The gun gleamed under the moonlight—cold, steady, final.
Jax didn't blink.
"I'm sorry," he said again, voice breaking like something inside him had already snapped.
Drew froze. Not breathing. Not thinking. Just staring at the barrel pointed at the center of his chest.
"Jax… put it down."
"I can't."
A whisper. A confession. A sentence.
His finger tightened on the trigger.
Drew's pulse hammered. "Why?"
Jax's eyes flickered—fear, guilt, and something darker.
"I told you to stop digging. I told you not to come here."
His voice shook. "They told me what would happen if you kept going."
"Who?"
Jax swallowed hard. "The people who took Aria."
The wind seemed to stop.
Drew's chest tightened. "She's alive. You knew."
"I didn't know," Jax said quickly. "Not at first. But when I found out… she wasn't the same person anymore."
"What does that mean?"
Jax flinched—like the answer itself was impossible to say.
"Drew… she's dangerous now."
"That's not Aria."
"You didn't see her face after the fire," Jax whispered. "You didn't see what they turned her into."
Drew stepped closer.
The gun followed him, trembling.
"Jax," Drew said quietly, "whatever they told you—"
"They didn't tell me," Jax cut in, voice cracking. "They showed me.
The waves crashed below, loud enough to swallow breath.
Drew stared into Jax's eyes and finally understood the truth.
Jax was terrified.
Of the people behind this.
Of the secrets he'd stumbled into.
Of Aria.
But most of all—
He was terrified of what he'd been ordered to do.
"Jax," Drew whispered, "don't do this."
Jax squeezed his eyes shut. "I have to."
His finger twitched.
Time stretched thin.
The air thickened.
Then—
A click.
Not a gunshot.
A click from behind them.
A safety being pulled back.
Jax stiffened. Drew turned slowly.
A woman stood in the shadows behind them—tall, poised, wearing a black tactical coat and a small earpiece. Her hair was pulled back tightly, her expression razor sharp.
A stranger.
But the eyes—steady, unreadable—were trained directly on Jax.
"Lower your weapon," she ordered.
Jax didn't move.
Her voice didn't rise, but the threat wrapped around each word like wire. "Jax. Now."
"Lena… you can't be here," Jax whispered, panic bleeding through his voice.
Ah.
So this was Lena.
A new danger.
A new piece of the labyrinth Drew had just stepped into.
Lena's gun was steady, unlike Jax's trembling one.
"Stand down," she repeated.
Jax shook his head. "You don't understand—"
"Jax."
Her tone iced over. "The order changed."
Jax's face went pale. "What?"
"Target's not to be eliminated."
She nodded toward Drew.
"He's to be taken."
Drew's stomach dropped.
"Taken where?" he demanded.
Lena didn't answer him. Her eyes stayed on Jax.
"Put. The gun. Down."
Jax's breath stuttered. His thoughts were warring in his face—loyalty versus fear versus something else Drew couldn't name.
Finally, Jax lowered the gun-but not all the way.
Lena stiffened.
Drew felt the shift a second too late.
Jax whipped the gun upward and fired—not at Drew, not at Lena, but at the tires of Lena's car.
The explosion snapped the night in half.
Lena shouted, cursing, ducking behind the door. Drew lunged sideways as the car lurched. Jax threw the gun away, grabbed Drew's arm, and yanked him toward the darkness.
"We need to go. NOW
Drew hesitated, but Jax dragged him with surprising strength, pulling him toward the tree line at the top of the cliff
Behind them, Lena recovered quickly.
"Stop!" she yelled, firing a warning shot.
Bark exploded near Drew's shoulder.
"Jax!" Drew gasped. "Who the hell is she?"
"You don't want to know!" Jax shouted back, shoving him through the brush.
They sprinted into the woods, branches whipping against their faces. Drew stumbled over roots, lungs burning.
"Explain!" he demanded.
"Later!
"Now!"
Jax didn't slow. "She works for the people who took Aria!"
"And who are they?!"
Jax didn't answer—because he couldn't.
A second gunshot tore through the night.
A tree trunk exploded beside them.
"She's closing in!" Jax hissed. "Don't look back!"
Which, of course, made Drew look back.
Lena moved through the trees with terrifying precision—silent, fast, almost inhumanly controlled. Her eyes locked on Drew like she already had his heartbeat memorized.
"Jax," Drew gasped, "she's not human."
"She's trained."
"That's not training."
Jax didn't argue.
Because they both knew Drew was right.
A flash of silver caught Drew's eye.
No.
Not silver metal.
Something was embedded in Lena's wrist—a faint gleam whenever she raised her arm.
A device.
Drew's mind spiraled. "What did they do to her?"
"Not her," Jax snapped. "Aria."
They crashed through the last line of trees.
—and stumbled onto an abandoned service road.
Jax dragged Drew toward an old, rust-coated jeep half-hidden behind a fallen sign.
"You stole a car?" Drew gasped.
"I borrowed it!"
"You hot-wired it?"
"Shut up and get in!"
Drew didn't argue again.
Jax slammed his door and jammed the keys in the ignition. The engine coughed violently, like it hadn't been awake in years.
"Come on," Jax muttered, hitting the wheel. "Come on, come on,a shadow moved in the darkness.
Drew's stomach lurched. "Jax—"
The engine roared to life.
"YES!"
"Jax—LOOK!"
Lena stepped onto the road ahead, gun raised, steady as stone.
"Oh, hell," Jax whispered.
He floored it.
The jeep shot forward.
Lena didn't move.
She didn't flinch.
She simply raised her free hand,and pressed a small button on her wrist.
The road erupted.
A shockwave blasted through the ground, flipping the jeep sideways. Drew slammed against the door. Glass shattered. Metal screamed. The world spun—once, twice, then slammed to a stop.
Drew's ears rang.
His vision blurred.
Smoke curled from the hood.
He groaned, pushing himself upright. "Jax…"
Jax didn't answer.
"Jax!"
He reached over—Jax was slumped against the wheel, blood trickling from his forehead, breath shallow.
"Jax, stay with me," Drew whispered, shaking him lightly.
Jax's eyes flickered open. He tried to speak but only managed a faint, broken sound.
Drew's chest tightened. "Don't talk. Save your strength. We'll—we'll figure this out."
A shadow slid across the shattered windshield.
Drew froze.
Lena.
Her boots crunched softly on the gravel. Her gun was down now—no need for it.
She walked with the unhurried confidence of someone who already knew the ending.
"Step out of the vehicle," she said.
Drew clenched his jaw. "I'm not going anywhere with you."
Lena tilted her head. "You don't have a choice."
He reached for Jax's gun—only to realize it had been thrown somewhere in the crash.
Lena watched him calmly. "Don't make this difficult."
"You blew up a road!" Drew snapped.
"I inconvenienced you," Lena corrected. "If I wanted you dead, you would be."
Rage surged into Drew's throat, but something else rose too—fear, because she was rich.
She raised her wrist, tapping the metal device gently. "This is the only warning I'll give. Step out."
Drew swallowed hard.
He needed time.
He needed answers,he needed.
A sound cut the air like a slice of cold lightning.
A single hum close.