Chapter 166 Triple the Price
Chapter 166 Triple the Price
Lily
The tunnel erupted into chaos before a single shot was fired.
Five rifles swung up, their barrels glinting in the sickly tunnel light. The sound of safeties being flicked off cut through the silence, sharp, metallic, final. Jinx’s pistol was in his hand with a speed that felt supernatural, his body sliding unconsciously between me and the nearest threat.
Darius moved too, his stance shifting just enough to shield me from a different angle, subtle but unmistakable to anyone who knew how to look for protection.
But the trigger pull never came.
Instead, the air vibrated with the tension, thick as oil.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Water from somewhere deep in the earth counted out the seconds we waited to die.
Rourke smiled. He looked like he was taking inventory, not orchestrating an execution. That smile was worse than any weapon.
I clutched the flashlight, the cold plastic slick in my palm, and forced myself to breathe. “You want me?” My voice barely carried.
His smile widened, all white teeth and patient certainty. “I do.”
“Why?” I asked, needing something, anything, human in his answer.
He studied me for a moment, his gaze cold and appraising, as if I were a painting he’d already decided where to hang. “No,” he said finally, almost gently. “Not me.”
My heart thudded. “What does that mean?”
He folded his hands behind his back, taking a step closer. “There’s someone who’s taken a very keen interest in you, Miss Vale.”
The words slithered down my spine. Silence pressed in.
Jinx’s voice, thin and unamused: “...That’s creepy.”
Rourke didn’t so much as blink. “Word travels. Always has.” He paced, voice echoing. “A twenty-two-year-old woman. Killed traffickers. Survived a kidnapping. Burned down a warehouse. Found secrets even I kept hidden.” His gaze flicked past me, toward the darkness we’d come from. “And now you’re Shadow.”
The nickname echoed off concrete, sharp as a slap.
“It seems you’ve become...valuable.”
I felt my stomach twist. “To who?”
He laughed, a sound without warmth. “If I told you, I’d disappoint my employer.”
Jinx cocked his pistol higher, face stony. “I volunteer to disappoint him.”
Rourke only smiled. “No, you really don’t.”
His focus returned to me, icy and unyielding. “He’s offered triple.”
I blinked. “Triple what?”
“The bounty,” he said, as if discussing a stock price. “...One and a half million dollars,” he finished quietly.
The number hung in the air, a tangible weight.
Even Jinx hesitated, lips parted in disbelief. “...Damn,” he muttered, glancing sideways at me. “Congratulations?”
I stared at him, incredulous. “Now?”
He shrugged. “I’m trying to keep morale up.”
Rourke chuckled, genuinely amused. “I like him.”
Jinx didn’t flinch, gun steady. “The feeling isn’t mutual.”
Rourke ignored the weapon. “He wants to buy you.” His words hit like a slap. “Not hire. Not recruit. Buy. Like a possession.” His gaze flicked to the ledger in Darius’s hands, then back to me. “Just like the girls. Just like all the others.”
Bile crawled up my throat. “I’m not for sale.”
Rourke nodded, as if granting a minor point. “You’re not. But everyone around you is.” His gaze drifted to Jinx, to Darius. “If you come with me willingly...these two live.” He spread his hands, almost apologetic. “If you resist...” His smile vanished. He glanced at his men. “We have a problem.”
My heart hammered, frantic in my chest. I saw Jinx’s jaw tighten, saw Darius’s eyes flicking, calculating angles, exits, probabilities. There were none. Five rifles. A tunnel barely wide enough for two to stand side by side. No cover. No chance.
Jinx caught my gaze. He shook his head, just the slightest movement. Don’t.
Darius did the same, eyes burning. Don’t.
But I already knew. They would fight for me. Even if it killed them.
That’s why I couldn’t let them.
I stepped forward, my boots echoing on wet stone.
“Lily,” Jinx choked out, voice raw. “Don’t.”
I didn’t look at him. “I’ll go.”
“No.”
“I’m going.”
“No.” He grabbed my wrist, his grip desperate, trembling. “Absolutely the fuck not.”
I looked at him... really looked. The man who joked through firefights. Who made death feel like a punchline. Now there was nothing but naked fear in his eyes.
“You can’t,” he whispered.
“I have to.”
He shook his head, pain and fury mingling in his voice. “We’ll fight.”
“I know.”
“We can win.”
“No.”
His grip tightened. “Lily—”
With my free hand, I pressed his cheek, feeling the stubble, the heat of him. “You once told me sometimes surviving means making the decision nobody else wants to make.”
His eyes filled, voice breaking. “I lied.”
A thin laugh broke through my fear. “You never lie.”
“I’m literally lying right now.”
“You’re terrible at it.”
He swallowed, letting go of my wrist.
I turned to Darius. “Take care of him.”
Darius’s jaw flexed. “We’re coming for you.”
“I know.”
He met my eyes, a silent vow. “I mean it.”
“I know.”
Rourke gestured down the tunnel. “Wise choice.” Two of his men came forward, their rifles aimed but their faces blank. The other three kept their weapons trained on Jinx and Darius... insurance.
I walked. Each step felt heavier, the air colder, my breath louder in the silence. I didn’t look back. If I did, I’d run. And everyone would die.
Rourke walked beside me. “So cooperative.”
I didn’t look at him. “Don’t get used to it.”
“Oh?”
I met his eyes, unblinking. “I’m already planning how to kill you.”
He barked out a laugh, delighted. “I believe you.”
We hadn’t gone fifty yards when the sound echoed ahead... a shotgun racking, the metallic promise of violence. Dust drifted in from the darkness.
Three figures emerged, silhouettes growing solid in the weak spill of light.
Knox. Victor. Silas.
Weapons raised, faces grim, eyes locked on me then on the men flanking me, and finally on Rourke.
Knox’s stare was lethal. Silas’s gaze narrowed. Victor grinned, checking the magazine in his rifle.
“You picked the wrong fucking daughter,” Silas growled.
Victor cocked his head. “Well... this got awkward.”
Behind me, Rourke’s men tensed, rifles up. Ahead, Knox and his brothers mirrored them.
For a single heartbeat, the entire world held its breath.
No one moved. No one spoke.
We were trapped between two storms and everyone knew the first finger to tighten on a trigger would decide who survived to see daylight.