Page 155 of Hidden Echoes

My knife slices through the first man's flesh as easily as cutting butter, and warm blood splatters across my hand. He tries to grunt something, but his throat is already open.

The second man turns, stunned, but I’m already on him. The blade pierces his chest, and I feel his body shudder before he collapses to the ground.

The third one fumbles for a weapon. Terrible idea. A single slash to the side of his neck, and he drops to his knees, hands trembling as he tries to stop the blood gushing hot between his fingers.

Silence falls over the alley. Heavy.

The only sounds are Carter’s ragged breathing and the last, dying gasps of the men at my feet.

Wiping my blade on one of their shirts, I look up at Carter. He’s staring at me like I’m a ghost.

"You…" He can’t even finish the sentence.

I smile. "I solved your problem."

I walk past him without hurry, leaving behind the bodies and the sharp scent of blood in the air.

"Mia," Carter’s voice is thick with desperation. "You have no idea what you just did. This is going to make everything worse. Fuck, we are so screwed."

I don’t flinch. I simply twirl the knife between my fingers before tucking it back into the holster strapped to my thigh.

"Don’t worry. Call Lara." My voice is casual, unbothered. "She’ll call the cleanup crew. They’ll take care of it."

He lets out a bitter laugh, running a bloodstained hand over his face—though, of course, the blood isn’t his.

"You think Lara can fix this?" His eyes, wide with panic, meet mine. "Mia, these guys weren’t just some low-level dealers."

My smile falters. "What do you mean?"

Carter takes a step forward, voice dropping lower. "I tried to get drugs from the Society of Crow, but no one would sell to me. Guess why?" He laughs humorlessly. "Because Lara made sure no one would. I had no choice. I went to the cartel."

My stomach twists.

Cartel.

My gaze drops to the bodies. The blood, still warm, pooling on the dark asphalt. A part of me already knows before I even ask.

"Carter," my voice comes out barely above a whisper. "Which cartel?"

He doesn’t answer.

But I already know.

My chest tightens, and my breath catches. My father.

I just killed my father’s men.

This isn’t exactlynewinformation to him—I’ve killed his people before—but now, I’ve put myself right back in his sights.

"You’re a fucking idiot, Carter!" I snap, smacking him upside the head.

"You’re the one who followed me and killed them all!"

"Obviously, I was trying to save your ungrateful ass."

"Well, yousuckat that."

"Shit," I mutter, stepping back, my mind spinning, trying to find a way out of this—

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