Page 193 of Sage Haven

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The same mark.

The one Reich and Castor bore.

My blood turned to ice.

No.

This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t real.

Were they with him? Had they known? Had they brought me here on purpose? Did Reich leave me at the house for Klay to find me?

I tried to make sense of it. Tried to fight the scream building in my chest.

But doubt was already coiling itself around my spine, cold and sure.

Klay turned toward me again, something black clutched in his hand.

I squinted and my heart lurched.

My music player.

The last piece of Reich I had.

The last piece of me.

He held it up between two fingers, dangling it like a trophy.

"Did you think this was going to save you?" he sneered.

Something inside me cracked.

Not a clean break.

A fracture.

Jagged and deep.

And I knew—I knew—my fate had been sealed a long time ago.

The night those men broke me.

This was just the echo of that destruction.

The aftershock.

Klay crouched low again, his voice sliding under my skin.

"Shaking now, aren’t you? Like a child?"

I clenched my teeth. "I’m cold," I said, because it was the truth.

He smiled—but his eyes narrowed just for a second before his fingers tangled in my hair again.

He dragged me close, his lips almost brushing mine.

"You’ve always had a piss-poor attitude," he murmured. "Good thing I spared Reich from having to deal with you any longer."

The sound of Reich’s name—it cracked through me like thunder.

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