The hospital hallway feels quieter now, not actually quiet. There are still footstep, Machines beeping somewhere in the distance, nursess talking softly at the front desk but compared to the chaos from earlier, it feels mutef, like the storm already passed and left all of us sitting in the wreckage.

I sit curled up in the waiting room chair, untouched coffee cooling in my hands, my eyes fixed on nothing. Noah is still beside me, scrolling through his phone every few minutes, probably getting updates from the men outside.

Lucas has been gone for almost an hour and ii don’t even realize how tense my body is until I see him walking toward us.

The second I look at his face, my stomach twists.....Something’s wrong, his jaw is tight enough to crack teeth.

"What happened?" Noah asks immediately, standing.

Lucas runs a tired hand down his face before answering.

"We caught a few alive."

That gets my full attention instantly, I straighten in my seat.

"The masked men?"

Lucas nods once.

"Three survived."

"Where are they ?" Noah asks.

"In the security room, he’s restrained."

My pulse picks up immediately.

"What did he say?"

Lucas looks at me then, really looks at me and suddenly I know I’m not going to like the answer. r

"He said Aaron didn’t plan this alone."

The words land like ice water dumped over my head.

Noah curses under his breath...i just stare.

"What do you mean not alone?"

Lucas exhales slowly.

"He had help."

Heavy, disgusting silence. Because suddenly all the little details from tonight rearrange themselves into something uglier.

Aaron escaping prison, knowing where to find us, Knowing security would be lower tonight and kknowing exactly when to strike, no random attack could’ve gone that smoothly, not without inside help.

A sick feeling crawls up my spine.

"It has to be someone close," I say quietly.

Both my brothers look at me as I stand slowly now, my brain trying to piece things together even though I almost don’t want it to.

"It has to be," I repeat, more firmly this time. "Someone who knows us and knows us well"

Lucas nods grimly.

"That’s what I think too."

My mind starts racing immediately.

"Zane only gave the staff time off today," I say. "Last minute, barwly anyone knew."

Noah folds his arms tightly.

"And Aaron been locked up in the basement wasn’t public information."

I look between them both, dread growing heavier in my chest with every second.

"So somebody knew where he was being held," I whisper. "And somebody knew the house would be vulnerable tonight."

Lucas’ expression darkens.

"Exactly."

A horrible silence settles again, because this changes everything, this wasn’t just revenge, tjis was planned carefully and personally.

I suddenly feel exposed, like someone has been standing inside our lives this whole time watching us without us realizing it.

My stomach turns.

"Who would do this?" I ask quietly.

No one answers immediately. Because honestly?There are too many possibilities.

Zane has enemies, powerful ones and dangerous ones. But this...this feels closer and more intimate somehow, like a betrayal.

Lucas finally speaks again.

"We tried getting more information out of Aaron."

My eyes snap to him instantly.

"And?"

"He’s alive," Lucas says. "Barely. One of the bullets hit bad."

For a split second, guilt flickers through me but it disappears. After what he did tonight, I can’t even bring myself to feel sorry for him.

"He needs surgery," Lucas continues. "The doctors stabilized him, but we can’t properly question him until he wakes up."

Noah mutters another curse under his breath.

"That could take days."

"Or longer," Lucas says grimly.

I start pacing without realizing it. My mind won’t stop moving now as facea keep flashing through my head.

The Staff, Security, business associates, and friends riends.

Who knew enough to pull this off? Who hated me or Zane enough to help kill him? And suddenly another terrifying thought hits me.

"What if they’re still around?"

Lucas looks at me carefully.

"What do you mean?"

"What if whoever helped Aaron is still close to us?" I whisper. "What if they’re pretending nothing happened while sitting right beside us?"

The thought makes my skin crawl, because that’s the worst part about betrayal. It doesn’t come from strangers, ie comes from people close enough to gain your trust first.

Noah steps closer immediately.

"We’ll figure it out."

But his voice lacks certainty. Because this?this is bigger than we thought.And judging by the look on Lucas’ face...

He knows it too. We’re still standing there talking when the operating room doors open.

The sound alone makes my heart jump straight into my throat as every conversation around us fades instantly.

A doctor steps out, still wearing gloves stained faintly red, exhaustion written all over his face and something about the look in his eyes makes my stomach drop before he even speaks.

"Who came in with a woman named Margaret?"

For a second, nobody moves, thwn all three of us rush forward at once.

"It’s me," I say immediately, too fast, my voice shaky from panic. "She’s with me. She’s my mom... uh....."

My throat tightens suddenly and I shake my head quickly.

"My auntie," I whisper. "She’s my auntie."

The correction hurts more than it should, because cause Margaret has never felt like just an aunt.

Not really, not with the way she took care of me, not with the way she always remembered the smallest things about me.

The doctor looks at me for a second too long and I know. Before he even opens his mouth, I know and my entire body goes cold.

"I’m very sorry, we lost her " he says softly.

Those words split something open inside me immediately. No. No no no.....

"She lost too much blood. We did everything we could, but there wasn’t much we could do once...."

The rest of his words stop making sense, It’s like my brain suddenly refuses to process sound, everythin around me goes muffled and far away.

No. No. That’s not possible.....Margaret can’t be dead.

She just spoke to me, she was just holding my hand. I stare at the doctor blankly, waiting for him to correct himself, to say he mixed up patients.... And I know that’s messed yp but I need to hear him say she made it, to say literally anything else. But he doesn’t and slowly...Horribly...Reality starts sinking in.

"She’s gone."

The thought crashes into me so violently my knees nearly buckle as a broken sound leaves my throat before I can stop it.

"No..."

It comes out tiny and childlike, I shake my head immediately.

"No, no, no... no..."

Tears blur my vision instantly, I can barely breathe.

"She can’t be," I whisper desperately. "She was okay... she was talking... she was...."

"She was bleeding heavily," the doctor says gently.

And somehow that makes it worse, because I know...i know she was.

I saw it, I felt the blood slipping through my fingers no matter how hard I pressed....and suddenly all I can think is: Maybe I didn’t press hard enough, maybe if I acted faster, maybe if I,.....a sob tears out of me so hard it physically hurts my chest.

"No..."

Noah catches me before I fully collapse, i don’t even realize he’s holding me until I’m clutching the front of his shirt with both hands, crying so hard I can barely stand.

"She can’t be dead," I choke out. "Noah, she can’t....."

His own face looks wrecked, i think he’s trying not to cry too. Lucas turns away completely, dragging a hand over his face like he needs a second to pull himself together.

But me? I can’t, I completely break apar, bcause Margaret is dead.

Margaret.

The woman who made me soup when I was sick, the woman who always made sure I ate even when I didn’t feel like it.

Gone. Just gone and the worst part? The absolute worst part? The last thing she probably saw before getting shot....Was me. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Another sob rips out of me violently

"I should’ve protected her," I cry. "I should’ve done something....."

"You did everything you could," Noah says immediately, voice rough.

But I barely hear him. My chest hurts so badly it feels unbearable, like something inside me is literally cracking apart.... In the short time I’ve been married to Zane I’ve come to see hr as a mother...I’ve come to love her.

"I told her to stay alive," I whisper brokenly. "I told her help was coming..."

The memory destroys me all over again, her hand in mine, hwr struggling to breathe....the blood.

God, the blood.

And now she’s gone forever, ill never hear her voice again, never see her smile again, neve get to hug her again or eat all the delicious meals she makes for me everyday. The finality of it crashes into me like a truck.

I let out another shattered sob and bury my face into Noah’s chest because I genuinely don’t think I can survive this kind of pain standing upright.

Around us, the hospital jweps moving , the world keeps going and somehow that feels cruel too because mine just stopped.