Chapter 55

• Jake***
• The night pressed in on us like a suffocating weight, thick and oppressive. The damp air clung to my skin, mingling with the scent of rain-soaked concrete and decaying refuse from the nearby alleyways. Each step we took was deliberate—controlled—like a dance between life and death. A single misstep, and we’d be gone. The shadows enveloped us, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the danger was closer than ever.
• Belle was beside me, her presence both a comfort and a reminder of everything I had to protect. Her hand trembled slightly as she gripped her gun, and though her movements were sharp, I could feel the subtle unease in her. The fear was still there, raw and unfiltered. It wasn’t the fear of being weak or helpless—she’d long since shed that—but the fear of being discovered, of losing everything we had fought for. She wasn’t the same woman I had met all those months ago, but in moments like this, I saw the fragility lurking beneath the hardened exterior.