Page 90 of BounBound By Scars

And no one had an answer.

Because the silence that followed—it wasn’t just tense.

It was grief.

Mourning.

Because no one wanted to say it, but we were all thinking it.

Zane was probably already dead.

“Arden Mercer?” Logan muttered, almost reflexively. But even he sounded unconvinced. Zarek shook his head in agreement, expression grim.

I hadn’t looked at Ronan this whole time.

Maybe because I didn’t want to.

Because when I finally did, I saw him—and I froze.

He was already halfway gone. Not physically—but mentally, emotionally. There was a calm, deadly determination on his face. A resolve I didn’t understand yet, but instinctively knew not to question.

Sebastian caught it too.

“No,” he said firmly, a warning packed into a single word.

“Yes,” Ronan bit out, his voice breaking slightly. He didn’t even glance at Seb, just straightened his spine. “Thank you,” he added softly. “For everything you did.”

The air shifted.

“Ronan—”

Seb’s voice cracked on his name.

I was missing something. Something huge.

Ronan turned to the room, expression suddenly still. “I’ll bring him back.”

The conviction in his voice was absolute. Like a promise made to no one but himself.

Seb’s jaw clenched. “You really will, won’t you?”

Ronan’s eyes never left the door. “He’ll be back.”

And with that—he left.

The silence he left behind was almost unbearable.

Amelia’s voice cracked through it, hesitant. “He’s a CIA free agent, isn’t he?”

Seb gave her a small smile—tender, unguarded. And if the atmosphere wasn’t this heavy with uncertainty, I would’ve snapped at him.

“No, he isn’t.”

Then what the fuck was he?

I opened my mouth, but Zarek beat me to it.

“What—”

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