>Alisha
"Mada, there is an ergency."
Marcus sprinted toward , his face pale and tight with worry. I stood up abruptly from the cold stone floor of the columbarium to face him. My brow creased as I watched him struggle to find his voice; his knuckles were white where he gripped his tablet.
"Your sister..." he began swallowing a few.
My chest constricted, but I forced my expression to remain composed. "Which one?" I pressed.
Deep down, I knew whatever followed wouldn’t be good because Marcus was not a man to panic when things go wrong, yet I still prayed against the inevitable hoping I was wrong. Both of them, as flawed as they were, were still precious to . They are still my sister.
I clenched my fists and straightened my spine.
"What happened?" I asked again, my voice sharper this ti.
"Mallory has been kidnapped," he said breathlessly. "Eleina... she was the culprit."
The words hit like a physical blow.
Sothing inside fractured. A surge of panic raced through my veins, making it impossible to process the information. It didn’t make sense. That man—Archeval—would never let anyone near his wife!
"Didn’t I tell you to monitor her?!" I questioned but it’s no use, I was basically barking at the wrong tree and no matter how much I scread. The things I was afraid of already happened.
Marcus remained quiet but there is an unmistakable guilt in his eyes.
"How could this happen?" I asked myself, my chest tight as I try to anchor myself towards the glass wall of the columbarium.
"It’s only been three days...there’s no way she could do all of these." I racked my brain trying to make sense of everything but I couldn’t co up with anything.
Besides, I had placed enough restrictions on Eleina that executing a sche of this magnitude should have been impossible.
I bit my inner lip and looked at Marcus.
"Tell you’re joking," I replied, trying to force a nervous, awkward smile. But the grim silence and the look in his eyes quickly wiped the expression from my face.
That’s when my instinct took over. I rembered everything and I know right then and there I had to have a talk with that man.
My feet moved on their own. Before I realized it, I was bolting out of the quiet hall, sprinting toward the car.
"Take to the hospital!" I commanded. My voice was thick with panic, sticking in my throat as if a physical lump were lodged in my chest.
I feel like an air was slowly being taken out of my system.
Marcus dived into the driver’s seat a second after , nodding as he threw the car into gear and roared away from the curb. The ride was a blur, Marcus stepped on the pedal as he sensed my panic, looking at a few tis to try and check on .
We must have cut the travel ti in half, yet it still felt like the longest journey of my life.
While we sped through traffic, Marcus handed his tablet. I took it in his hand with my trembling hands, trying my best to not drop it.
Flashed in the screen showed a grainy snap of the hospital’s CCTV. I recognized Eleina instantly despite her nurse’s disguise, I took care of her, I know everything about her and the things she can do—and more importantly, I could never mistake the limp, unconscious woman she was pushing in a wheelchair.
A sharp sting in my finger snapped back to reality. I hadn’t even realized I’d been anxiously biting my nails until I saw blood running on it followed my a sharp sting.
"Mada, we’ve arriv—"
I didn’t let him finish. As soon as the car screeched to a halt, I threw the door open and sprinted toward the hospital entrance, running past the n steadily guarding the front of the hospital.
"Stop right there," a man in a black suit barked, stepping into my path to block the doors but I ignored him and kept trying.
My jaw clenched. "Let. . In." I spoke through gritted teeth, fighting to keep my temper from exploding. The man’s grip tightened on my arm as I tried to shove past him.
"I TOLD YOU TO LET IN!" I scread. I swung my arm upward with a violent wrench, using the montum to break his hold and throw him off balance.
Before he could recover, I stepped into his space and sent him sprawling to the floor.
"Fuckers!" I cussed as I spit on them.
Two more guards started toward , but I was already sprinting inside, heading for the interior. My heels clacking at the hospital’s marbled floor.
"MARCUS! TAKE THEM DOWN!" I ordered over my shoulder. I didn’t look back; I knew he could handle them. I had never known anyone stronger than Marcus when he was ordered to protect .
’I believe in him.’ I thought to myself when I heard the sound of a gun behind . My heart telling to look back but my brain is telling to keep going.
So, that’s what I did. Believe in him.
I reached the elevator and hamred the call button more tis than I could count. The wait was agonizing. I shifted my weight from foot to foot, my eyes glued to the glowing floor numbers as it descends. I kept looking back, thinking soone might pop up suddenly to stop .
I could take the stairs but that wouldn’t be a smart idea.
When the doors finally hissed open, I dove inside. A guard attempted to lung in after , but Marcus’s hand shot out, grabbing the man’s shoulder and yanking him back into the lobby.
Marcus gave a sharp, reassuring nod just as the doors slid shut, sealing in.
The elevator opened on the second floor—my sister’s floor.
"Catch her!" a man shouted the mont I stepped out. A group of guards were already closing in, hands pressed to their earpieces as they received the alert.
"Look, I just need to see Archeval!" I tried to reason, but a fist was already flying toward my face. I ducked, grabbed the man’s wrist, and used his own montum to fling him into the wall. As another lunged, I snapped my leg out, a clean kick catching him in the solar plexus and sending him reeling.
I didn’t have a plan. This was reckless, suicidal even, but I knew one thing: no one was more desperate than Archeval right now.
I needed him if I planned on saving my sister. I wouldn’t forgive myself if I let another person die on my watch.
I ran down the hallway, my footsteps echoing against the linoleum. I checked the room numbers, my breath coming in ragged gasps, until I saw the crowd of ard n gathered outside a specific door.
I slowed my pace as their heads turned in unison. Every eye was on . I took a few deep breaths to steady my racing heart before walking forward.
A dozen guns were raised instantly, fingers itching on triggers. I swallowed hard just as Marcus appeared behind , his presence a heavy shadow.
"Why are you here?"
The voice was cold enough to send shivers down my spine. Archeval stepped out of the room, his every movent slow and predatory. My body telling to turn back until it’s too late or he might end .
Exactly the desperation I needed.
"I’m here to talk," I replied, slowly raising my trembling hands to show I was unard and had no intention of fighting.
I took one step forward. The next thing I felt was the bite of cold tal pressed firmly against my forehead.
"MARCUS, PUT YOUR GUN DOWN!" I barked without breaking eye contact with the man holding the weapon to my skull. Behind , I heard the subtle rustle of Marcus lowering his aim.
I could feel the killing intent radiating off Archeval. He wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.
"Please! Just hear out," I pleaded. "Eleina couldn’t have done this alone, not in a guarded wing like this."
I thought of the text ssages that had leaked the location of their private villa. There was a traitor in their midst. I couldn’t trust anyone here—and neither could he.
"And why," Archeval hissed, his finger tightening on the trigger, "should I trust you?"
That was when I heard the faint, terrifying click of the hamr being pulled back.
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