Chapter 54

• Jake***
• Blood and smoke lingered in the air as I gripped the curtain’s edge, peering through the motel window. Shadows twisted under the dim streetlights, warping the world into something cruel and unrecognizable. The silence wasn’t comforting—it was waiting, stretching too thin, like the calm before a storm. Every second brought us closer to Victor realizing what we had done.
• He wouldn’t take long. And when he did, he’d send hell after us.