Page 73 of Bound By Thorns
She gave me one of those smiles, the ones that say more than words ever could. I knew she loved me; I felt it. In moments where she gave herself to me, willingly. She didn’t need to say it; her actions spoke volumes every day. But when she did speak, the words crashed into me with the force of a revelation.
“I love you, too, Logan.”
Suddenly, my breath hitched, sharp and uneven. Here she was, this incredible woman, offering me her heart—a heart I had carelessly bruised and broken.
I don’t deserve her love.
I had spewed words that were unforgivab–
“Stop,” she commanded, her tone rising in frustration as if she were scolding a petulant child. “I know where your mind is going, andno. I’m not letting you taint this moment with your forgiveness bullshit. I love you. That’s it. There isn’t a reason in this world for you to think you don’t deserve this. You do, Logan. Snap out of it!”
Her words jolted me, a sharp crack in the walls I’d built around my guilt. A laugh, surprised and raw, bubbled up from my chest, mingling with tears that began to blur my vision.
I just simply nodded.
THIRTY-TWO
Kaylan
“Top floor clear. Team 3, get ready for mission objective,” Sebastian’s voice came through our earpieces.
The helicopter’s roar faded, leaving a ringing silence in my ears, as we made our way into the building through the roof. I could barely hear the orders being shouted, my focus narrowing down to the man beside me—Logan. His presence was a calming force, a steady hand on my shoulder that grounded me. His glance was enough to remind me that, today, we could very well lay down our lives.
Fear was a tangy taste on my tongue, but there was also resolve. This mission wasn’t just another line in our service records; it was personal. Ravenrock haunted my dreams, and now, stepping back into the fray, the echoes of those screams followed me, urged me on.
Kabir led, his eyes on his tablet, relaying information coming from Amelia’s drones. The door in front of us seemed almost inconsequential, another obstacle we were trained to overcome, but behind it lay Garret Tyson’s lair. My hand tightened on my weapon, a familiar weight that promised action. Logan’s hand brushed mine, a silent promise between us. No words needed; his touch spoke of protection, of shared dangers past and the unspoken vows of those yet to come.
As we breached the door, the building swallowed us whole. The inside was stark and sterile, and a faint humming noise from idle computers filled the room. Each corner we turned, every hallway we checked, brought us deeper into the enemy’s den. The silence was unnerving—this far in and not a soul in sight. My heart pounded, a drumbeat syncing with the soft thuds of our boots on the polished floor.
“If it comes to it,” I found myself whispering to Logan as we paused at a junction, checking our bearings.
He stopped.
“I know,” he nodded simply without sparing me a glance.
As we pushed into the main hall, the aftermath of what Team 1 had done hit us hard. The floor was littered with bodies of Garret’s men, blood painting the scene in grim strokes. There were faint groans from a few who were still hanging on, but mostly it was just a silent testament to the violence that had gone down before we got there.
Kabir was focused, flipping through something on his tablet. His voice cut through the eerie quiet, a bit muffled by his mask and helmet but clear through our earpieces. “Falcon, come in. I see discrepancies in the schematics. The far wall of his office—it doesn’t match up with the building’s actual layout.”
Amelia’s voice crackled in my earpiece. “Do you think it’s a panic room?”
“We’ll find out,” Kabir murmured, almost to himself as he led us towards Garret’s office.
I was on edge as the door to the office swung open. I was half expecting to see the face that haunted my dreams every night. The face that designed my torture everyday. But instead, the room was empty. Silence. No one waiting for us; just an empty space that seemed to mock the fear and tension I’d been carrying. It felt like a letdown, yet the quiet was unnerving.
The room was stark, painfully empty. It was as if Garret’s team had scrubbed it clean of any clue that might have led us to them. Standing there, I could feel the frustration boiling up inside me, like a pressure cooker ready to blow. I wasn’t the only one—Logan was rigid beside me, his jaw clenched as he scanned the room, obviously reaching the same frustrating conclusion.
“There’s got to be something they missed,” Kabir’s voice was low, almost a growl. “There has to be a hidden exit or a room here.” His eyes were sharp, darting around as he assessed every inch of the office.
Leora, Logan, and I fanned out, our steps silent on the plush carpet as we searched the remaining walls for any sign of a hidden passage. The windows made up two of the walls, leaving less ground to cover. That’s when something odd caught my eye—a slight discrepancy at the base of one window wall. Kabir noticed it too. Without a word exchanged between us, we both zeroed in on the anomaly.
It’s a damn screen.
Kabir was already pulling out his Sentrix tool, fingers flying over the interface as he hacked into the system behind the facade. “Be ready,” he muttered, his voice tense with anticipation. “On my count. Weapons out. Three, and this wall opens up.”
We drew our weapons, the weight familiar and somewhat comforting in my grip.
Three.
