Chapter 48

48

The sun dipped low on the horizon, painting the West LA skyline in hues of orange and pink. Almost exactly twenty-four hours had passed since the helicopter had lifted off from Redemption Creek, whisking Alex and her RAVEN team back to reality.

Twenty-four hours since she’d watched Jason’s figure grow smaller in the distance, their connection left frustratingly unresolved.

She descended the sweeping staircase of her family’s mansion, each step echoing in the empty two-story foyer. She’d ordered Mac, Liv, and Gabe to take a few days off, leaving her alone with her thoughts in the sprawling estate perched above RAVEN headquarters.

The iced tea in her hand clinked softly, condensation beading on the glass and cooling her palm. Instead of lingering in the opulent living room, she made her way to the hidden elevator that would take her down to RAVEN’s subterranean command center.

Seconds later, she stepped into the cavernous space, the usual hum of computers and chatter of operatives eerily absent. Her footsteps echoed off the polished concrete floors, the sound only amplifying the emptiness.

She paused at the workstation Jason had commandeered, her fingers trailing along the edge of his desk.

“Lord, give me strength,” she murmured, her voice barely audible over the soft whir of idling servers.

The thought of never seeing him again hurt more than she would have imagined, given that she’d been ready to deck him when they met. How had he wormed his way into her heart so quickly? And more importantly, how was she supposed to go on without him now?

Alex snorted, shaking her head. “Get it together, girl. You can’t exactly call him up and say ‘Oops, changed my mind!’”

She sank into the office chair, wincing as the cool leather touched her bare legs, and closed her eyes. His face, all hard planes and equally-fierce emotions, swam behind her eyelids.

The sound of the elevator doors opening made her look up. Gabriel sauntered in, face pale, jaw clenched, hands buried in the pocket of his rumpled hoody, his usual grace tempered by an odd, jittery energy. The bruises on his face were healing quickly, but still, something was off.

“You okay?” she asked, jumping up.

“We need to talk.”

She mentally prepared herself for a long conversation. Gabe was a gifted inventor, but he had never handled roadblocks well. Temperamental was the word that came to mind. “What’s up? Something wrong with the NeuroVerse research?”

“The research is great.” His clipped tone sliced through the air. “Perfect. It’s you that’s the problem.”

She blinked, struggling to process this sudden shift. Gabe could be difficult when he worked too hard—lack of sleep and proper nutrition for weeks on end would affect anybody—but he’d never been so short with her.

She tried another tack, forcing a gentle tone. “What can I do to help?”

Gabe’s dark eyes glittered, his face growing taut. Harsh. Mean.

It was a look she’d never seen on him before, transforming his familiar features into those of a stranger.

He jerked a hand out of the pocket of his hoodie. Alex’s world tilted on its axis as she found herself staring down the barrel of a handgun.

“You can die,” he said, in a stranger’s voice.

She flinched back instinctively before her training kicked in, overriding her shock. Was her cousin on drugs? She searched for a way to safely disarm him, but he was careful to stay out of range.

“Stay back,” he warned. “I know you’re way better at hand-to-hand fighting than I am. I’m not stupid.”

Alex raised her hands slowly, palms out, trying to project a calm she didn’t feel. Her heart thundered in her chest, blood rushing in her ears. What had happened to her gentle, brilliant cousin?

“Okay, Gabe,” she said, her voice steady despite the tremor in her hands. “Whatever’s going on, we can figure it out together.”

His gaze fixed on a point over Alex’s shoulder, his voice eerily detached. “Munsinger was supposed to have you killed. That was the agreement. I’d allow him to take the credit for licensing my tech to the military in exchange for getting rid of you.”

Bile rose in her throat. Keep him talking . It was all she could think to do while she sorted this out.

She swallowed hard, fighting to keep her voice steady. “You had no idea the general was involved with the Seven-Five group, did you?”

“Not that it matters,” Gabriel shrugged, the gun unwavering. “Now that the Seven-Five people know about my tech, they’ll offer me even more money. Either way, I win.” His lip curled in disgust. “Except the general failed. Badly. All three times.”

The pieces clicked into place, a sickening realization dawning. “That’s why you went to your alternate lab,” Alex said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Duh.” Gabriel rolled his eyes. “The whole point was for me to have an alibi while his people took care of you.” He pointed at his face with his free hand. “I even let them do this. I wanted to really sell it, you know? But then you ruined that, too. They beat me up for nothing.”

“But why?” The question burst from her, raw and desperate. “How could you?—”

“You don’t know?” His handsome face twisted with rage. “How could you not know?”

His finger tightened on the trigger.

Dear Jesus, make this stop .

She forced herself to breathe, to think. “I loved you like a brother. We all did. Mom and Dad treated us as siblings. Always.”

“Right. The poor, orphaned nephew. I never really belonged.”

The accusation stung, anger flaring hot in Alex’s chest. “That’s not true! We?—”

“It should have been your parents on that plane,” Gabriel snarled. “But no, your mother had just suffered a miscarriage, so your father talked my parents into representing the family business at that conference in Italy.”

The revelation hit Alex like a physical blow. She staggered back, her world tilting on its axis. “I ... I had no idea you felt this way. If you’d told me sooner— If you’d told my parents?—”

Gabriel scoffed, cutting her off. “Right. Then your parents would have forced me to keep seeing that stupid shrink. No thanks.”

The gun glinted in the overhead light, a cold reminder of how quickly everything had unraveled.

Gabriel’s face twisted into a cruel smile. “There’s still a way to make it right. I know what the trust says.”

The trust. Oh. No .

If either of them died without offspring, the other inherited everything.

He could see she understood. “Cool, huh? So you’re going to go to sleep … and die. No worries. You won’t feel the explosions.”

He took aim at her, center mass. She tensed, ready to dive for cover, but there was nowhere to go.

He pulled the trigger.

She anticipated the sharp sting of the tranq dart needle. The instant brain fog, followed by blackness. The dart hit her abdomen, but the sting was hardly noticible, much less obvious than the soft clatter that followed. A small dart rolled across the floor. It had barely pierced her skin before falling away.

Gabriel’s face contorted with fury. “No!” he snarled, his composure cracking. He raised the gun again, finger squeezing the trigger.

Click.

The hollow sound echoed in the room. Gabriel’s eyes widened in panic as he frantically tried to clear the jam.

Alex’s instincts screamed at her to run, to tackle him while he was distracted, but the room tilted and swayed. Even that small dose of tranquilizer was taking effect, stealing her strength and blurring her vision.

“No, no, no,” Gabriel moaned, his movements growing more frenzied.

She stumbled forward on leaden legs. She had to do something, had to stop him before?—

The world tilted sharply, and she found herself on her knees, struggling to stay conscious. Through the haze, a face crystallized in her mind.

Jason .

She wished it had worked out. Wished she’d taken the chance. As darkness crept in at the edges, her last coherent thought was of his smile, warm and full of promise.

Then, nothing but darkness.