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Taking out the pen torch I had on hand, I walked to the center of the roof and placed it there. But it didn’t stay put and rolled all the way to the right end of the building.

If the floor were even, this shouldn’t have happened, which could only mean one thing.

The roof was heavily leaning to one side.

The freezer story was right. The roof was sinking. The man said it had been happening for the past four days. It was exactly the day after Harvey Walters died. That couldn’t be a coincidence.

Rose Ellen was a very old building, and I doubted they used the best materials to build this back in the day, but even if it were at risk of collapse, it would happen gradually.

But not if someone had the knowledge and used it to their advantage.

The only possible scenario I could think of was someone deliberately damaging the weight-bearing support, risking further collapse, and timing it perfectly with something that would trigger the event.

What? I didn’t know. It could even be something as simple as a bullet flying through the air.

Suddenly, something that Timothy Walters kept saying flashed in my mind. “Time is of the essence.” And every single time he said that, he tapped his wristwatch twice. As a man of habit, it wasn’t unusual, but I did notice something. His watch was stuck at a certain time. Midnight. Almost as if time froze that very minute for him. It would be distracting for a man like him unless the time had signified something important to him.

Like the death of the Stormhold family.

And Killian Glen, the White Hand.

He strategically brought them all to this one place.

So they could all die together.

My feet snapped into action, and a quick glance at my watch told me there were only two minutes to midnight. I ran faster than I had in my entire life, with only one thought.

Get to Arkane.

CHAPTER 15

ARKANE

Just as Bella left the room, the same robotic voice informed me that Mikhail’s phone was unavailable. I couldn’t track his phone or his car or anything. It was like they just vanished into fucking thin air.

My team also hadn’t heard anything from Mikhail or his team, nor had they noted anything suspicious in the Rose Ellen.

And I still had no clue where the fuck Marcus was. I hoped he was still in that restaurant with that fucker because I couldn’t wait to put a bullet between his eyes. The nerve of that fucker to trick me and try to get away with it.

But I knew for a fact that he wasn’t that smart.

My only conclusion was that someone was helping him, someone on my side, and both the Covent if they managed to lure Killian into this. Whoever it was, they wanted us both dead. And if so, I expected men to swarm this place or blow up this building, but neither our men nor our tech detected anything.

“I don’t like us being here,” Grayson grumbled. “I say we get out and face whatever fuck they throw at us.”

“And what?” Jon quipped dryly. “Punch their guns with your fist?”

“We don’t know what’s going on,” I told him. “Until then, it’s best we remain patient.”

And before Grayson could protest, the door crashed open for the second time tonight, and I looked up expecting to see Bella, but it was a distraught-looking Mikhail.

Bella. I didn’t like that I didn’t know where she was right now. She knew how to stay alive, but I couldn’t help this intense feeling in me to keep her by my side and protect her.

My eyes met Mikhail’s. Fuck finally. “Where the fuck—”

“We fucking lost him,” Mikhail announced, out of breath. “That fucking Timothy had his men corner us. They took our guns and phones and tied us up in the back of a truck. I was able to make it out. I came straight here because I couldn’t reach you.” He only lost his cool when we were in serious fucking trouble. And I didn’t like that we were in an unfamiliar location and situation.

“Marcus?” I questioned, already feeling the tension rise inside me.