Chapter 44 044

Chapter 44 044
Chapter Forty-Four

Sera

I don't know how long I sat in that cell before I heard it—a soft scratching at the door, too deliberate to be accidental. Then a quiet voice I recognized.

"Sera, step back from the door."

Thomas.

I moved to the far corner just as the lock clicked open. Thomas slipped inside, moving stiffly but with purpose. He was dressed in guard uniform that hung loose on his frame.

"You should be in a hospital bed," I said.

"And you should be raising your daughter, not rotting in a cell. We both have more important things to do than what we should be doing." He pulled out a keycard. "This will get you through three security checkpoints. After that, you're on your own."

"Where's Dante? And Maya?"

"Different wing. I can only get to one of you before the guards realize I knocked out their colleague and stole his uniform." Thomas pressed the keycard into my hand. "You need to get to Elena and run. Don't wait for Dante, don't try to mount a rescue. Just take her and disappear."

"I'm not leaving without him."

"Sera, listen to me. Adrian and Victor have been planning this for decades. They've thought of everything, prepared for every contingency. The only thing they can't control is if you take Elena somewhere they can't find you." Thomas gripped my shoulders. "Dante would want you to save her, even if it means leaving him behind."

"How do you know what Dante would want?"

"Because I knew Catherine, and she would have wanted the same thing—save the child at any cost." Thomas's expression was pained. "I failed her. Don't make me fail you too."

Through the bond, I felt Dante's presence, still alive, still fighting even in captivity. And I felt Elena, her distress growing as the stranger caring for her couldn't soothe her the way I could.

"What about you?" I asked Thomas. "If I escape, they'll know you helped."

"I'm old and dying anyway. The silver poisoning damaged more than the doctors can fix. I have weeks, maybe a month." Thomas managed a slight smile. "Let me use that time for something that matters."

"Thomas—"

"Go. Now. Before the guard change happens and this becomes impossible." He pushed me gently toward the door. "And Sera? Tell Elena about her grandmother someday. Tell her Catherine would have loved her."

I wanted to argue, to refuse to leave without Dante, to find some way to save everyone. But Thomas was right—Elena was the priority. Getting her to safety was the only thing that mattered.

I took the keycard and left the cell, moving quickly through corridors I barely recognized. The first checkpoint guard barely looked at the card before waving me through. The second one scrutinized it longer but ultimately let me pass.

At the third checkpoint, the guard frowned. "This card's flagged. You're supposed to be in custody."

I didn't think, just acted. I grabbed his weapon arm, twisted, used his own momentum to slam him into the wall. He went down hard. I took his weapon and kept moving.

The apartment was two floors up. I could feel Elena through the bond, could sense her location like a beacon. But the building was crawling with guards, all on alert after Miriam's assault.

I made it to the stairwell before alarms started blaring. Someone had discovered my escape.

I ran up the stairs, weapon ready, prepared to fight through anyone between me and my daughter. On the apartment floor, three guards stood outside our door.

"She's in the north stairwell!" one of them said into his radio, turning away from the door.

I shot him. Not to kill, just to incapacitate. The other two spun toward me, reaching for their own weapons. I got one more shot off before my weapon jammed.

The remaining guard tackled me, and we went down hard. He was larger, stronger, trained for combat. I should have lost.

But I was a mother fighting for her child, and that made me vicious in ways training couldn't match.

I gouged at his eyes, bit his arm when he tried to restrain me, fought with every dirty trick I'd never been taught but instinct provided. He finally rolled off me with a pained grunt, and I scrambled up and ran for the apartment door.

Inside, the staff member I'd left with Elena was huddled in the corner, terrified. Elena was crying in her crib, sensing the chaos through our bond.

"I'm sorry," the staff member stammered. "They said you were dangerous, that I should—"

"It's okay. Just stay there." I grabbed Elena, pressing her against my chest. Her crying quieted immediately, recognizing me through touch and scent and bond.

More guards would be here in moments. I needed an escape route that didn't involve fighting through the entire building.

The window. We were only on the third floor. I could break it, climb down somehow—

The apartment door burst open. Not guards this time.

Dante.

He was bloody and bruised, restraints still hanging from his wrists, but free. His eyes found mine and Elena, and relief flooded through our bond.

"How—" I started.

"Thomas got me out too. Said he could only save one of us, but I convinced the guards in my wing that I was being transferred." Dante moved to the window, looking down. "We need to leave. Now. Before they lock down the entire building."

"How? We're three floors up with a newborn."

"We jump. I'll shield you both, absorb the impact." Dante was already breaking the window with a chair. "Trust me."

I looked at Elena, at the drop, at the guards already pounding on the apartment door.

"Together," I said.

Dante pulled me close, positioning himself to take the fall. We jumped.

The landing was hard, even with Dante's body cushioning us. He grunted in pain but was already moving, pulling me to my feet.

"We need a vehicle," he said, scanning the parking area.

Maya's car was parked nearby, keys likely still in it if she'd been arrested as suddenly as we were. I ran for it while Dante covered our backs, his body between us and the guards now appearing at windows above.

The keys were there. I got Elena secured in the back seat while Dante slid into the driver's seat. Bullets pinged off the car's armored exterior as he started the engine.

We crashed through the parking gate and onto the street, alarms blaring behind us.

"Where are we going?" I asked, holding Elena as she cried from all the chaos.

"I don't know. Somewhere they won't find us. Somewhere we can regroup and figure out how to stop Victor and Adrian." Dante was driving too fast, weaving through traffic. "We're fugitives now. Everything we built, everyone we trusted—it's all gone."

Through the bond, I felt his pain at losing his position, his pack, his life's work. But underneath that was something stronger—determination to protect his family at any cost.

"We'll figure it out," I said. "We always do."

"This is different. Before, we had resources, allies, legal standing. Now we have nothing except each other."

"That's enough. It has to be enough." I looked at Elena, who'd quieted now that we were moving away from danger. "We survived everything they threw at us before. We'll survive this too."

Dante's phone buzzed. A message from an unknown number.

Head to the following coordinates. Someone there can help. - A friend

The same mysterious helper who'd sent warnings before. Who'd gotten Dr. Reyes to expose Christoph's fake documents.

"Could be a trap," Dante said.

"Could be our only option." I looked at the coordinates. "It's about fifty miles from here. Rural area, no major pack territories nearby."

"Which makes it perfect for an ambush. Or perfect for hiding." Dante considered for a moment. "We're going. We don't have better alternatives."

The drive took an hour, during which Elena mercifully fell asleep despite the tension radiating from both her parents. We pulled off the main road onto a dirt path that wound through dense forest.

At the end of the path was a small cabin, rustic but well-maintained. A figure stood on the porch, waiting.

As we got closer, I recognized her.

Claire. Adrian's widow.

She raised her hands, showing she was unarmed. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to help."

Dante parked but didn't get out immediately. "Why should we trust you? Your husband tried to kidnap our daughter."

"My late husband," Claire corrected. "Except he's not late. He's alive and working with Victor to destroy everything decent about pack governance. And I'm here to make sure he doesn't succeed."

She stepped off the porch, moving slowly and carefully. "I know where Victor is hiding. I know Adrian's plans. I know how to stop them."

"Again, why should we trust you?"

"Because they killed my son." Claire's voice broke. "My youngest. He found out about Adrian's fake death, threatened to expose him. Adrian had him eliminated. Claimed it was a training accident." Tears streamed down her face. "I've been gathering evidence ever since. Waiting for the right moment to destroy the man I thought I loved but who turned out to be a monster."

She held out a flash drive. "Everything's on here. Bank records, communications, plans, locations. Everything you need to bring them both down."

I looked at Dante. Through the bond, I felt his uncertainty warring with desperate hope.

"Let's hear what you have," he said finally, getting out of the car. "But if this is a trap—"

"It's not a trap. It's revenge." Claire's expression was hard. "And I promise you, I'm very good at revenge."

We went inside the cabin, Elena still sleeping in my arms, and Claire began to explain exactly how we were going to destroy Victor and Adrian's decades-long conspiracy.

For the first time since our arrest, I felt something like hope.

Maybe we were fugitives now. Maybe we'd lost everything.

But we weren't defeated yet.