Page 88 of Serpent King's Revenge

…and saw Lily running in the other direction.

I tried to grab her, but she was already in the thick of it, falling to her knees beside Knuckles. “You can’t just kill him!” she was screaming. “Help me stabilize him!”

She wasn’t talking to us; she was talking to the agents. Her medical training had kicked into gear, and I knew she intended on giving herself up. That was fair—she hadn’t done anything illegal—but I couldn’t…

“Nathan, we have to go,” Abby said, and I turned to find her eyes wide. “Come on.”

I nodded, moved.

We had to get out of this nightmare alive—for Lily, for Knuckles, and for the future we all hoped to have together.

Fog hung heavy in the air as Abby and I burst through the warehouse door and into the night. The moon reflected off the water, revealing the wreckage of most of our boats. My heart sank, but then I noticed a figure waving to us from an FBI boat.

"Who the hell is that?" I asked, my voice low and tense.

Abby squinted.

Then her eyes widened. "Oh my god, it's my dad."

"Your dad?" I hesitated, suspicious. Could we trust him?

There was no time to second-guess. We sprinted toward the boat, Derek, Justin, and a few warehouse workers in tow. As we neared, I glimpsed the worry etched on Owen's face—a small comfort, perhaps.

"Come on!" he shouted, helping us clamber aboard.

As soon as we were all on, he gunned the engine. The boat roared to life, cutting through the waves. I scanned the faces around me—Derek, Justin, the workers—but one was missing.

“Lily,” Justin said quietly. “Did she…”

“She’s alive, but arrested,” I replied. “She should be safe in police custody.”

Fuck, that was a painful lie. She should have been safe in police custody…but she wasn’t. None of us were.

I just had to keep lying until we could get my family safe.

Chapter Forty: Nathan

The FBI boat sliced through the thick fog, the sound of the engine muted by the eerie silence surrounding us. Abby's father, Owen Harper, stood at the helm, his hands steady on the wheel. My mind raced with thoughts about my family, Knuckles, and the baby I had just found out about. Anger toward Owen for keeping this secret from me bubbled beneath the surface.

I'd spent the majority of the night down in the hull, checking on everyone, making sure they were safe. But my nerves were frayed, and I needed air.

More than that, I needed her.

Climbing the steps to the upper deck, I found Abby and her father talking quietly. They stopped as I cleared my throat, announcing my presence.

"Hey," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. Abby looked over at me, her eyes filled with concern, while Owen's shoulders stiffened.

"Everything okay down there?" Abby asked.

"Yeah, everyone's fine," I replied. In truth, I was far from okay. The weight of our situation pressed down on me like a vice, squeezing the life out of me. And yet, I couldn't let them see how much it affected me.

I had to be strong for Abby, for all of them.

"Good," Owen muttered, turning his attention back to the helm. Clearly things were tense between us, but I knew that now wasn't the time to hash out our differences. We had bigger problems to deal with.

I took a deep breath and moved to sit beside Abby, placing a hand on her back and rubbing gently. "Are you doing okay?" I asked, my voice strained.

"Considering everything," she replied with a weak smile. "It's all relative at this point."

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