Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 385(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Silence.
A few scattered chuckles.
But mostly... silence.
Except in the corner.
Helena and Andrew.
Watching.
And Helena... is smiling.
Not in amusement.
In satisfaction.
Like this is what she wanted all along.
Like she wanted me to lose it. To make a scene. To humiliate River.
Rage flares in me again, but I grab River’s hand and get us the hell out of there.
We don’t stop until we’re in the car and I’m peeling out of the parking lot, River’s hand still clutched in mine.
“Gage,” she says softly once we’re on the road, “I’m sorry.”
I glance over at her, shocked. “You’re sorry? River, don’t. Those guys are assholes.”
“I just—being the center of that kind of attention, even good attention—it always feels like a trap. And now... Helena saw it.”
“I know. And I saw her face. She was happy. Which means she’s playing us.”
River goes quiet. “Why would she want to humiliate me like that?”
“I don’t know. But we’re going to find out.”
I reach over and brush my knuckles down her cheek. “I meant what I said back there. About you being smart. Fierce. Amazing.”
She leans into my touch. “You really think that?”
“I know it.”
She closes her eyes. “Then take me home. I just want to be with you right now.”
“You got it, sunshine.”
And as I drive us back to Riverside, one thing is crystal clear… I don’t just want to protect her anymore.
I want to burn the world down for her.
By the time we get back to Riverside, I’m gripping the steering wheel like it insulted River.
I can’t stop replaying what we just saw.
Helena. Andrew. Sneaking off like horny teenagers. Hands on each other. Lips locked.
Not just an affair. This was practiced. Comfortable. Like it’s been going on for a long, long time.
And it’s not the affair that makes me see red.
It’s the timing. It’s the gleam in Helena’s eyes when I lost it at the party. Like everything went exactly the way she wanted.
She wanted me to blow up.
She wanted River humiliated.
She’s been planning this.
“I’m going to kill them both,” I mutter as I kill the ignition and shove the door open.
“Gage,” River says behind me, but I’m already out, pacing the driveway like a caged animal.
I hear her footsteps on the gravel. She touches my arm.
“They were watching,” I tell her. “Smiling. Like it was a game.”
“It is a game,” she says softly. “And we just gave them a new move.”
I stop. Turn. She’s standing there under the porch light, still in that killer black dress that makes my chest ache, and her eyes are sad but steady.
She’s always stronger than she lets on.
“They got to humiliate you,” I grit out. “And I let them.”
“No, you protected me. I’ve never felt safer than when you stood up for me.”
I pull her close, burying my face in her hair. “I wanted to break every bone in those guys’ bodies.”
“I know.”
I exhale through my nose. “We need to tell the team.”
She nods. “You do that. I’ll make tea.”
She heads inside, and I pull out my phone and text the group chat.
ME: Confirmed. Helena + Andrew. Affair. Long-term.
ME: Saw them leave together at party. Caught on follow.
ME: Eyes open—this changes everything.
ARROW: On it. Helena’s file just became priority #1.
KNIGHT: I’ll cross-ref her travel with company deaths.
RENDER: Pulling her comms now.
JUNO: Tell River she’s a badass.
ME: I concur.
When I step inside, the lights are dimmed and soft music plays on the speaker. River’s in the kitchen, barefoot now, her dress slightly unzipped in the back. She’s boiling water and lining up mugs. It’s so domestic I forget for a second that we’re in the middle of a cyber-espionage nightmare.
“We need to talk about what we do next,” I say, stepping into the kitchen.
She nods, passing me a mug. “Do we bait Tasha?”
“That’s the question.” I lean on the counter. “She works closely with Helena. She was weird at the office. Something was off.”
“She’s scared,” River says. “But I don’t think it’s of me.”
I study her. “You think she’s being controlled?”
“I think Helena has something on her.”
“Or she is something for Helena,” I say. “A puppet. Or a shield.”
River swallows hard. “Gage… what if this all traces back to her?”
“Helena?”
She nods. “What if she is Regent?”
That makes me stop.
It’s wild. But suddenly... it’s not.
“She’s got motive. Power. And she hates me,” River says. “Always has.”
My phone buzzes again.
RENDER: Alert. New video leak. Deep fake. River + Gage. Intimate.
“Shit.”
I pull it up.
And there we are.
Or what looks like us.
Naked. Tangled in a bed. Obscene. Fabricated.
I can see every tell. The lighting is wrong. My shoulder scar is missing. River’s freckles are smoothed out.
But damn if it isn’t realistic.
River covers her mouth with her hand.
“This is... This is from my bedroom, Gage.”
“We’ve swept your place. There are no cams. It’s a reconstruction.”
“But how—?”
I turn the phone toward her. “This is personal. This isn’t just an attack. It’s a message.”