Page 58 of Deliverance

I had nothing. Just the weight of every member of the Archers and their secrets pressing down on my shoulders.

CHAPTER 24

EVELYN

As the miles fell away under the car wheels, the silence grew more and more stifling. It felt like everything was closing in on me from all sides. Even the air felt too heavy. The guys had tried to talk to me a couple of times, but I just cut them off with a quick shake of my head. I didn’t want to hear their comforting words. I didn’t want to feel better. I wanted to feel the weight of this mistake that I had made. I needed to feel it. It was my responsibility to protect the Archers, not theirs. I thought we were finally getting ahead of Drake, and it turned out he was three moves ahead of me this whole time.

It felt like I was watching the Archers crumble in real time. The anonymity that protected us was gone. And I needed to figure out how to mitigate the fall out, but my brain just wouldn’t focus. My phone buzzed in my lap. I knew it was probably my lieutenants wanting to know what to do now, but I didn’t have any answers for them. I tried to wrack my brain. Half-formed ideas came and spun away.

The bump of the car pulling into the garage jolted me out of my thoughts.

“We need to game plan our next move,” Alexander said once we all filed out of the car and into the elevator.

“I know,” I said. I tried to keep the snap out of my voice, but I wasn’t sure how successful I was. “I’ll meet you up at your apartment in a minute.” I pressed the button for my floor.

“Evie,” Sebastian started. “You’re not alone?—”

“I know,” I cut him off. “I just need a minute.”

I did know they were there for me. But this was bigger than just us. My whole organization had just been thrust into the spotlight. I had to figure that out first, and then we could deal with Drake.

“A few minutes,” Marcus agreed as the elevator stopped at my and Adrian’s floor. His arms were folded across his chest as he leaned against the back wall next to Adrian.

Alexander caught my arm as I stepped out. His intense eyes stared into mine like he could read my thoughts. Of all of them, Alexander probably could. I braced myself for him to say something, but he just pressed a kiss to my forehead.

“We’re right upstairs.”

The elevator doors closed behind me, carrying them upstairs. Away from me and the shitshow I had to handle.

I stepped into my apartment and shut the door. I leaned back against it, looking at the ceiling and blowing out a breath. The apartment was dark. The stormy weather had followed us from the SID safehouse to the city. Other than the occasional crack of thunder, the apartment was devoid of sound. Usually, the silence would be comforting. It had been in the past. But now, the lack of sound gave the perfect backdrop for my spiraling thoughts.

I slid down the door, my knees to my chest. I wrapped my arms around my legs and pressed my forehead into my knees. The press conference played on a loop behind my eyes, whether I wanted it to or not. The moment Drake blew our anonymity all to hell and accused us of trafficking women all in the same breath with the fucking police chief standing beside him. Thefootage of us moving through the railyard. The Archers symbol on the train car wall that I stupidly painted as a taunt was now on display for the whole city to see.

I pressed the palms of my hands into my eyes. I had built the Archers to move in the shadows. It was how we kept people safe. It allowed us to move quietly around the city and save people. It allowed the Archers who had day jobs to be Archers while still protecting their identity and their livelihoods. If they couldn’t see us, couldn’t identify us, then we could keep doing the work that mattered. Keep saving the people the system failed. Get justice for those who would never had the chance otherwise.

I had been so freaking careful, and then in a moment of stupidity, thinking I could bait Kingfisher into making a move, I outed us. I gave him ammunition to come after me and everyone in the Archers. And now they were relying on me to get them out of this. My phone had stopped buzzing sometime between when I got off the elevator and stepped into my apartment. Maybe they weren’t relying on me to get it figured out.

I wasn’t sure if that thought made it better or worse.

A knock at the door pulled me out of my head. It was probably one of the guys checking in on me. It had definitely been longer than the few minutes I’d said I needed. I still didn’t have any answers, but I had to stop burying my head in the sand and face this head on. I stood and unlocked the door, swinging it open.

Izzy stood in the doorway, holding two bags of takeout. From the logo on the bag and the delicious smells wafting from them, she had hit up my favorite Italian place on the way over. Behind her, Maya had a bottle of wine in each of their hands. Liam was carrying a third bag of takeout in one hand and his backpack slung over his other shoulder. Danny had his arm around Grace, who was moving carefully, but had a stubborn look on her face that I recognized.

I blinked at them for a few seconds. What were they doing here?

“Are you going to let us in?” Izzy asked, raising her eyebrow at me.

I stepped back, and they filed past me. They moved through my dark apartment like they had done this a million times. I suppose we had had a million meetings but not in this space before. Not under these circumstances. Maya found the light switch while Liam started clearing space on the coffee table. Danny steered Grace to the couch, fussing over her every step. Grace took it with a resigned sort of look on her face, like she had been dealing with his hovering for weeks and just decided to accept it.

Everyone else took seats around the couch while I was frozen by the door.

“Sit,” Izzy said to me, firm but not unkind.

On autopilot, I sat, still wondering why they were here.

Izzy opened the first bag, and the smell of garlic and tomato sauce hit me. “Is that?—”

“Lasagna,” Maya confirmed, already pulling out the containers from the other bags and passing them around. “And they gave us extra breadsticks because Liam told them it was an emergency.”