Page 47 of Iced Up Love: Part Two
War.
The word doesn’t shock me. It fits too easily.
“There’s more,” Christian says, checking his phone again. “Update on Alex Vargas.”
I don’t care about Vargas.
I don’t care if he’s breathing.
“He made it through surgery. Broken jaw. Skull fractures. He’ll live.”
A flicker of something sharp moves through me.
“He shouldn’t,” I say.
Christian ignores that.
“The Vegas team is still pushing for an assault charge,” he adds. “They’re not backing off it.”
“I don’t care.”
The words come out harder this time, immediate, because none of that matters.
Not compared to...
“You should care.”
Christian’s voice snaps back, sharper than it has been since this started, and it cuts through everything else just enough to make me focus on him instead of the constant noise in my head.
“Because you’re no good to her in jail,” he says, stepping closer, his gaze locking onto mine. “And I’m trying to keep you out of it, so don’t make that harder for me.”
I step into him without thinking.
“She’s out there—”
“And you getting arrested doesn’t bring her back,” he cuts in, not backing down. “It takes you out of this completely.”
The space between us tightens.
I can feel the pressure building again, the need to hit something, to move, to do something instead of standing here listening to plans that aren’t getting her back fast enough.
“Another message came through.”
Jackson’s voice cuts through everything.
Everything stops.
I turn.
He’s already holding the phone.
Zach walks in at the same time, and the first thing I notice is how wrong he looks. Not just tired. Not just stressed. He looks like something in him has already cracked, like he’s been holding it together just enough to function and that’s it.
“Play it,” I say.
Jackson presses it. The video loads.
Lia is on her knees.
