Page 11 of Bound by Adoration

“After the confirmation with Nightbot and the wipe out, Nightbot completely wiped the conversation chat box, and it is no more.”

“Who the fuck is Nightbot? Explain,” I ordered, and I heard the two brooding men coming down the hall. But I didn’t have time to deal with them. This was too important.

“It’s the name I gave the contact. I don’t know why, but it fit. This turn of events means I have no way of contacting them again. None. I have no way of knowing if or when the operation is complete or even progressing. I have no way of communicating or authenticating the money coming to you orifit will come to you. They could run with it and give you to the Hamilton men, and I have no way to help you, Nyx.”

My stomach twisted into barbed wire knots, cutting me from the inside and making me bleed. Not that Screech couldn’t “help” me now. It was the non-communication with the person completely holding my life in their hands. This Nightbot. Whatever in the fuck that was. Would they give up my exact location to the Hamiltons? Fuck me.

Thoughts rolled in my head as I searched for some kind of answers. How would I even know if I could ever come out of hiding? Would I ever be able to? Would this be my life forever? Running from place to place and being in the shadows? Would I have to read the internet every day in hopes of seeing something about those three men going down? Or that their money was gone? Or would they cover everything up as always?

Then the fear only those men could give me hit hard as the realization collided in my head.

I’d never be free. Ever.

“I’ll never be free,” I whispered, seeing the two brooding men entering the room. Parts of my heart and soul cracked, severed, and fell to pieces, crumbling into dust.

Never. Once I left, I’d never see any of these men again because I’d be running. Hiding. Screech included. I guessed I always thought that this would all be over at some point, but with this, playing my last hand, the realization of what my life would be felt like a lead weight on my back, pushing me to the ground.

I was exactly where I'd started when I escaped. Never knowing when the Hamilton men would come for me. Never knowing if I opened a door and they would be on the other side, waiting for me.

And I threw all my cards on the table with Nightbot who I didn’t know and now had zero contact with. The hope I’d held onto for so many years was fading so fast it was like a puff of smoke disappearing with each ticking second.

My head tipped to the ceiling. This was really goodbye to all three of them. My heart was shattering piece by piece into a flamed fire. Everything in me was in pain, one worse than I’d ever felt. Outside, though, I was cool, calm, and collected. I couldn’t break. Not until I was safe.

Then I’d fall apart only to try to put myself back together again. It was becoming a talent of mine that I never wished I’d had to gain over the years.

“You are free,” Raid said, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re not runnin’ from anyone.”

A sad smile came to my lips as the sexy as sin man in front of me who captured my heart only for me to go and lose it. “I have to.” I turned, unable to look at him, and began to throw clothes and shoes in my bag, praying my face didn’t portray the sadness filling me. But with each second that passed, the shell was starting to crack on the outside, and I couldn’t let that happen.

Then they’d never let me go.

“You don’t have to do shit.” Raid’s confidence was one of the many characteristics that I loved about him. Love. Yeah. I loved the big lug.

“I set this into motion, and now I have to deal with the consequences. I’m leaving.” I had to because they’d be coming, and as much as it killed me to leave Raid, I wanted those men as far away from Sumner as possible. They wanted me, not them. They needed to stay safe. There was no other outcome for them.

Liam would go back to Atlanta and live his life there. Screech. Fuck, I had no idea he’d become one of my friends. But he was.

“Cami, just tell us what’s going on,” Liam said, and it squeezed my heart. Cami was dead. Dead and gone forever. At least Liam had a good version of me to remember. Lord knew my memories of him never faded.

Hadn’t he heard me tell Raid that Cami was dead and buried? “Liam, I’m not Cami. Please stop calling me that.”

“Understood. Now your turn to talk,” he fired back without a lick of hesitation.

They weren’t going to let me leave, but they couldn’t know everything. They couldn’t know about the loss of contact. Couldn’t know any of it because that would really set them off. They were both on a thin rope as it was. “I really need to get in the bathroom and get my stuff, so I can get out of here.”

Raid grabbed my gun off the top of my dresser and put it in the back of his jeans. I glared at him, flipping the switch to anger. It was an easier emotion to deal with, and sadness or shattering wasn’t. At least with anger, I could let out some of the frustrations. “You will give that back.”

“Not until you talk, and don’t fuckin’ lie,” he challenged.

It was Screech speaking that had my mouth dropping and the air leaving my lungs as my feet stumbled on their own accord. What was he doing?

“The three Hamilton men, Kyro, Flynn, and Miles are evil sons of a bitches who imprisoned Nyx, and they want her back. She’s not going back, of course, but those three men hold a lot of clout in Atlanta. Have a shit ton of cash and know everyone. We’ve been trying to come up with ways to take them down, and the only way we knew to accomplish that was wiping their money out. Money to them is everything. It’s where their power comes from. I found someone on the dark web who could help because I was hitting roadblocks at every turn. The cost was half the money collected from the Hamiltons going to this person. This morning, Nyx gave the okay for it to go down, and I sent a message to the contact. Once that happened, said person, whomever it is but I call them Nightbot, went ghost, deleting everything I had on my computer, cloud, and hard drive system that dealt with the Hamiltons and Nyx. Nightbot also cut off all communications to me, so now I have no way of getting any information. No way of knowing if this plan will be executed. No way of knowing if the Hamiltons go down or if money is coming to Nyx.”

“Screech!” I yelled a bit louder than I intended as his back stiffened. In the months I’d known him, I couldn’t remember a time when I'd raised my voice to him, but I was pissed. “Why did you do that?”

“Because there’s no way for me to protect you! I’d thought if I had the inside scoop from Nightbot, I could make sure you were covered wherever you were. We’d have a burner phone, and I could keep you updated. Know you’re safe. Now … I have nothing. It’s hitting me hard that once you leave, you’re gone, and I have no way of knowing if you’re going to be okay. I don’t like this. Don’t like this plan anymore. It needs serious adjustments.”

“I’ll be fine.” Sure, I would. I’d survived this long, right?

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