Page 23 of Veil of Secrets

My knuckles are raw. The kid’s teeth must’ve cut me on impact. I wipe my hand on his jacket.

Luca breaks the silence.

“We need to dump them fast. The water’s high. If we drop them on the north side—”

“Leave them.”

“What?”

I face him.

“Leave them where they are.”

He stares like I’ve grown a second head.

“That’s not the play.”

“It is tonight.”

“Nico—”

“If Marco wants to test our edges,” I say, “let him cut himself on mine.”

Luca swears under his breath. “And if the cops show up?”

“Then we know who’s watching.”

He doesn’t argue again. Just steps back, pulling his burner to call cleanup in reverse—to cancel the crew he was about to ping.

I stay standing between the two bodies.

The light from the rusted lamp swings over me in intervals. I don’t flinch. Don’t move.

Elara’s name slips out. Low. Like a tick.

“Elara…”

Luca doesn’t hear. Or pretends not to.

I stare out over the waves. They crash hard against the wood, churning like they’re trying to claw something back to the surface.

I don’t want her in my head.

She’s not part of this.

She’s not in the Brotherhood.

She’s not bound by anything I’ve built or broken.

But she’s there anyway.

Her face. That mouth. The way she talked back like I wasn’t the guy who put a knife in another man’s gut in front of her.

She didn’t react to the blood.

She reacted to control.

Didn’t want mine. Didn’t want anyone’s.

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