***
Guilt.
It sat in Jace's eyes like a bruise he'd never let heal.
My hands went cold. "Jace… what did he mean? What does Roman Vale know about my father?"
He didn't answer right away. He couldn't. His mouth opened, closed, opened again.
The silence between us screamed louder than words ever could.
"Tell me the truth," I demanded, my voice trembling. "Don't you dare lie to me right now."
He turned away, running a hand through his hair, pacing like a man on the edge of a confession he couldn't bury any longer.
"I didn't want you to find out like this," he said quietly.
"You knew. You knew, didn't you?"
He turned back to me slowly. "Leah… your father wasn't just a victim. He wasn't just caught in the fire of Westview's corruption. He was the fire."
My breath caught.
"No," I whispered. "No, my dad—he was a teacher. A protector. He tried to shut it all down—"
"He funded it," Jace said, pain carved into every syllable. "He was Roman Vale's partner. One of the founding hands behind the Crows. Back when it wasn't even called that. They ran experiments. Psychological manipulation. Controlled chaos. Your dad designed the curriculum."
I stumbled back a step like he'd slapped me. "You're lying."
"I wish I were," he murmured. "He tried to back out years later. Said it went too far. Said the kids were being broken, not built. Roman saw it as betrayal."
I couldn't breathe. My chest tightened. "So what happened?"
"They framed him for embezzlement. A setup. A warning. And then they silenced him—for good."
I sank onto the edge of the bed, hands shaking. "That car accident…"
"Was no accident," Jace finished. "Your dad was killed to protect the network."
And just like that, the last foundation I had collapsed beneath me.
***
Later That Night
Safehouse Surveillance Room – 11:48 P.M.
We watched every screen flicker, every camera angle, every shadow.
Roman Vale's voice echoed in my head like poison:
> Her mother's secrets are mine now…
"What secrets?" I whispered. "What did she know?"
Jace stayed quiet until I turned to him, my stare sharp enough to cut.
"She was the ledger," he said finally. "Every transaction. Every name. Every blackmail drop. She was the archive."
"Are you saying… my mom was part of it?"
He nodded slowly. "Not by choice. Your father pulled her in to help him unravel it from the inside. But when he died, she became the insurance policy. And now Roman wants her silenced too."
Hot tears spilled down my cheeks. My family… everything I thought I knew was a lie wrapped in love.
"I need to find her," I choked. "Before he does."
"You will," Jace said, gripping my shoulders. "We will. Together."
Then his lips crashed into mine.
***
1:12 A.M.
On the Couch
I didn't want soft. I didn't want sweet.
I wanted to forget.
To lose myself in the only place that didn't feel like a battlefield.
Jace's hands slid under my shirt, his mouth scorching a trail down my throat.
"I love you," he whispered against my skin. "Even if the world burns around us, Leah—I'd still choose you."
I straddled him, grinding against his jeans, my breath catching as his mouth found my breast.
"I'm yours," I gasped. "All of me."
He unzipped my jeans, pulled them down, his fingers finding the wet heat between my thighs. "Then let me prove it."
And he did.
His tongue was ruthless. Worshipping. Daring.
I cried out his name, over and over, until I was nothing but sweat and sound.
He stood, lifting me into his arms, carrying me to the kitchen counter like I weighed nothing.
"Now," he growled, sliding inside me in one hard thrust.
I clung to his shoulders, our rhythm raw, reckless, real.
This wasn't romance.
It was resurrection.
We didn't come together—we collapsed into each other.
And when I shattered, he caught every piece.
***
The Morning After
6:42 A.M.
A knock at the door jolted me awake.
Jace answered it, gun in hand.
Theo stood in the hallway, pale and shaking.
"I found something," he whispered. "And you're not gonna like it."
He laid down a USB drive.
"It's from Roman's private archive. I got into his cloud. Took me three sleepless days, but I hacked it. And…"
He looked at me. "Leah, your mom is alive. But she's being moved. Tonight."
My knees buckled.
"Where?"
Theo hesitated. "A private compound off Crescent Ridge. Remote. Heavily guarded. And get this…"
He slid a photo across the table.
It was Ivy.
Inside the compound.
Alive.
Drugged.
Trapped.
"Roman's keeping them together," Theo said. "Leverage. Or bait."
Jace's jaw clenched. "Then we burn that compound to the ground."
***
Plan of Attack – 11:11 A.M.
War Room – Downtown LA
Theo laid out the blueprint. Three security towers. Perimeter drones. Thermal sensors. Elite guards.
"I count six entry points," he said, circling each in red. "But only two are viable. The west tunnel and the waterway."
Jace traced the route with a finger. "We take the tunnel. Quiet. Fast. Get to the east wing where they're holding them. In and out in twenty minutes."
"Roman will be watching," I said. "He always is."
Theo met my eyes. "That's why I built you a distraction."
He pressed a button.
An artificial voice crackled over the speakers. Roman's.
Using AI splicing, Theo had built a fake transmission—Roman confessing to everything.
"If we leak this online, every government agency from DC to Switzerland will be watching him like a hawk," Theo said. "His network will turn on him before we even get there."
"Let's end this," I whispered.
***
10:00 P.M.
Crescent Ridge Compound – Just Before Infiltration
Dressed in all black, heart pounding, gun strapped to my thigh.
Jace touched my shoulder. "You ready?"
I nodded.
But before we moved, Theo's voice crackled in our earpieces.
"You've got company."
"What?" Jace barked.
"Unmarked car. Pulling in now."
I peeked from behind the rocks.
Roman Vale.
And beside him?
Tristan.
Alive.
Smiling.
And holding a vial of something black and lethal.
"They brought back the serum," Theo said, voice shaking. "The one from the Westview files. The one that turns people into obedient ghosts."
"Not again," Jace muttered. "Not ever again."
I turned to him.
"Then let's stop history from repeating."
And together…
We stepped into the dark.