CHAPTER 84

CHAPTER 84

Chapter 84
Caroline’s POV
The safehouse was quiet.
Too quiet.
Even the wind outside the window sounded hesitant, like it was holding its breath just as we were.
Kane sat across from me at the table, his eyes fixed on the tablet in front of him. The screen glowed with schematics, notes, files. Possible locations. Movement patterns. Reynolds’ known associates. Photos of places that used to be safe.
But nothing felt safe anymore.
Not after Raymond.
I wrapped my hands tighter around the mug of warm tea in front of me, though I wasn’t drinking it. The steam ghosted against my lips, the scent of ginger and honey mixing with the heavy weight of silence.
“He’ll come,” I said quietly.
Kane didn’t look up. “I know.”
“You think he’s grieving?”
“Reynolds doesn’t grieve. He calculates.” His fingers swiped across the tablet. “Raymond wasn’t just a pawn. He was a mouthpiece. An echo of Reynolds himself.”
I looked at the bruise on Kane’s jaw. Faint now, healing. But still there. Just like the war we hadn’t finished.
“Then why hasn’t he moved?” I asked.
Kane finally looked up, his voice low. “Because he's watching. Waiting to see if we’ll act first.”
I leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Then maybe we should.”
His brow lifted slightly. “You want to go to war?”
“I want to survive,” I replied. “And we can’t do that sitting still.”
Kane nodded slowly, like he’d already been thinking the same thing. “He lost Raymond. Diane’s gone. Robertson is dead. That leaves Reynolds and maybe two or three loyalists.”
“Kelly and Gina?”
His jaw tightened. “That’s the wild card.”
We both knew it. Kelly was unpredictable. Dangerous. And Gina… still a question mark.
“She hugged me like she meant it,” I said softly.
“And then handed you a bug,” Kane said. “I’m not forgetting that.”
“I’m not asking you to.” I stared down into my tea. “I’m just… tired of everyone being a lie.”
His voice softened. “You’re not.”
I looked up.
And he was watching me the way he always did when we were alone. Like the chaos of the world faded just enough for him to breathe again.
“I’m not going to let him take anything else from us,” Kane said. “Not you. Not this.”
I reached across the table and took his hand.
“Then let’s be ready,” I said. “Let’s hit him before he even blinks.”
He flipped the tablet to show me the screen. A blueprint. A map. A name.
“Reynolds is hiding behind proxies,” Kane said. “But I tracked a shipment that only he would greenlight. Weapon transport. Headed for a facility two towns out.”
I raised an eyebrow. “A trap?”
“Maybe. But if he’s moving assets, he’s getting nervous.”
“Then let’s make him more nervous.”
Kane gave me a small, sharp smile. “Now you sound like me.”
I stood and leaned over the table, planting a kiss on his forehead. “Let’s finish what Raymond started. Just… backwards.”
Kane laughed under his breath, rising to his feet. “Pack light.”
“We always do.”
He grabbed the gun off the counter. I slid mine into my holster.
The silence between us wasn’t heavy anymore. It was full.
Of resolve.
Of purpose.
Of something that felt a lot like love in the middle of a battlefield.
And maybe… that was enough to survive what came next.
Kelly’s POV
Gina walked beside me, arms folded tightly across her chest like armor. Her silence was louder than my thoughts — and God knew my head was a battlefield right now.
The hallway to Reynolds’ command room smelled like steel and old smoke. Blood, too. Old blood.
The doors were half open, just enough for us to hear the echo of his pacing boots before we even entered.
I glanced at Gina.
“You sure you want to be here for this?” I asked.
She gave a cold smile. “Better than being left alone with your thoughts.”
I smirked faintly. “My thoughts are charming.”
She rolled her eyes. “Your thoughts are violent.”
Fair.
We stepped into the room.
Reynolds was already yelling.
At no one.
Just shouting at the air like it owed him answers.
“You think this is how I lose?” he snarled. “After everything I built? That little bastard thinks blowing up a safehouse and stealing a file means he’s won?”
His back was to us, hands clenched behind him, shoulders tight with fury.
“Reynolds,” I said calmly.
He turned.
His eyes — those cold, sharp predator eyes — locked on me, then Gina.
“Get out,” he snapped.
I raised an eyebrow. “No welcome back hug?”
He stormed forward, stopping inches from me. “You led that mission. You didn’t sense the trap.”
“I did,” I said. “That’s why we lived.”
“Raymond didn’t.”
“And I’m not Raymond.”
He went quiet for a beat.
Gina stepped forward slowly. “You need allies now, Reynolds. Not enemies.”
His glare shifted to her. “I don’t need traitors pretending to be advisors.”
“We didn’t betray anyone,” I said evenly. “We lost a man. And we nearly lost each other.”
Reynolds’s lip curled. “Do you think I care?”
Gina exhaled sharply. “Then why are you still here screaming like a man with something to lose?”
He turned his back to us again. “I don’t need either of you. Kane’s getting cocky. Good. Let him walk into the storm I’ve prepared.”
I watched him carefully. The way his fingers twitched. The tremble in his breath. He was unraveling.
Slowly.
But undeniably.
“Tell me what the plan is,” I said quietly. “Let us help.”
He spun back toward me. “I said. Get. Out.”
Gina didn’t flinch. “You’re going to lose this war if you keep bleeding out everyone who ever stood beside you.”
His voice dropped. “I don’t need loyalty. I need victory.”
“And we both know you can’t have one without the other,” I muttered.
His silence was answer enough.
I grabbed Gina’s arm gently. “Let’s go.”
We turned.
And walked out.
No words.
Just the weight of a dying empire crumbling behind us.
In the hall, Gina finally spoke. “He’s losing it.”
I nodded. “He already lost it.”
Her jaw clenched. “Then we push harder. If he’s planning a storm for Kane, we make sure it backfires.”
I looked at her, something dark flickering in both our gazes.
“We take him out,” I said.
She didn’t even blink. “Together.”
The hallway was darker now.
Or maybe the air just felt heavier, knowing that whatever thread had connected us to Reynolds had finally been cut. We weren’t his soldiers anymore. We weren’t even villains or allies.
We were just two people who had survived too much, lost too much — and were still bleeding.
Gina walked beside me, silent. Her jaw was tight, but her eyes weren’t cold anymore.
Just tired.
“You meant it,” she said finally, voice low. “Back there.”
I glanced sideways. “Meant what?”
“That we nearly lost each other.”
I didn’t answer at first.
Then: “Yeah. I did.”
She stopped walking. I did too.
Her gaze flicked to mine. “Why?”
I knew what she meant — not just the words, but the ache beneath them.
Why did it matter?
Why did she matter?
I shrugged, but it wasn’t casual. “Because you don’t flinch. Even when I want you to. Even when I try to scare you.”
She gave a small, broken laugh. “That’s the worst compliment I’ve ever gotten.”
“Not a compliment,” I said quietly. “A warning.”
She stepped closer, just a breath between us. “You don’t scare me, Kelly.”
“I should.”
Her hand touched my chest. Right above the part that hurt the most. “You do. But not for the reasons you think.”
I looked down at her fingers. Then up at her eyes.
“I’ve killed people for less,” I whispered.
“So have I,” she replied, not blinking. “But I haven’t cared about anyone in years. Not since Diane.”
I watched her carefully. “You cared about her?”
“More than I should’ve. But not like this.” Her voice dropped. “This is different.”
The air cracked between us — not loud, but sharp. Like the moment before lightning touches down.
She leaned in, slow. Her lips hovered an inch from mine.
“I don’t know what happens next,” she said. “I don’t even know who wins this war.”
“Me neither.”
“But if we make it through this…”
I nodded. “Then we figure out what this is.”
She closed the distance.
And kissed me.
Soft at first. Almost cautious. Like a secret she wasn’t sure she should speak.
Then deeper — rougher. Like everything she’d been holding back since the day we stopped being enemies and started being something much more dangerous.
I kissed her back, letting the chaos go for just one moment. Letting it be her and me.