Riley’s pov
This wasn’t happening. Not now. Not after everything I’d clawed my way through to get free.
My heart hammered so hard I could feel it in my teeth. The coffee shop smelled like burnt espresso and terror—people whimpering under tables, glass crunching under Armani’s boots, the metallic tang of gunpowder hanging thick in the air. I pressed my back harder against the counter edge until the metal dug into my spine, grounding me. Anything to keep from collapsing.
They were real. All three of them. Lucas behind me, Theo blocking the hallway to the back exit, Armani standing in the middle of the wreckage like he was posing for a photograph titled Reclamation.
I forced my voice steady. “Who are you people?”
The lie tasted like ash.
Lucas let out a low, disappointed chuckle—the sam
