CHAPTER 42

Unfinished Business

Something was off with Riley.

I had noticed it for days—the way she avoided looking me in the eye, the way conversations between us had started to feel like we were walking on thin ice. Every time I thought I could close the distance between us, she pulled back, like she was protecting something. Or someone.

She was keeping a secret.

I just didn't know what it was.

We were hiding in a warehouse on the outskirts of the city, tucked between the ruins of an old shipping yard and a train depot long abandoned. It wasn't much, but it was shelter. The concrete walls were thick, the roof intact, and the world outside had bigger problems than checking every forgotten building.

For now.

We were running out of time. The Oath had tightened its grip on the city, flooding the streets with patrols, checkpoints, and security drones. We had no allies left. No safe houses. Only each other.

And now, I wasn't even sure I had that.

I sat on the floor, my back against a rusted steel support beam, sharpening my knife against a whetstone. The rhythmic scrape was a small comfort, something steady in a world that had become anything but. Across the room, Riley sat with her back to me, hunched over a small comm device, fingers moving fast. Too fast.

I watched her in silence, studying the way her shoulders tensed when she felt my gaze.

She was making a call.

Not to me.

I set the knife down and rose to my feet. My steps were slow, measured. The floor was cold beneath my boots, the air thick with the scent of old oil and rust. The closer I got, the more she stiffened, her fingers curling protectively over the device.

"Who are you talking to?" My voice was quiet, but the weight in it was impossible to ignore.

Riley flinched. Barely. But I caught it.

She exhaled, slipping the comm device into her jacket before turning to face me. "No one."

Lie.

I stepped closer, searching her face. "Try again."

Her jaw tightened. "I said no one, Nathan. Let it go."

She tried to move past me, but I caught her wrist, my grip firm but careful.

"You and I both know I can't do that."

For a moment, she didn't move. Her pulse thrummed against my fingers, quick and uneven. Her breath hitched, but she didn't pull away. Not yet.

"Talk to me, Riley." My voice was low, rough. "Whatever's going on, whatever you think you have to do alone—you don't."

She hesitated. For a second, I thought she might actually tell me.

Then her expression hardened.

She yanked her arm free and took a step back, putting distance between us.

"It's nothing," she said. "Just drop it."

Bullshit.

I let out a slow breath, my muscles coiled tight. "You know I can't do that either."

"Then that's your problem, not mine."

She turned on her heel and walked away, disappearing into the maze of crates and metal scaffolding, leaving nothing but the heavy silence between us.

I ran a hand through my hair, exhaling sharply.

Riley wasn't just keeping something from me.

She was lying to me.

And if I didn't figure out why soon—

It could get both of us killed.

---

I didn't sleep that night.

Riley had stayed on the far end of the warehouse, curled up in her jacket, her back to me. It wasn't the first time we'd had to crash somewhere like this, but it was the first time she had deliberately chosen to put distance between us.

She was slipping away.

And I wasn't sure if it was because she was afraid—

Or because she was planning to leave.

By morning, I had made up my mind.

I needed answers.

When Riley got up to stretch, muttering something about checking the perimeter, I waited until she was out of sight before moving to her bag. I hesitated only for a second before unzipping it, searching through the contents.

Riley wasn't careless. She had always been good at covering her tracks, hiding anything she didn't want found.

But she had been in a rush last night.

Tucked inside the lining of the bag, I found it. The comm device.

I clicked it on, and immediately, a series of messages scrolled across the screen.

Encrypted.

But one name stood out.

I felt the air leave my lungs.

Julian.

My grip tightened around the device. A slow burn started in my chest, spreading like wildfire.

Riley had contacted The Oath.

Not just someone inside it—Julian himself.

The world blurred for a second as everything clicked into place.

The late nights. The hushed conversations. The way she had started pulling away from me.

She had been making a deal.

And I had no idea what she had promised in return.

Footsteps sounded behind me.

I turned, and there she was—standing at the edge of the room, frozen in place.

Her eyes flicked to the comm device in my hand.

Her expression didn't change.

But I saw it.

The moment she knew she had been caught.

"Tell me I'm wrong," I said, voice barely above a whisper.

Riley didn't move. Didn't breathe.

Didn't deny it.

And that was all the answer I needed.

The space between us stretched, heavy with unspoken words.

A betrayal I hadn't seen coming.

"Say something," I pushed, my fingers curling around the device so hard my knuckles turned white. "Tell me why."

She swallowed, her throat working. But no words came.

Silence.

Goddamn silence.

My pulse roared in my ears.

I took a step back. "You sold me out, didn't you?"

Riley's eyes flashed, something desperate behind them. "It's not like that, Nathan."

"Then tell me what it is."

She opened her mouth. Closed it.

And that was the worst part.

I had trusted her.

I had trusted her with everything.

And now—

Now I didn't know if I could even trust the sound of her voice.

Outside, the distant hum of a patrol drone grew louder, the mechanical whir cutting through the silence.

We were out of time.

But this—this wasn't over.

Not by a long shot.