MasukThe moment he saw Jems, he ran across the room and pulled her into a fierce, desperate hug, holding her like he was terrified she might vanish into thin air if he let go for even a second."I'm so sorry," he said, his voice breaking apart. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all of this, princess. I'm so sorry. If I could take it back, if I could take away every single thing that led to this, I would, I swear to you I would."Jems held onto him for a moment, still crying, too exhausted to sort through the complicated tangle of feelings she still had toward her father. Richard pressed a kiss to the top of her head, his own eyes wet with tears he made no effort to hide.When he finally pulled back, he turned to find Captain Miller standing near the doorway, intent on thanking him properly, on expressing some fraction of the gratitude clawing through his chest.But Miller shook his head before Richard could get a word out. "Don't thank me," he said simply. "Thank Derick. He's the one who
Emily, Richard, and Nana all arrived at the hospital within minutes. Emily and Nana were the first through the sliding doors, their eyes scanning wildly across the waiting room, past strangers in various states of worry and boredom, until a nurse, noticing her frantic expression, gently pointed her toward a small private area near the emergency wing.And then she saw her.Jems was sitting on the edge of a hospital bed, wrapped in a thin, scratchy blanket that did nothing to hide how small she looked, her face pale and gaunt, dark circles carved deep beneath her eyes like bruises. Her hair was tangled and matted in places, and dried blood, not her own, Emily would later learn, but Ethan's, was still visible along the edge of one sleeve that the nurses hadn't yet gotten her to change out of. She looked thinner than Emily remembered, even though it had only been a day. Drained. Hollowed out. It was as if the past twenty-four hours had scooped something vital right out of her chest.But s
Miller studied Mira for a long moment before he spoke again, watching every flicker of her expression like a man reading a hand of cards he already suspected was rigged."You shouldn't be too confident," he said. "Jems is going to be the one to confirm everything you've just told me."Mira blinked, confusion washing over her tear-streaked face. She sat up a little straighter in the plastic chair, her fingers twisting together in her lap."What?" she said. "I don't, how is that even possible? She's still," her voice caught, cracking down the middle like a dropped plate. "She's still missing. Isn't she? You said she was missing. You said Don Emilio had her.""She was rescued," Miller said, watching her reaction with the same careful, clinical attention he'd give a suspect in any other interrogation, even though some part of him, the part that had held Emily Dawson's hand through some of the worst hours of her life, hated himself a little for treating this moment so coldly. "About an hou
Miller didn't take Don Emilio to the station.He took him somewhere else entirely, a decommissioned warehouse on the edge of the industrial district, one of several properties his twelve-man team had quietly acquired off the books over the past year, using cash, shell names, and nothing that could ever be traced back to the department. No cameras. No paper trail. No judge on anyone's payroll would ever know this place existed.He pulled the car into the loading bay, killed the engine, and sat there for a long moment, staring at Don Emilio's reflection in the rearview mirror."Get out," Miller said finally.Don Emilio's earlier bravado had thinned considerably by now, but he still managed a sneer as two of Miller's most trusted men, Reyes and Cho, both part of the twelve, hauled him out of the car and marched him toward a windowless room at the back of the warehouse."You can't do this," Don Emilio said, his voice climbing, real panic finally beginning to show through the cracks. "This
The mansion had gone eerily quiet compared to the chaos of twenty minutes earlier. Officers moved through every room in organized teams now, zip-tying the last of Don Emilio's surviving men and marching them out through the shattered front gates in a long, defeated line, hands bound, heads down, the swagger completely gone from every single one of them. Others worked through the upstairs office and adjoining rooms, boxing up file cabinets, hard drives, ledgers, burner phones, and anything else that could be logged as evidence. Years of Don Emilio's empire were reduced to cardboard boxes, carried out one by one like furniture from a foreclosed house.But Captain Miller wasn't watching any of that.He stood in the doorway of the empty office, staring at the shattered glass on the desk, at the drying blood mixed with spilled whisky pooling across the mahogany, and at the back door hanging open onto the private garage beyond.Empty.His jaw tightened so hard it ached."He's gone," Miller
Gunfire still echoed around them, with Marcus, Diego, and Wallace holding the line, forcing back the men still pouring in from every direction, but Jems barely registered any of it. Her entire world had narrowed down to Ethan's face, pale and slick with sweat, his eyes fluttering."Stay awake," she begged, pressing harder against the wound, tears streaming down her face and dropping onto his cheek. "Stay awake, Ethan, please, look at me. Don't close your eyes. You're going to be fine, do you hear me? You're going to be fine.""Jems," he rasped, his hand weakly finding hers where it pressed against his side."I love you," she sobbed, the words pouring out of her now, desperate and raw. "I love you so much, Ethan, and I need you to stay awake, okay? I need you to fight. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Do you hear me? The rest of my life. So you cannot close your eyes right now. You cannot leave me. Not now. Not after everything."His lips curved, just slightly, into the gh
Then subtle contouring was added to make her features more masculine, such as a sharper jaw and a stronger brow. A carefully applied fake mustache looked surprisingly real. Blue contact lenses changed her hazel eyes to sky blue, and finally, a complete boy's outfit was added, consisting of designer
"I... I'd have to ask my mom," she said."Of course," Ethan said. "Call her right now. I'll give you privacy."He stepped out of the room, and Jems pulled out her phone with shaking hands. She called Emily, who answered on the second ring."Hey, baby. Everything okay?""Yeah, Mom, everything's fine
They stayed in the pool for another hour, playing and splashing and laughing. At one point, Ethan taught Jems how to do a proper dive, standing behind her on the edge of the pool with his hands on her hips, guiding her posture.Every touch sent electricity through both of them. Every glance felt lo
Jems was in her room, moving around like she was in a trance. She opened her massive walk-in closet, the one that looked like a designer boutique, and started pulling clothes off the perfectly organized racks. Her favorite Chanel hoodie. The Dior jeans she wore all the time. The Gucci dress her mum







