Chapter 227

Ella

The dim light of the garage cast long shadows across the room, amplifying the feeling of dread that gripped me. I was still tied steadfastly to the chair, my wrists chafed from the ropes, and my wolf was still fast asleep. No matter how much I tried to call out to her in my mind, it was no use; she was nowhere to be found.

“Ema!” I cried out mentally, pleading with her to offer guidance, assistance, or even her company during these terrifying moments. “Please, I need you now!”

Of course, there was no response. And something told me that there wouldn’t be a response anytime soon. If what Marina said was true, and she really did plan on having both Logan and me killed as soon as he set foot in this garage, then perhaps I would die without my wolf by my side.

And that thought alone was absolutely horrifying.

Jet, Logan’s car racing rival somehow turned hitman, still stood in front of me, his face partially hidden beneath the brim of his hat. I studied him in the darkness, and I could tell that he was avoiding my gaze. Did he feel empathy at this moment? Regret, maybe?

It certainly seemed that way. Maybe I could use that flicker of morality to my advantage.

“Jet, I know you don’t want to do this,” I pleaded, my voice echoing in the empty space that stood between us. “I know you don’t want to kill Logan and me. Logan may be your rival, but to kill him? Why?”

He remained silent, his gaze distant, as if lost in thought—or maybe he was just ignoring me, waiting for the time to come in which he would kill both Logan and me. I wondered how he would do it: a gun, a knife, an explosive.

No, I thought to myself, shaking my head as if to dispel the notion, I can’t think about that right now. Instead, I continued, my voice shaking with desperation as I tried to break through the tiny cracks that were forming in his stoic facade.

“Listen,” I said, “I just need to get back to my sister, Daisy. She’s only fifteen, and I promised her that I would always be there for her. I’m her big sister, don’t you understand? She’d never understand, nor would she ever forgive me.”

“She’ll get over it,” Jet murmured, his voice muffled by his bandana. “Everyone gets over it.”

“No, you don’t understand,” I continued to plead. “Jet, I have to get home to her. Whatever Marina wanted to do with Leonard’s money isn’t my problem; but I can’t leave my little sister behind. I made a promise, Jet.”

Jet shifted uncomfortably, his eyes flickering with something that almost, for the briefest of moments, seemed to closely resemble what could have been real empathy. I decided seize that moment, pressing further and using it to my advantage.

“Do you have anyone you care about, Jet?” I asked softly, my voice shaking. “A sibling, a partner... anyone?”

For a long time, Jet didn’t answer; but his eyes spoke volumes as they looked around the dark garage, anywhere but at me. After a few moments of silence that felt like an eternity, he finally spoke, his own voice barely more than a whisper.

“I, uh… I have a daughter,” he said. “But she lives overseas with her mother. I don’t get to see her very much.”

I felt a flicker of hope then. So Jet wasn’t entirely unlike the rest of us; he still had people he cared for, something to fight for. He wasn’t like Marina and Harry, who only cared about money and nothing else.

“See?” I asked. “So you understand what it feels like to care for someone. Your daughter knows her daddy loves her, doesn’t she? Would you want her to know her father as a killer?”

Jet’s eyes darkened as I spoke, and in two swift strides, he closed the distance between us. He raised his hand as if to slap me, but I didn’t flinch. Instead, I stared up into his eyes, silently pleading with him to see reason here.

He paused, his hand in the air, before he shifted uncomfortably and lowered it again. When he did, he looked away, tugging his hat lower over his face to cover his oddly familiar eyes. “Orders are orders,” he muttered. “I can’t change what’s going to happen.”

My heart sank at his words, but I couldn’t give up now, not when those cracks in his facade were growing bigger. “Please, Jet. Think about your daughter. Think about what this will do to her. To Logan. To Daisy.”

“You don’t know the first thing about me or my daughter,” he said. “And besides, you think your loved ones’ safety is all that’s at stake? You think I’d be doing this if a gun weren’t to both mine and my daughter’s heads, too?”

As he spoke, I felt my heart sink. “It’s Marina’s fault, isn’t it?” I whispered. “She’s threatening your daughter, too?”

Jet nodded, stepping away once more. He turned his back to me, and I could see him clenching and unclenching his hands at his sides. But he said nothing.

In that moment, I was certain that I had begun breaking through his mask. All it would take was a little more prodding, I was sure of it. “Jet, my father is a very wealthy man,” I said. “Whatever danger you or your daughter are in, we’ll help you. You’ll be safe, free, away from Marina.”

But Jet remained unyielding, the mask of his duties as a hired hand too ingrained in him to give up now. “Look, even if I wanted to help you, there’s nothing I could do,” he said. “This building is set to blow once Logan arrives.”

“Surely there’s a way to stop it,” I choked out. “It doesn’t need to happen, Jet. Please.”

“No,” he muttered. “There is no way to stop it. I can’t, and I won’t.”

At that point, all hope left my body. I screamed, struggling against my restraints, the futility of my efforts breaking me once and for all. The thought of Logan walking into a trap, and of leaving Daisy behind, never understanding why I had died, was unbearable.

“Jet, please,” I begged, tears streaming down my face. “If you let us go, we’ll leave the city. We won’t say a word about Leonard, about any of this. We just want to live. Please.”

For a brief moment, our eyes met, and I saw a flicker of pain in his. There was sadness there, a depth of emotion that he was clearly struggling to keep hidden.

But the moment passed, and Jet turned away, resolute in his mission. My heart ached, not only for Logan and myself, but for the man in front of me, torn between duty and his own buried humanity.

As Jet moved back into the shadows, I was left alone with my despair, the cold fear of what was to come consuming me. I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Daisy behind, of Logan walking into a death trap.

But there was nothing I could do, bound and helpless in that dark, foreboding garage.