Page 116 of Taken Off Camera
My head snaps up, heart lurching as adrenaline surges through my depleted body. I search the stage for the fallen gun, but I can’t find it.
More crashes, closer now, the floor vibrating beneath my feet.
The bathroom door bursts inward first, hinges tearing free from the frame. Saint staggers through the opening, blood crusted along his hairline, duct tape dangling from one cheek. He searches the room with his one good eye, freezing when he finds me kneeling amid the wreckage.
Before either of us can speak, the wall of the partition explodes outward, fragments of wood scattering across the concrete. Sebastian charges through the debris, gun raised, face twisted with a fury I’ve never seen. The left side of his face bears a purple bruise from the crash, dried blood tracking from his temple to his jaw.
Jade follows a step behind him, gun sweeping the wreckage for a threat that isn’t there.
Everyone freezes as they register the scene before them. Travis unconscious on the floor, blood pooling beneath his head. The camera in pieces. Me in torn lingerie, blood smeared across my skin, somehow still standing.
“Micah!” Sebastian’s voice breaks on my name, raw emotion stripping away his usual control. He surges forward, weapon lowering as he reaches for me.
But if he touches me now, I’ll collapse into his arms, and we’re not done yet.
I stumble backward, arms raised to ward him off. “Wait! The feed is still live!” I point toward the laptop on the desk, where the comments have slowed. “They were watching. The buyers. We can track the connection!”
Jade moves without hesitation, crossing to the computer setup in three long strides. His fingers fly across the keyboard, face hardening as he reads whatever appears on screen. “Encrypted connection. Multiple recipients.”
He kills the monitors with a quick flick of his wrist. “Fucking animals. We’ll get our techs to dig through the data later. For now, this show’s over.”
I lurch forward a step. “I can?—”
“No.” Jade’s eyes meet mine, and something haunted flickers there before he looks away. “You need a doctor. So do Sebastian and Saint.”
Sebastian remains frozen several feet away, hands raised in a placating gesture. Blood crusts in his eyebrow, splitting the arch. His clothes are torn and dirty from the crash, but his eyes burn with clear purpose.
“Are you hurt?” he asks, low and gentle as if speaking to a wounded animal. He searches my body, cataloging each visible injury with growing darkness in his expression.
“I’m okay,” I whisper, the words catching on myraw throat. “Better than him.” I point a shaky hand toward Travis.
Saint rips off the last of the duct tape as he circles the unconscious man, prodding him with the toe of his boot.
“What did you do to him?” Admiration softens the bruises on his face.
“Lamp. Power cord.” The explanation comes out clipped, each word an effort. “He was going to sell me. This was a live auction.”
Sebastian sucks in a shaky breath, his control fraying. “Can I come closer?”
“Wait,” I say again, something niggling at the back of my mind. “There was another man. A driver. He left once we arrived here.”
“Okay, that’s good info.” Saint rolls a groaning Travis onto his stomach and yanks his hands behind his back. “But you can tell us everything once we get back.”
“No, there’s something…” I rub the side of my head, then wince when I bump a bruise. But with the pain comes clarity. “He said he was helping Travis to get back at the Rockfords.”
“That’s great, baby.” Sebastian takes another step toward me, movements slow and telegraphed. “Can I come closer now? Please?”
The request undoes me, and fresh tears rise, turning the world to a blur.
I nod, unable to form words through the tightness in my throat.
Sebastian closes the distance between us, favoring one side as he moves, but it doesn’t slow him. His familiar pheromones wash over me as his hands hover near my shoulders, waiting for permission to touch.
“I thought you were dead,” I confess, voice cracking. “The crash. There was so much blood.”
“Takes more than that to kill a Rockford,” Jade reassures from where he helps Saint secure Travis with zip ties. “Though not for lack of trying.”
Sebastian’s fingers brush my cheek with impossible gentleness. “We followed your tracker.”
