Page 100 of Beautiful Ruins
“Ambush was sloppy.They underestimated response time.”
Chernov was on one knee now, disarmed, restrained by two of Atlas’s men.Blood streaked his sleeve, but his expression remained eerily composed.
Even now as he sat surrounded.Even defeated in this encounter.He looked up at me and smiled.
“You think,” his voice turned hoarse, “that this is the end?”
I stepped closer.
“This ends your presence on my land,” I informed him.
He laughed under his breath.
“You kill many of us.Capture others.And you believe this solves your problem.”
I said nothing.Then he tilted his head slightly.
“You will never come back from the gift we’ve sent you,” he added.
The words registered immediately.Not as noise, but as a subtle tension settling in the air around us.Subtle, but unmistakable, tightening something in my chest as the implication settled in.
“What gift?”I whispered, at the same time that my heart seemed to stutter.
Chernov smiled.A slow, knowing smile.
“And no matter how many of us you kill,” he spat softly, “there will always be more of us coming for you.”
My stomach dropped.Instantly.Viscerally.Wrong.Something was wrong.
I reached for my phone.
There were three missed calls from Archie.Two from Izzy.Four from my head of security.
My heart stuttered once.Hard enough to physically hurt.I dialed immediately.Archie.No answer.Izzy.Ringing.Ringing.No answer.Security line.Dead.The world narrowed to a single point.Home.
“Secure the survivors,” I ordered coldly.“Interrogate.Extract everything.”
Atlas stepped into the doorway, already reading my expression.
“What is it?”
“I have to get to the house.”
His eyes darkened instantly.
I was already moving.Fast.Deadly focused.Because for the first time since this began, the fear was no longer theoretical.
30
Izzy
We were in the foyer when the doorbell rang.
Tone froze mid-step.
“That,” she said slowly, “is either extremely inconvenient or extremely suspicious.”
I glanced toward the front doors as one of the guards approached, checked the monitor, then turned the lock.
