Chapter 113

Ramon POV

The hospital waiting room felt like a cage. I’d been pacing for what felt like hours—probably because it had been hours—wearing a path in the already-worn carpet while my family watched with varying degrees of concern and fear. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, too bright and too clinical, making everything feel surreal and nightmarish.

Troy was in surgery. Had been for two hours now. The stab wound had been deep, had nicked something important—I couldn’t remember exactly what Rhodes had said because my brain had shut down the moment I’d seen Troy lying in the gardens, blood soaking through his shirt, his face white as death.

And Lake and Ollie were gone. Taken. Kidnapped by Samuel Sanders and Frank Morrison in broad daylight, right under our noses, while we’d all been inside thinking they were safe.

Safe. What a fucking joke.

I stopped pacing long enough to look out the window at the darkening sky. The sun was setting, painting t