Sera's POV
"Don't move, or I'll shoot her."
The woman with my mother's face holds a gun pointed directly at Ghost's head. We're still in the underground warehouse basement, surveillance screens flickering behind us, and my entire world is collapsing.
"Who are you?" I demand, stepping forward despite Phoenix's warning grip on my arm.
"I think you know who I am, Seraphina." Her voice is my mother's voice—the one from my childhood memories, the one that sang me lullabies. "Though I've gone by many names these past eight years."
"My mother is dead."
"Your mother had to die so you could live." She moves closer, and I see the differences now—a scar on her neck, harder eyes, gray streaks in her hair that my mom never had. "The families wanted us both gone. I made a deal. My death for your safety."
"Some safety," I spit. "They tortured me for three years!"
"But you're alive." Her gun doesn't waver. "That was the deal. I disappear, they leave you breathing. I didn't know they'd make your life hell. I thought your father would protect you."
"My father sold me!"
"Yes." Pain flashes across her face. "Marcus was always weak. I should have killed him when I had the chance."
Ghost clears his throat carefully. "Ma'am, the gun isn't necessary—"
"Shut up." Her eyes snap to him. "I know who you are, Marcus Chen. Your father died in prison because of information I gave the FBI. So yes, the gun is very necessary."
The tension in the room explodes. Phoenix moves slightly, positioning himself between me and this woman who might be my mother's ghost.
"What do you want?" I force the words out.
"To save you from making my mistakes." She finally lowers the gun slightly. "I thought I could take down the families by gathering evidence, working with the FBI. Instead, I got myself 'killed' and spent eight years in witness protection watching you suffer from a distance."
"You watched?" Rage burns through me. "You watched them destroy me and did nothing?"
"I did everything!" She's shouting now. "Every time they pushed too far, I intervened. Who do you think stopped Trevor from actually assaulting you at that party? Who sent anonymous tips to teachers when Killian got too violent? Who made sure Dante's father never followed through on his threat to actually kill you?"
My mind reels. All those moments when something terrible almost happened but didn't. The teacher who walked in on Trevor. Killian suddenly backing off. My father's mysterious business troubles whenever the torture got too extreme.
"That was you?"
"I've been your guardian angel from the shadows, baby girl." Her voice breaks. "But I can't protect you anymore. Not from what's coming."
"Luna," Phoenix interrupts. "We need to save Luna. If you really want to help Sera, help us do that."
The woman—my mother, my ghost, whoever she is—studies Phoenix with sharp eyes. "Luna Martinez already knows too much. The families won't let her live."
"Then we get to her first," I say.
"It's a trap, Seraphina. They're using her as bait. They know you'll come."
"I don't care." I step forward, meeting her eyes directly. "I'm not leaving another person I care about to die. Not again. Not like I thought you died."
Something shifts in her expression. Pride, maybe. Or sadness.
"You've grown strong," she says quietly. "Stronger than I ever was."
"Yeah, well, torture does that." I grab Phoenix's hand. "Are you going to help us or shoot us?"
She holsters her gun. "I'll help. But after we save your friend, you and I are having a very long conversation about the Blackwell family."
My stomach drops. "What about them?"
"Later. Right now, we move." She pulls out her own phone, typing rapidly. "I've been tracking the families' movements. Luna's at the Moretti estate, yes. But Charles Moretti isn't there. He's at a meeting with the other family heads. That gives us a two-hour window."
"How do we get inside?" Ghost asks.
"The same way I've been getting in and out for years." She smiles coldly. "I'm going to walk through the front door. And you three are coming with me as my 'associates.'"
Twenty minutes later, we're in her car racing toward the Moretti estate. She drives like she's done this a thousand times, taking back roads and avoiding cameras with expert precision.
"What do I call you?" I finally ask.
"Rebecca. That's my real name. Your father never knew—I gave him a fake identity when we met. Part of my undercover work with the FBI."
"So everything about you was a lie?"
"Not everything." Her eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. "My love for you was real. Is real. That's why I'm risking everything now."
We pull up to the Moretti estate gates. Guards step forward, but Rebecca rolls down her window and shows them something—a badge, maybe, or credentials I can't see.
"Ms. Sterling," the guard says respectfully. "We weren't expecting you."
"Last-minute inspection," Rebecca replies smoothly. "You know how Charles is about security."
They wave us through.
"Who's Ms. Sterling?" Phoenix whispers.
"My cover identity within the families. They think I'm a security consultant." Rebecca parks near a side entrance. "Charles hired me years ago, not knowing I'm the woman he tried to kill. Ironic, right?"
We slip inside through service corridors Rebecca knows by heart. The estate is massive, and every shadow could hide a guard. My heart pounds so hard I think everyone can hear it.
"East wing, third floor," Rebecca whispers. "Two guards outside the door. I'll handle them. You three get Luna out. There's a service exit that leads to the gardens—go that way."
"What about you?" I ask.
"I'll create a distraction." She hands Ghost a small device. "Signal jammer. Use it once you have Luna. It'll block their communications for five minutes. That's your escape window."
We reach the third floor. Sure enough, two guards stand outside a door. Rebecca walks toward them confidently, and Phoenix pulls me into an alcove with Ghost.
"Gentlemen," we hear her say. "Charles wants the prisoner moved. Now."
"We didn't receive orders—" one guard starts.
The sound of a silenced gunshot makes me jump. Then another.
Rebecca appears, dragging one unconscious guard. "Help me hide these. Quickly."
We stuff the guards in a supply closet. My hands shake as I help. This is real. This is actually happening.
Rebecca unlocks the door with keys taken from the guards.
Inside, Luna sits tied to a chair, and she looks terrible—bruised, exhausted, terrified. But alive.
"Sera?" Her voice cracks.
"We've got you." I rush forward, working at her bonds. Phoenix helps, his fingers quick and efficient.
"It's a trap," Luna whispers. "They wanted you to come. They're—"
The lights go out.
Emergency red lighting kicks in, bathing everything in blood-colored shadows.
And I hear the worst sound possible:
Slow clapping from the doorway.
"Excellent work, Rebecca," Charles Moretti's voice says from the shadows. "You brought her right to me."
Rebecca stands beside him, gun pointed at me.
"I'm sorry, Seraphina," she says, and I can't tell if she means it. "But they have someone I love more than you. Someone I can still save."
The lights come back on, revealing not just Charles, but all four Dark Angels standing behind him.
Dante, Killian, Ezra, and Phoenix's faces are cold, expressionless.
"Hello, angel," Dante says softly. "Did you really think you could sneak onto my father's estate without us knowing?"
I look at Phoenix beside me—the Phoenix who brought me here, who held my hand.
He won't meet my eyes.
"I'm sorry," he whispers. "But Ghost has my sister. If I didn't bring you here, they'd kill her."
Everyone I trusted betrayed me.
Everyone.
Charles Moretti smiles. "Now, Seraphina. Let's talk about what you're going to do for us. Starting with destroying every piece of evidence your real mother collected before she got herself killed."
"I'm right here," Rebecca says coldly.
"No." Charles pulls out his own gun, points it at her head, and fires.
Rebecca drops like a puppet with cut strings.
I scream.
And Charles turns the gun on me.
"Now you have no one," he says pleasantly. "Except the four boys who brought you here. So here's your new choice, Seraphina: Work for us, or join your mother. The real one, this time."