Chapter 24 - Ado

A week passes. I do my best to catch up on sleep.

Olivia apologizes to me—I refuse to accept it. She doesn’t owe me one. Still, she insists.

“I wanted to keep her safe,” she tells me one morning, as we both sip coffee over the table in the kitchen—we’ve both been up all night planning. “But that shouldn’t have resulted in me being cold to you. Byron’s sorry too if things felt weird.”

“I know,” I promise her. “It’s fine. I like my own company.”

Keira and I fall into a rhythm of teamwork that succeeds shockingly well. We work long into the night and sleep sporadically, pouring over maps, schedules, IDs, and tech. We’re silent most of the time, but that suits me fine. And, like always, I suspect Keira can understand what I mean without me having to say it all out loud.

Despite all our complications, there’s one thing that never changed: beyond all of it, I just like being around her. She’s funny, beautiful, and charming. I think I’d be drawn to her like a moth to a flame, no matter who she was.

Some nights, I just stare at her in the soft light of the lamp between us on the table. I trace the way the glow falls across her face. I could do it for hours.

Three days before the hit, I’m alone in my room, surrounded by mission files, trying to focus on the details of one particular property we plan to hit. Aris wants me to comb through them. He feels we’re missing something, and I agree with him.

The pale light of early dawn lowers itself like a blanket over Rosecreek out of my window. It’s almost seven in the morning, but I’ve been working all night. The birds are loud already. Soon, heat will settle into the cracks and breaks in the terrain of our town for the summer and stay for months.

Maybe Keira will stay to see Rosecreek in the summer. We could swim in the lake together. I shake myself. If I’m daydreaming, I definitely need caffeine soon.

My phone buzzes—I’m being informed that my phone has taken another attempted hit, this one successfully blocked like all the others. Byron has kept us all up to date on hack attempts on our personal and pack devices, and they’ve skyrocketed. Clearly, someone out there suspects something. But we can’t yet know how much they know.

I sigh, watching the pale gray sky lightening outside. Maybe I could just sleep for a couple of hours…

The phone on my desk vibrates again, its harsh ring cutting through the quiet. A call.

It’s not Byron this time. The number is unfamiliar. I answer anyway, an uneasy feeling curdling in me.

“Hello, Mr. Channing,” a raspy voice greets me. Male. American—Southern?

I clear my throat. “Who is this?”

“It is Mr. Channing, isn’t it? Or is it…” A short pause, a breath. “Mr. Accolti?”

My blood runs cold. Accolti was my fake identity during the infiltration of the auction, the man I attended as. He’s the man who ‘bought’ Keira.

I repeat myself, firmer this time. “Who is this?”

“Did you really think we wouldn’t find out?”

I remain silent, listening. Dread rises in me like a tide. Soon, it’ll be above my head, cutting off my oxygen.

“You and your pack,” the stranger continues, his deep voice dripping with malice. “That little game you played at the auction? Buying what was already yours? You made a fool of us. And now, the girl will pay for your deception.”

My stomach drops. Where is she? Where is she right now?

“Who are you?” I demand, though I already know. I stand too fast, and my head throbs.

The laugh that follows is dark, twisted, and it makes my blood run cold. “Watch your back. Your little bride isn’t safe anymore. Neither are you.”

The line goes dead, but the words linger, echoing in my mind. They know. They know everything. Do they know about the last hit? Our actions to take them out? Where was the leak?

I text Byron: we have a leak somewhere. They know I knew Keira. Full comms lockdown and get hold of Aris ASAP.

I’m still clutching my phone, watching the message as it is delivered, when my door bursts open.

Keira rushes in, eyes wide with panic, breathless.

“Ado!” she gasps. She’s clutching her chest with one hand as if it’s a struggle to keep her voice steady. “Ado, I don’t know what to do; I just saw—look outside—” She points to the window, scampering across the room to stare out of the glass and downward.

I’m across the room in an instant, joining her at the window. Outside, under the dull light of the street lamps, I see it.

Across the street, smeared in thick red paint on the wall of the building directly facing us, is a message: “THE BITCH IS OURS.”

The words are still dripping, the paint fresh enough to glisten in the streetlight. They probably intended for it to look so similar to blood. My heart pounds in my chest, fury and fear warring within me. They know where we are. One of them was in our town.

“They know,” I mutter, my voice low with anger. “We need to move. Now.”

Keira’s breathing is shallow beside me, and I can feel her trembling. I turn to face her, and her eyes meet mine, wide with fear. She’s pale, the color drained from her face as she stares at the threat painted on the wall.

I wish I could take her far away from this place and keep her protected forever. The amount she’s survived through, and now this…

“What do we do?” she whispers, her voice barely holding steady. “They’re coming for us—for me.”

I take a step closer to her, my hand brushing against her arm, trying to ground her, but I don’t know if I should even try to touch her. Every protective instinct I have flared up. I can’t let anything happen to her.

“We’ll handle this,” I say firmly. “Step back slowly from the window. We’ll lock down the building until Aris can figure out sending you to a safe location.”

Keira’s hand shoots out. “Don’t leave me alone,” she begs in a voice that takes me off guard as she steps back onto her heel. “Ado, you can’t leave me on my own.”

I nod, one hand landing on her shoulder, rubbing gently at the divot of her collarbone with my thumb. She feels fragile and small in my hands.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I promise. “It’s like I said. You can’t get rid of me.”

Keira doesn’t laugh. I don’t expect her to, but it still stings.

The next three hours are a whirlwind.

It’s not even eight in the morning yet, but somehow, everyone is awake. Aris pulls the entire team into action—not only does Keira have to be moved, but now, the raids are at stake unless she can take point from her new location. Byron and Olivia rush around like headless chickens, holding computer monitors and unrecognizable hunks of machinery, loading them into the van hidden out back.

Aris settles Keira and me in a small, windowless meeting room on the top floor, usually reserved for interrogations. It’s bulletproof, he tells us.

“They’ve escalated,” he mutters, peering at a photo of the vandalized wall on his phone. “We think they must have gotten at our files, or maybe someone’s email. It could have been your agency email, Keira—it’d explain how they knew you’re working with us and you knew Ado, but how they don’t seem to know yet that we’re on the tail of their criminal organization.”

Keira sits beside me on the uncomfortable couch, arms tucked around her knees. She looks mortified by the whole situation. She’s always been tough—stronger than anyone gives her credit for—but as a result, she’s always been terrified of being seen as weak. But this has broken through her defenses in a way that makes my chest tighten.

Bigby appears in the doorway. “We’re sending you to a safe house close by,” he says, his tone leaving no room for argument. “No use in sending you out of the state—it’ll just make it harder to protect you. It’s a lakehouse on the southern tip of Halfmoon Lake, isolated enough that no one will be able to find you. Ado, you’re going with her.”

I don’t even think to argue—it’s what I’ve been prepared to do since the phone call. But I know what this means. Both Keira and I are being pulled from the mission until the threat is handled. It might jeopardize all of this. The mission that was supposed to be our chance at finally putting an end to this nightmare—to her nightmare.

Keira’s face falls, the devastation clear in her eyes. “You’re pulling us both?” she asks, her voice almost a whisper.

Aris glances at me. “If Ado wants, he can stay here,” he says. “But I don’t think that’s what he wants.”

I shake my head firmly. “She goes, I go.”

Keira’s fingers shoot out, and she grasps my hand. She squeezes hard, sorrowful eyes locked on the ground. Sorrow for me, sorrow for her, sorrow for all of this.

“I don’t want to hide,” she says quietly, though there’s a tremor in her voice. “I want to help.”

“You are helping,” Aris says firmly. “Staying safe and out of sight is the best thing you can do right now. And you can still take point from the safehouse—and Ado can help from there, too. The raid is still on. But if they get their hands on you again, all of this will have been for nothing. You know how we feel, Keira. None of us want to see you hurt.”

Keira’s eyes flicker to me, then back to Aris. The wetness in her eyes spills over, and a tear slips down her cheek.

After a second, she nods.

Aris nods back, his expression relieved. “Okay. Get packed, quickly. Stay away from any windows—we’ve covered most of them, but be careful. We’ll have the van ready out back fifteen.”

As Aris and Bigby leave the room to oversee the preparations, Keira turns to me, her face pale. “Ado, I—” she starts, but the words seem to die on her lips.

“I know,” I say softly, stepping closer to her. “I know you hate this. But I’m not letting anyone touch you again. Not now, not ever.”

We move quickly after that, gathering what little she’ll need for the time at the lakehouse. I grab my own gear as well, and we meet the others by the van. Percy is double-checking the engine and brakes, and Rafael stands nearby, scanning the area for any signs of trouble. The back of the van is loaded with computer equipment and weapons—and on the side, the logo of an unrelated catering company has been plastered. You would never know it’s one of ours.

“We packed food in the van. You’ll be safe out there until this is all over,” Rafael says, offering a tight smile as he loads our bags into the van. “We’ll keep in touch. Aris has already set up a secure line for communication. But in case your phones are compromised—” He tosses me two burners. “Everyone’s numbers are in there.”

I nod tersely. Keira lingers close to my side, peering around. She hasn’t spoken much since we left my room, her silence more telling than any words could be.

We say our goodbyes. She hugs Olivia and Maisie tightly, murmuring something I can’t hear with them. Aris squeezes my shoulder firmly, and the look in his eyes tells me everything I need to know about whether he still believes in me.

I watch as Keira climbs into the van, her movements slow and deliberate, like she’s carrying a weight far heavier than her small frame should bear. I clamber in after her, and we both don caps and sunglasses. We’ll be taking a circuitous route to the safehouse, which Byron already planned out in the console, just in case we’re followed.

The van pulls out. In the sheer light of sunrise, I set off down the main road through Rosecreek, headed North.

Keira isn’t crying, but I can tell it’s still a close thing. She’s always been so unshakeable in my mind, especially since she came back, newly armored by her experiences and life in the city. But now, she needs me, and again, I can’t find the words inside me to tell her I’m going to be everything she needs me to be.

Instead, I reach out, resting a hand on her arm and squeezing gently.

Keira puts her cold hand on top of mine and holds it there, staring mournfully from the window.

“I’m going to keep you safe,” I promise, watching the road. I can’t tell if she’s listening, so I say it again. “I’ll keep you safe.”