Page 141 of Vows of Ruin

A soft whimper tears through the speakers. “I’m okay,” I lie. “I’m okay, baby. But you—you have to live. You have to stay alive. No matter what happens to me.”

“Liam,” she sobs. “Don’t do this—don’t you dare say goodbye—”

“I love you,” I whisper. “From the first moment I saw you. From the first breath you took near me. From the first time you said my name, like it meant something.”

Sebastian stands next to me, hands clasped in delight.

“I love you,” I breathe again. “I’ll love you in this life and whatever comes next. But you—Wrenley—you cannot walk in here. Promise me you won’t. Promise—”

My voice collapses. My head falls forward. The mic goes silent. The last thing I hear before the darkness takes me, is the sound of her screaming my name.

Chapter Fifty-One

Wrenley

“LIAM!” His name tears out of me like it rips something from my chest. The SUV goes dead silent except for my ragged breathing and the echo of his scream still ringing through the speakers.

“Max—” My voice breaks. “Drive. Faster.”

Max’s knuckles go white on the wheel. “I am—”

“FASTER!” It comes out feral, unhinged. “He’s alive. He’s alive and he needs us—”

The comms crackle. Torque’s voice bursts through, raw and breathless. “Wren—Max—turn around! His bike is here! Hidden off the service road—we almost missed it!”

For a split second I can’t breathe. His bike. His bike.

“He’s close,” Max mutters, shifting gears. He slams the brakes. The SUV fishtails, tires screaming against the asphalt. The whole vehicle lurches sideways, my shoulder slams into the door, Wrecker swears behind us, Riots bike narrowly avoids clipping the bumper.

Max wrenches the wheel, whipping us around so violently the SUV lifts onto two wheels for a heartbeat before crashing back down. My palms hit the dashboard hard enough to bruise. “Max!” Elias shouts over the comms. “Watch the—”

Max floors it. Gravel spits out behind us, peppering Elias’s SUV as we barrel back down the service road we passed moments before. Headlights slicing through the dark like blades. My pulse is a war drum in my throat. My chest hurts. My fingers shake so badly I have to curl them into fists to keep them steady.

Torque’s voice comes through again, tight with urgency “Left side—trees—fifteen yards off the road—look for the cedar. It’s behind it.”

Max veers off the pavement, the SUV bouncing violently as we hit uneven ground. Branches whip the windshield. Then headlights catch something metallic under the brush. A gleam of black chrome. My breath stops. His bike. His fucking bike. Camouflaged under branches and debris, like he didn’t want anyone to find it.

Max slams the brakes again and the SUV skids to a stop sideways. I’m already unbuckling, ripping the door open, stumbling into the brush. Torque and Riot appear seconds later from opposite directions, their headlights from their bikes slicing across the clearing.

Torque shines a flashlight on the bike, Dust-covered. Hidden with intent. Abandoned by force or by choice. I don’t know which is worse.

Riot crouches beside the bike, brushing branches aside. “It’s cold,” he says, checking the engine casing with the back of his hand. “Been here a while.”

My heart twists. He left it here on purpose. Hid it. Covered it. Walked into whatever trap Sebastian set… willingly. Torque steps around the bike, jaw clenched so hard the muscle bulges. “He didn’t want us to follow him. He hid it like he thought he was protecting us.”

Max swears under his breath. I swallow past the burn in my throat. “He thought he was protecting me.” The clearing goes silent.

Riot stands, dusting off his palms. “But this means he wasn’t taken out here. He walked in.”

Elias comes over the comms immediately, “Two buildings match the power draw on the feed. He’s close.”

Hope and dread crash through me like twin storms.

“He left the bike,” Max murmurs, mostly to himself as he steps beside me. “He left a trail.”

My fists clench. I turn toward the convoy, breath shaking, heartbeat like a war drum. “Let’s move. Now.”

Headlights sweep across the clearing as Elias’s SUV skids to a halt beside us. The rear door swings open, and Margot jumps out, a tablet clutched in her hands, hair whipping in the wind. “We got the two buildings Elias mentioned,” she says, breathless as she brings the screen up between us. “They’re nearly identical—power signatures, layout, even location. Could be either.”