Page 92 of Beautiful Scars: Unshakeable

I close my eyes, remembering Zane's gentle kisses, Levi's soft feather-light touches. The way they made me feel whole, made me believe I deserved more than what I'd ever been given.

The memory hurts worse than any of this. I’d started believing in it. Started believing I could have it. Have them.

Water pools around me. Old wounds, new wounds, they all blend together. My body is a testament to how much pain I can live through. And there will be more. So much more.

I press my hand against the newest cuts on my thigh, feeling the sting. These ones spell out "MINE" in jagged letters. As if I could forget. At least they don’t seem deep enough to leave a scar. Yet.

The shaking won't stop. Cold or shock or fear—does it matter?

Please don't let it be years.

The thought comes unbidden, a prayer to whatever god might be listening. Please don't let me live through years of this. Please let my body give out sooner rather than later. Please don't let me forget who I was before this. Please don't let me forget them.

The water finally runs clear, all evidence of today's torture swirling down the drain. But there will be more blood tomorrow. And the next day. And the next.

Until there isn't.

I force myself to stand on shaking legs, to reach for the towel—another perfect match to the ones I had at home. Every detail designed to remind me of the life he stole and that freedom was always an illusion.

The mirror shows my reflection—pale, hollow-eyed. I look like a ghost. The thought that maybe I am plays over and over in my mind.

Maybe Levi and Z never found me.

Maybe I never left that warehouse.

Maybe I really am in hell.

Chapter Forty-One

Zane

Throughmyscope,Itrack the shadows moving between trees. Wolf and his team advance silently, their dark forms barely visible in the predawn darkness. My finger rests beside the trigger, ready if they need cover, even though there was no car in front of the silent and dark house when we arrived.

"Team Two in position," Chase whispers through the comm.

"Copy." My voice stays steady despite the rage burning in my chest. Three days. Sunny's been in that monster's hands for three fucking days.

Jade’s words echo in my head: "He wanted me to be able to see what he had planned for her… wanted me to tell you what he told me." The bruises on Jade’s face were nothing compared to the horror in her eyes. She couldn’t even look at either me or Colt when she repeated what Garrett had told her.

"Infrared shows tripwires every ten feet," Rex reports.

I adjust my position, scanning the tree line. "Mark them."

"We’ve got pressure plates too," Wolf adds.

Levi shifts beside me, his breath catching. I place a hand on his shoulder, squeezing once. We can’t afford his rage right now. Not when one wrong move could alert Garrett.

"Found the first camera," Ty reports. "About ten feet up in a tree. There’s a whole network."

"Wolf, can you loop the feed?"

"Working on it. But Z… this is next-level stuff."

My jaw clenches. Of course it is. Garrett’s been planning this for years. I knew it wasn't going to be as easy as it seemed. The sick bastard probably has contingencies for every scenario.

"Team Three, hold position," I order as Rex’s group approaches the side of the house. "Those cameras will have blind spots. Find them."

Through my scope, I watch Chase’s team methodically marking trip wires with infrared paint, the lines only visible through our equipment. They move with careful, practiced efficiency, but for every trap they find, another one lurks beneath the surface—pressure plates hidden in natural ground depressions, motion sensors nestled in hollow trees.

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