. If walking away really protected you… or just gave them the space, they needed to kill him.”

Lena turned her face away. Her throat ached.

“He said not to trust anyone. Not even the ones who say they love me,” she whispered.

Jay stood slow and careful, like approaching a frightened animal.

“I never said I loved you,” he said.

She looked at him then — sharply.

He stepped closer.

“But maybe I should’ve.”

The silence between them stretched, then broke with the shrill sound of a phone ringing.

Jay grabbed a burner from his bag. Unknown number.

He answered without a word.

A voice crackled on the other end.

“She knows. And she’s not safe anymore.”

Jay froze.

Lena stood. “Who was that?”

He met her eyes. “Someone on the inside. Your father's contact. But they’re running now, too. Someone’s cleaning house.”

A chill crept over her skin. “Then we need to move.”

He nodded. “Tonight.”

As they packed, Lena shoved the drive deep into her boot.

The time for doubt was gone.

Now it was war.