Chapter 38: Taken

Gunfire ripped through the bar, shattering bottles, tearing through wood, filling the air with the thick scent of smoke and blood. Elias moved without hesitation, pushing Lila down behind the overturned table, shielding her with his body as another round of bullets sprayed across the room. Harper was already returning fire, her movements sharp and precise. “We need to move!” she barked, voice barely audible over the chaos. Elias didn’t hesitate. “Lila, stay low.” He reached for her, but the second his fingers brushed against her arm, she was already moving, rolling onto her side and drawing her weapon. The adrenaline in her system had overridden hesitation. She wasn’t going to be a target. Not again.

A shadow moved in the smoke. Elias sensed the shift in air before he heard the footsteps. Close. Too close. He pivoted, gun aimed, but the second he pulled the trigger, the man was already diving to the side. Another spray of bullets. A rush of heat near his shoulder. Close, but not close enough. Kane had vanished. Coward. But Elias had no time to track him. His focus was on Lila. And then, in the span of a breath, everything changed. A deafening explosion rocked the building. Smoke, thick and suffocating, filled the air, burning at Elias’s lungs. The force knocked him back, his head slamming against the ground, momentary disorientation blurring his senses. Lila. His mind screamed for her, but the ringing in his ears muted everything else. He pushed himself up, coughing through the haze, reaching blindly but she was gone. No. No. No. He turned sharply, scanning the wreckage. Harper was still standing, but barely, her shoulder bleeding as she fired a final shot at a retreating figure through the broken window. Elias’s pulse thundered. “Where is she?” Harper’s gaze met his, her expression dark with realization. “They took her.” Elias’s blood turned to ice.

He didn’t remember how they got out. Didn’t register Harper pulling him toward the exit, didn’t hear the sirens approaching. The only thing in his mind was Lila. Gone. Taken. Again. The one thing he swore he would never let happen. And now she was in their hands. The safe house was no longer a sanctuary. It was a war room. Harper was pressing a bloodied rag against her wound as she pulled up every surveillance feed she could access, but Elias was already two steps ahead. He didn’t need cameras to track them. He just needed the sound of their breath, the pulse of their movements. His hands flexed, fists clenching and unclenching as he replayed every second of the ambush in his mind. The timing. The precision. They knew exactly when and how to strike. This wasn’t about killing Lila. This was about taking her alive. A mistake. Because he was coming for them. Harper gritted her teeth as she tapped into a local feed. “I found something. Black SUV, unmarked plates. Left the scene right before the cops showed up.”

Elias’s jaw tightened. “Where?” Harper zoomed in, her fingers moving fast. “Heading west. Industrial district.” Elias was already grabbing his weapons. Lila’s head throbbed as she came to, her wrists aching, bound tightly behind her back. Darkness. Cold. The faint scent of oil and metal. A warehouse. Somewhere remote. Somewhere she wouldn’t be found. Unless Elias was looking. And he was always looking.

A figure moved in the shadows. Slow. Calculated. Familiar. A voice. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” Her stomach clenched. She forced herself to stay still, her breathing measured. Don’t show fear. Don’t let them see. The figure stepped forward, and the dim light flickered over his face. Dante Vasquez. But he was supposed to be dead. Lila felt something like ice slip through her veins, but she didn’t let it show. “You always did love theatrics,” she said, voice level. “But dragging me back into this? Not your best move.”

Dante chuckled. “Oh, Lila. You think this is about me?” He crouched down in front of her, his gaze sharp, unreadable. “You were never just a piece in my game. You were always the prize.” Lila’s pulse didn’t quicken. She wouldn’t give him that. “You want me to beg?” She smirked. “That’s cute.” Dante tilted his head. “Begging would be disappointing. I want you to remember. I want you to understand why you don’t get to escape.” Lila’s fingers curled into her palms, the restraints biting into her skin. “I already did.” Dante’s smile didn’t fade. “Then why do you feel like you’re still running?” The door behind him opened. Another figure entered. Tall. Silent. Familiar in a way she didn’t like. Dante stood, stepping aside as the second man approached. “I thought you might like to see an old friend.” Lila’s breath caught. No. No, it couldn’t be. The man crouched in front of her, tilting his head slightly, studying her. And then a single whisper. “You always belonged to us.” The voice. The one from her nightmares. Her blood turned to ice. This wasn’t just Dante. This was them. The ones who never stopped watching.

Elias had never been this quiet. This still. He was coiled rage, precision honed to a blade. Harper had barely kept up as he moved through the industrial district, his senses guiding him through the cold, empty streets. And then a sound. A heartbeat where there shouldn’t be one. Elias’s head tilted slightly. There. The warehouse was dark, but he could hear movement inside. He counted them. Four men. One near the entrance. Two near the back. And one more, standing close to Lila. His hands flexed. They had her. They were breathing the same air as her. That meant they were already dead. Harper readied her gun. “We need a plan.” Elias’s voice was calm. “I walk in. You cover me.”

Harper hesitated. “That’s not a plan.” Elias looked at her, expression unreadable. “It’s the only one that matters.” And then he moved. The first man didn’t see him. Silent. Efficient. A single strike to the throat, the body dropping without a sound. Inside, the voices became clearer. Dante. Another man. Lila. His senses sharpened. Lila’s breathing was steady, but something was wrong. A hesitation. A recognition. She knew who she was facing. Elias’s grip on his gun tightened. Then he would kill them both. He stepped forward, into the light. No hesitation. No fear. Only death. Lila’s gaze snapped to him instantly, her expression unreadable. Dante turned, a slow smile spreading across his face. “And here he is.” Elias’s voice was steady, even. “Let her go.” Dante chuckled. “Why would I do that? We were just getting reacquainted.” The second man finally turned. And then a pause. A moment where everything stopped.

Elias didn’t recognize him. But something in him knew him. And then, the man spoke. “Welcome back, Elias.” Elias didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. Because he knew that voice. The voice from the past he had spent years trying to forget. The voice of the man who had once trained him.The man who had made him into a weapon. And the man who had betrayed him. Grayson. Elias exhaled slowly. So that’s how this was going to be.