Ken’s voice in her ear was a lifeline cutting through the chaos.

"Lyse, hold your position. Get to cover. That’s an order."

For a moment, she couldn’t move. Her body felt frozen between instinct and terror, her mind still trapped in the image of Lily dangling over the edge of the catwalk.

"Lyse!" Ken barked again.

The command snapped her back to reality.

Lyse scrambled back down the metal steps, her boots clanging loudly against the grated surface. Her hands burned from gripping the rusted railing too tightly, skin scraped raw as she half-slid down the last few steps.

She darted across the open space and ducked behind a massive shipping container. The corrugated steel was cold against her back, grounding her as she pressed herself flat against it.

Her breath came in ragged gasps that fogged the cool air.

She had almost gotten herself killed.

For a second, she had forgotten the plan. Forgotten the careful coordination, the positioning, the strategy.

All she had seen was Lily’s terrified face.

"You see, Lyse?"

Ophelia’s voice echoed across the cavernous warehouse, bouncing off steel walls and towering stacks of cargo containers. It dripped with triumph.

"You’re just a child playing a grown-up’s game. You have no idea what you’re doing."

Lyse wiped sweat from her brow and forced herself to steady her breathing.

"I know you’re a coward!" she shouted back, adrenaline making her voice shake. "Hiding up there and using a little girl as a shield."

"Smart, not cowardly," Ophelia corrected smoothly.

A faint metallic click echoed overhead as she shifted her grip on the railing.

"But I’m getting bored."

Her voice carried effortlessly across the warehouse.

"Ken," she called mockingly. "I know you’re out there. Come out, come out, wherever you are."

A beat of silence.

Then Ophelia added lightly, "Or your precious daughter gets a front-row seat to a spectacular fireworks display."

Lyse’s stomach twisted.

"Bella’s SUV is so... flammable." Ophelia’s voice softened with cruel amusement. "I wonder how it will look up in flames."

Inside the car, Bella’s blood ran cold.

She instinctively ducked lower in the driver’s seat, her eyes darting to the tablet mounted beside the steering wheel.

The screen showed a live feed from Echo’s surveillance system, along with a diagnostic display of the vehicle’s systems.

Her gaze landed on the fuel gauge.

Then the warning indicator beside it.

A thin red icon blinked steadily.

"No," Bella whispered, her hands gripping the steering wheel.

"She’s bluffing," she told herself quietly.

But the words felt hollow.

The fear sat in her chest like ice.

"She’s got a dead man’s switch on the car."

Echo’s calm voice cut through the channel like a scalpel.

Bella’s head snapped up.

"I see it. Small explosive, wired to the fuel line," Echo continued. "But I’ve also got a clear shot on her from the west gantry. She’s exposed for a few seconds every time she paces."

Ken didn’t hesitate.

"Take it."

"Negative."

The word slammed through the comms channel like a thunderclap.

Levi’s voice followed, rough and laced with static.

"You don’t have a clear shot on her," he snarled.

Everyone froze.

"You hit Ophelia, she drops," Levi continued. "The switch in her hand might trigger. We don’t know what it’s wired to."

The logic was brutal.

But correct.

The warehouse fell into tense silence.

Above them, Lily’s muffled sobs drifted down from the catwalk.

Each sound was like a knife twisting in Lyse’s chest.

"Levi?" Lyse whispered into her mic, her voice trembling. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"I’m here, baby."

The fury in his tone was barely restrained.

"I’m almost there."

Lyse swallowed.

"Everyone hold your positions," Levi ordered. "Do not engage."

A pause.

"I’m coming in the back way."

Lyse frowned.

Back way?

Her mind raced.

There was no back way.

The warehouse was practically a fortress.

Water surrounded it on three sides, with only the main loading doors providing entry.

Or so she thought.

"Levi, what are you going to do?" Ken demanded.

"I’m going to end this," Levi said.

Then a new sound cut through the tension.

A high-pitched mechanical whine.

Lyse turned toward the far wall.

CLANG.

The entire warehouse seemed to shudder.

CLANG.

A section of corrugated metal buckled inward slightly.

CLANG.

Dust rained down from the ceiling beams.

Someone was hitting the wall from the outside.

Hard.

Ophelia spun around on the catwalk.

"What the fuck!?"

The moment her attention broke, Jax moved.

He slipped from the shadows like a ghost, covering the distance to the base of the catwalk in a handful of silent strides.

Ken reacted instantly.

Three sharp gunshots cracked through the air.

The bullets slammed into the metal railing near Ophelia, forcing her to duck.

"She’s moving toward the ladder!" Bella shouted from the car.

Jax was already waiting.

As Ophelia began dragging Lily toward the ladder, Jax stepped forward.

His pistol rose smoothly.

He didn’t shout.

He didn’t warn her.

He fired.

The shot rang through the warehouse.

Ophelia screamed.

The crimson fabric of her dress bloomed with a darker red as the bullet tore through her shoulder.

She stumbled violently, her grip on Lily loosening.

Lyse saw her chance.

She exploded from behind the container.

Her boots pounded against the concrete as she sprinted across the warehouse floor.

"Lily!" she shouted.

"Run to me!"

But Ophelia wasn’t finished.

Even wounded, she recovered with terrifying speed.

With a feral snarl, she grabbed Lily again and yanked the sobbing child back against her body.

Her free hand raised the silver device.

Her thumb hovered over the button.

Her wild eyes darted around the warehouse, searching for the next threat.

Then the wall collapsed.

With a deafening screech of tearing metal, the weakened section of corrugated steel ripped open.

A jagged hole appeared in the warehouse wall.

Smoke drifted through the opening.

And standing in the wreckage was Levi.

He looked less like a man and more like something summoned from fury itself.

Dust clung to his clothes.

His eyes burned like molten steel.

In one hand he held a pistol.

In the other, Jon’s phone.

He tossed it aside without a glance.

The device clattered across the concrete floor.

His gaze locked onto Ophelia.

The temperature in the warehouse seemed to drop.

"Game’s over, Ophelia."

His voice rang with chilling finality.

Ophelia’s expression twisted with hatred.

Her gaze flicked between Levi and the trembling child in her grip.

She was cornered.

Trapped.

"So it is," she whispered.

A strange calm settled over her features.

Then she looked straight at Lyse.

A small, triumphant smile curved her lips.

"But I still get to say goodbye, That’s only fair."

Before anyone could react, she moved.

She spun suddenly.

Not toward Levi.

Not toward the ladder.

But toward the open edge of the catwalk.

With a hateful surge of strength, she flung Lily into the air.

Lyse screamed.

A raw, animal sound ripped from her throat.

But Ken was already moving.

He had seen the madness in Ophelia’s eyes.

He burst from cover, sprinting across the warehouse floor with impossible speed.

For a heartbeat, time seemed to slow.

Lily’s small body fell through the air.

Ken leaped forward.

And caught her.

The impact sent them both crashing to the ground.

They rolled across the concrete in a tangled heap of limbs.

Lily clung to him desperately, sobbing.

But the chaos had created the opening Ophelia needed.

She didn’t run.

She didn’t surrender.

Instead, she lifted the silver device to her lips.

And pressed the button.

The explosion was instantaneous.

A blinding flash erupted from the catwalk.

Then came the roar.

Flames consumed the platform in a violent burst of orange and black fire.

The shockwave slammed into the warehouse like a physical wall.

Lyse was thrown backward, crashing hard against a container.

Shrapnel tore through the air like furious metal hornets.

Lights flickered violently.

Then died.

The warehouse plunged into darkness illuminated only by raging fire.

For a moment, there was silence.

Heavy.

Choking.

Broken only by the crackling flames.

And Lily’s terrified crying.

"Lyse!"

Levi’s voice tore through the darkness.

He moved through the burning wreckage like a force of nature.

His eyes scanned the chaos until he spotted her huddled against the container.

He reached her in seconds.

His arms wrapped around her instantly.

He pulled her tightly against him, his body shielding hers.

His hands moved quickly over her shoulders, her arms, her face.

Checking.

Searching.

"Are you hit?" he demanded hoarsely.

His voice trembled with a fear he couldn’t hide.

"Talk to me."