The extraction van tore through the rain-slicked streets, wipers dragging across the windshield like they were tired of fighting storm. Elena Harper leaned forward in her seat, pulse thundering as the coordinates blinked on the GPS—abandoned warehouse district, fifteen minutes away. Too close. Too far. Her stomach twisted.
Julian Reyes' hand stayed locked around hers the whole ride. His knuckles—still bruised from the gala fight—felt warm against her cold grip. That kiss they'd shared still burned between them, something both terrifying and grounding all at once.
From Vic's hijacked radio, that taunting voice echoed: "Mom's waiting, Elena. Don't keep her."
"Ambush," Julian muttered, pulling Ethan's Glock from the console and checking the magazine. "Vic wants us right where he can see us. Mia, talk to me."
Mia's voice crackled through the secure line. "Two vans on location. Heavy hostiles. Cops are ten minutes out—Victor Lang is stalling them. If you go in, go fast."
Elena's breath hitched. Her mother.
The photos from the PI flashed through her mind—the same woman who vanished when Elena was eight. The same woman Elena had spent years learning not to miss.
"We go in," she said quietly. "No matter what."
Julian turned to her, eyes fierce. "We go in together. You don't run off alone again."
The van screeched to a stop behind a stack of rusting shipping containers. Rain hammered down in cold sheets as they slipped out into the dark. The warehouse loomed ahead, grim and hollow, like a giant concrete carcass.
Inside, the building smelled of mold, rust, and stale secrets. Hanging bulbs swung overhead, casting sick, flickering halos across the floor. Footsteps echoed—too many.
Julian motioned forward. The glass-walled office at the far end glowed under a single bulb. Figures moved inside.
Vic Lang.
Sophia Vance in her torn red gown.
And between them—
A woman tied to a chair. Mid-40s. Bruised. Gaunt.
Elena's features, but older. Sadder.
"Mom?" Elena's voice cracked before she could stop it.
Vic turned like he'd been waiting for the cue, smirking under the harsh light. "Counselor. Took you long enough."
Sophia's laugh cut through the air—sharp, cruel. "God, look at her. She ran from you for a reason."
Elena's mother looked up, eyes watering. "Elena, don't—run. Please."
Vic slapped her across the face. Elena lunged forward in pure instinct, but Julian pulled her back, arm tight around her waist.
Julian lifted his gun. "Untie her. Now."
Sophia stepped forward, her eyes locked on Julian with manic obsession. "This is your fault. You made him choose her over me."
Vic ignored her, pacing lazily. "Your mother had an… inconvenient talent for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You'd be amazed what a woman witnesses when she tries to pay off a gambler husband's debt."
Elena froze. "You… you saved her?"
Her mother shook her head, tears falling. "He locked me up. Said if I talked, you'd pay the price. I thought keeping distance meant keeping you alive."
The room felt like it folded inward. Elena couldn't breathe.
Vic's voice dropped. "But we're past all that. Time to end loose ends."
He snapped his fingers.
Four armed goons stepped forward.
The fight exploded instantly.
Julian fired a warning shot to scatter them, then slammed his shoulder into the first attacker. Metal clattered as a chain swung toward Elena—she ducked, grabbed her mother's chair, and shoved it sideways just as Sophia lunged at her. Nails out. Wild.
"Get off her!" Elena's mother kicked Sophia hard in the shin, buying Elena a second to slash the zip ties with her stiletto blade.
Vic's voice echoed behind them, furious:
"She talked. I'd end her kid."
Julian took down another goon, but one of them pinned him by the throat, lifting a bat to swing—
Elena sprayed pepper into the man's eyes. He screamed. Julian rolled away, grabbed him, and drove a punch into his ribs.
"For Elena," Julian growled. His face was bloodied, eyes sharp with protectiveness that felt almost painful to look at. "For everything you've done to her."
Sophia grabbed Elena's mother by the hair, dragging her backward. "You're all dead!"
But the sound that cut through it all—sirens.
Police. Finally.
Vic's calm shattered.
He grabbed a gun from his ankle holster and pointed it straight at Elena's mother.
"No!" Elena sprinted toward her—but Julian moved faster.
He threw himself into Vic at the same moment the gun fired.
The shot grazed Julian's side—blood splattering across the floor.
"Julian!" Elena dropped beside him, hands shaking as she pressed against the wound. "Stay with me. Stay with me."
He laughed weakly, eyes locked on hers. "You're so damn bossy."
"Julian—"
"I love you, Harper." His voice was barely a breath. "You— you ruined me."
She swallowed a sob. "Good. Because I love you too. So don't you dare leave."
Her mother's trembling hand landed on her shoulder, grounding her. "I'm sorry… Elena, I'm so sorry."
Officers stormed the warehouse, pinning Vic to the ground as he screamed threats.
But even in cuffs, Vic leaned close to one officer and whispered something that made the cop's face go pale.
"Tell her," Vic said, eyes locked on Elena. "This was only the beginning."
Julian's vision blurred, his face slackening as medics rushed in.
Elena held his hand the entire way to the ambulance, rain washing blood from her palms.
Her mother beside her.
Julian fighting for consciousness.
Vic smiling through busted teeth as he was dragged away.
This wasn't victory.
This was the opening shot of something much bigger.
And Elena could feel it—
the war was only beginning.