The lightning faded, plunging the ruins back into the stormy gloom, but the image of his face was burned into Deanna's retinas.

Her brain short-circuited. The air left her lungs in a violent rush.

It was him. The man from the private military contractor camp. The second-in-command who had overseen her captivity for five years. The man whose cold, dead eyes had watched her every move. The man the other mercenaries called the Executioner.

Erik Stafford.

Deanna's PTSD, buried under layers of fresh trauma, exploded like a landmine. A sound tore from her throat-a raw, high-pitched scream of absolute, primal terror.

She scrambled backward, her bare feet and bleeding hands tearing at the mud, trying to put distance between herself and the monster.

Erik saw the sheer panic in her eyes. His dark eyebrows pulled together. He stopped walking. Slowly, deliberately, he raised both of his hands, palms open, showing he had no weapons.

But to Deanna, that slow, calculated movement was the exact posture he used right before he broke a prisoner's fingers in the desert.

Blinded by panic, Deanna scooped up a handful of wet mud and gravel and hurled it directly at his face.

Erik didn't even blink. He just tilted his head a fraction of an inch, letting the dirt splatter against the collar of his tactical coat.

"Dr. Conner," Erik said. His voice was a low, heavy rumble that cut straight through the sound of the pouring rain.

Hearing him say her title-the exact way he addressed her in the camp-sent a violent shudder down her spine. He was here to finish the job. The terrorists had sent him to American soil to silence her permanently.

Deanna scrambled to her feet. She didn't look back. She turned and sprinted blindly toward the back of the ruins, heading straight for the coastal cliff edge.

Erik's face hardened. "Stop!" he roared, his long legs eating up the distance as he sprinted after her. His heavy boots kicked up sprays of water.

Deanna reached the edge of the cliff. The furious wind whipped her wet hair across her face. The smell of salt and rotting seaweed filled her nose. She looked down. Fifty feet below, black ocean waves smashed violently against jagged rocks.

Her toes slipped over the edge. Small pebbles broke loose, tumbling silently into the abyss.

Erik slammed to a halt exactly five paces away. He threw his arm out, his voice cracking like a whip. "Step away from the edge. Now."

Deanna spun around. She balanced on the precipice, the wind threatening to push her over. Her eyes were wide, feral, and completely unhinged.

"Take one more step, and I jump!" Deanna screamed, her voice tearing her vocal cords. "I know why you're here! I will die on these rocks before I let you drag me back to that hellhole!"

Erik's jaw clenched so tight the muscle ticked violently. A flash of profound, unbearable pain crossed his dark eyes, but he buried it instantly. He knew she wouldn't believe he was an undercover CIA operative. Not now. Not when she was standing on the edge of death.

He needed to shock her system. He needed to break her current reality to save her life.

Erik slowly lowered his arm. The panic left his face, replaced by a mask of cruel, mocking amusement.

"You think we randomly hijacked your medical convoy, Dr. Conner?" Erik sneered, his voice dripping with condescension. "You think you were just unlucky?"

Deanna froze. The wind whipped her hospital gown. "It was an ambush," she yelled back. "You terrorists hit the road randomly!"

Erik let out a dark, humorless laugh. He took a slow, deliberate step forward. "It wasn't random. It was a transaction. A fully paid, itemized delivery."

Deanna's body went rigid. "What?"

Erik locked his unblinking stare onto her eyes. "Route Code Delta-Niner. Departure delayed by forty minutes due to a 'mechanical error' with the lead jeep. Does that sound familiar?"

The blood drained from Deanna's face. Those were classified itinerary details. Only the hospital board and the core medical team knew about the route change.

"Someone inside your precious Seaport City hospital sold you out," Erik yelled over the storm, dropping the bomb. "They took the money and handed Zorian your exact GPS coordinates. You were betrayed by your own people."

Betrayed by your own people.

The words hit Deanna harder than a physical bullet. The entire foundation of her suffering-the belief that she was just a tragic victim of war-shattered into a million pieces.

She remembered her colleague, Miles Chandler, bleeding out in the dirt after the ambush. She remembered him grabbing her collar, choking on his own blood, trying to whisper a warning she couldn't understand.

The pieces clicked together with horrifying clarity.

The world tilted on its axis. Deanna's knees buckled. All the strength left her legs, and she collapsed backward.

But instead of falling into the ocean, she slumped onto the muddy ground, inches from the drop. She stared blankly at the mud, her lips moving silently. Who? Who did it?

Erik closed the distance in two massive strides. He grabbed her upper arm with an iron grip and hauled her violently away from the cliff edge, dragging her onto safe, solid ground.

Deanna didn't fight him. She was a hollow shell. She let him drag her, her eyes unfocused.

Erik stood over her, his chest heaving. He leaned down, his face inches from hers. "In this city, trust no one," he whispered, his voice intense and urgent. "Especially the people closest to you."

Before Deanna could open her mouth to demand a name, a sharp, electronic voice echoed from the mud. The unconscious thug's phone had been crushed in his pocket during the impact against the wall, accidentally triggering the emergency SOS feature. The dispatcher's tinny voice was already demanding their location. Seconds later, a pair of blinding white spotlights swept across the ruins from the main road. The shrieking wail of police sirens tore through the night, responding to the automated distress signal. Red and blue lights flashed frantically against the charred walls.

Erik instantly let go of her arm. He took two quick steps backward, melting into the shadows. He gave Deanna one last, intensely protective look, then turned and vanished silently into the dense, rain-soaked brush along the cliffline.

The police cruisers' red and blue strobe lights turned the ruined estate into a chaotic, flashing nightmare. The screech of tires on the wet gravel was deafening.

Deanna sat slumped in the mud, the freezing rain beating down on her face. She stared blankly at the dark bushes where Erik had disappeared. Inside job. Sold out. Trust no one. The words echoed in her skull, louder than the sirens.

Four heavily armed Seaport City police officers jumped out of their cruisers. They swept the ruins with tactical flashlights, the bright beams cutting through the rain. One of the beams hit Deanna's pale, mud-streaked face.

"Over here! We found her!" an officer shouted.

Seconds later, a massive, black, bulletproof SUV tore into the driveway, stopping inches from the police cars. The rear door flew open before the vehicle even fully stopped.

Joseph Cole stepped out, surrounded by three men in black suits holding umbrellas.

Joseph saw Deanna sitting in the mud near the cliff edge. His face instantly contorted into a mask of absolute panic and heartbreak. "Deanna!" he yelled, his voice cracking with emotion as he shoved past the police officers.

The cops, recognizing the wealthy, powerful man who had filed the missing person report, stepped back and lowered their flashlights.

Joseph sprinted through the mud. He dropped to his knees right in front of Deanna, ruining his bespoke suit pants. He reached out, throwing his arms wide, intending to pull her into a desperate, loving embrace.

A few hours ago, Deanna would have collapsed into his chest and wept.

But now, Erik's warning burned in her veins like battery acid. Trust no one. Especially the people closest to you.

As Joseph's hands brushed the wet fabric of her sleeves, Deanna's entire body violently recoiled. She threw herself backward, her hands scraping against the sharp rocks, treating his touch like a lit match against her skin.

Joseph's arms froze in mid-air. A flash of genuine shock crossed his face, quickly masked by deep concern. "Deanna? Honey, it's me. Are you hurt? What happened?"

Deanna slowly raised her head. She looked at Joseph. Really looked at him. She bypassed the handsome face and the worried eyes, searching for the rot underneath.

She thought about Candy flaunting the trust fund money. She thought about her parents dying in a highly convenient fire. She thought about the hospital board leaking her coordinates to terrorists.

A wave of pure, physical revulsion hit her stomach. Deanna turned her head to the side and dry-heaved, her body rejecting his presence.

Joseph's jaw tightened. He dropped his hands and leaned in closer, his voice losing its soft edge, replaced by a hard, commanding tone. "We are leaving. I'm taking you back to the Cole estate. You need a doctor."

Back to the Cole estate? To sleep under the same roof as his mistress and his five-year-old bastard?

Deanna pushed herself up off the ground. Her legs shook, but she locked her knees, standing tall. She looked down at him kneeling in the mud.

"I will never step foot in that house again," Deanna said. Her voice was no longer a broken whisper. It was cold, raspy, and dead.

Joseph stood up, brushing the mud off his knees. He glanced nervously at the cops watching them. He stepped close to her, lowering his voice to a threatening hiss. "Do not make a scene in front of the police, Deanna. Think of the family's reputation."

Deanna's lips curled into a grotesque, mocking smile. She turned her back on him and limped directly toward the lead police officer.

"Officer," Deanna said, her voice steady. "I want a car to take me to a hotel in the city center. Now."

The officer looked uncomfortable. He glanced over Deanna's shoulder at Joseph. In the eyes of the law, Joseph was the powerful citizen paying the bills, even if the marriage was technically dissolved.

Joseph realized he was losing control of the narrative. To maintain his image as the devoted, grieving ex-husband, he let out a loud, dramatic sigh of defeat. He nodded at the officer. "It's fine. She's in shock. I will personally escort her to the hotel to ensure she's safe."

Deanna didn't argue. She needed a roof over her head, and she had no money. She walked straight to the black bulletproof SUV, pulled open the heavy door, and slid into the far corner of the leather backseat.

Joseph climbed in after her. He tapped the glass partition, signaling the driver. The SUV pulled away, heading toward the city. As soon as they were moving, Joseph pressed a button, and the thick, soundproof privacy partition rolled up, sealing them in the back.

The silence inside the cabin was suffocating.

Joseph reached into the center console and poured a cup of hot black tea from a thermos. He held it out to her, his eyes pleading. "Drink this. You're freezing."

Deanna didn't look at the cup. She kept her eyes locked on the rain streaking across the tinted window.

Joseph's patience snapped. He slammed the cup into the cup holder. "You are being completely unreasonable, Deanna! You have no idea what I've been through! The pressure from Wall Street, the grief of losing you-"

Deanna slowly turned her head. She looked at him with the detached curiosity of a scientist observing a rat in a maze.

"My parents..." Deanna interrupted, her voice trembling, fracturing under the weight of her grief and suspicion. She clutched her arms tighter around herself, rocking slightly. "Their money... the trust fund... what did you do with it, Joseph? Where did it all go when they burned?"

The question was a sniper bullet.

Joseph's hand, which was reaching for his tie, jerked violently. His elbow hit the cup of hot tea. The cup tipped over, spilling scalding liquid across the expensive leather seat.

Joseph scrambled to wipe up the tea with his handkerchief, his face flushed red. He refused to look her in the eye. "That's... that's a complicated financial matter. The lawyers handled it after the fire. We can talk about money when you're healthy."

Deanna watched his trembling hands. The final piece of the puzzle locked into place. He didn't just cheat. He stole everything.

Deanna closed her eyes and leaned her head against the cold glass, refusing to speak another word. The SUV sped through the storm, carrying two enemies trapped in a steel box.