Chapter 593

Huh? I wasn’t just asking him to rescue Jace—I was trying to remind him to watch out for Bruno, too. “Send me the location,” Hayden said, then hung up.

I froze for a few seconds. Then I pulled up our chat app and forwarded him the location pin. After hitting send, I found myself just…staring at our last conversation, and my chest felt tight. I quickly closed the chat, but, of course, my phone rang a second later. It was Steve.

My heart did this weird flip, and I felt a sting behind my eyes. I wasn’t even sure what I was feeling, but it wasn’t good. I took a deep breath and answered. “Hello?”

“Are you sure Jace was taken by Bruno?” Steve’s voice sounded like he was on edge, too.

I gave him the quick version of what went down. “Yeah, he was getting beaten up—definitely Bruno. And Hernan mentioned a mastermind behind all this.”

“Mastermind?” Steve sounded surprised.

“Yeah. I thought maybe it was Jace, but now that he’s been kidnapped by Bruno…it’s obviously not him.” I felt that stab of guilt in my chest as I said it.

Jace and I had broken up. He’d hurt me, yeah, betrayed my trust. But he hadn’t done anything that bad, right? I’d even let him help me before. And still, I’d assumed the worst of him. Now, I felt like a jerk for thinking he could be behind something so shady.

“Got it. I’ll update Hayden,” Steve said. From the tone of his voice, it was clear Hayden was the one calling the shots on this mission.

“Please hurry. Get Jace out of there,” I begged, my worry spiking. Bruno could seriously hurt him. After all, Jace wasn’t just anyone—he couldn’t afford to lose blood.

“I know. Don’t worry, we’ve got this. But you need to stay put. Don’t let Bruno find you—it’ll mess everything up,” Steve warned.

“Okay, I understand.” As soon as I agreed, he hung up.

I tossed my phone onto the couch, letting out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. The silence in the room felt way too loud. Every tick of the clock made my anxiety worse.

But there was nothing I could do. I didn’t even know who to call for help. How much time had passed? A few minutes? Hours? I didn’t know. My phone buzzed, snapping me out of my thoughts. An unknown number.

Great. I hated unknown callers. It was like my gut was telling me to hang up, but I couldn’t.

“Hello?”

Chapter 20

“Keira? It’s Yara. I’m on my way to see you.”

Yara? Why would she be coming to see me? We weren’t exactly BFFs.

“Uh, is there something you need?” I asked instinctively.

“Nope, nothing important. I just thought I’d keep you company so you don’t feel scared or nervous.” She said it like we were besties, but we weren’t.

“I’m fine, seriously. Not scared.” I tried to sound normal, but a little defiance slipped into my voice.

She laughed softly. “I’ll be there soon. Need anything? I can pick up snacks or something.”

I didn’t respond, and before I could, she hung up.

Thirty minutes later, the doorbell rang. I checked the video feed—Yara was standing outside with a bag in her hands. “Keira, it’s me. Let me in.”

I couldn’t exactly leave her out there after she’d come all this way. I unlocked the door and walked over to let her in.

But the second I opened it, two tall figures appeared out of nowhere, grabbing me by the arms like they were sent from a nightmare.