The echo of the gunshot vibrated in Adrian's ears, clean and absolute. Then silence so complete it weighed on his head.
Ava's hand cramped in his. "Adrian"
"Stay close," he whispered, though his voice shook.
The room was consumed in darkness. The chanting had stopped. No breathing, no whispers just the heavy presence of strained air in the dark. Adrian couldn't tell if it was from the hooded men, Caldwell, or the man who claimed to be their father.
The silence was broken by a click. Metal on stone. And then a voice low, measured, unfamiliar.
"No one moves."
The command sliced through the darkness like a bullet.
Adrian's body froze. Ava's breathing halted.
Caldwell spoke the first words, her voice tougher than he'd ever heard her. "You shouldn't be here."
The intruder waved her aside. "Give them to me. Now."
Something in the darkness moved cloth against cloth, a scraping foot. And then a candle flared, its feeble light to illuminate the gunman.
Adrian's stomach dropped.
It wasn't another hooded figure.
He was a man in a black suit, neat, crisp, the gun hard in his gloved hand. His face was not one Caldwell knew, but there was something in his presence that was of people who did.
The suited man's gaze locked onto the twins. "They don't belong to you," he said to Caldwell harshly. "They belong to us.".
The veiled circle moved, a wave of discomfort sweeping through them. The man at its center their father advanced, his face contorting with anger.
"You dare show your face?" he snarled. "This is their heritage, not yours."
The man in the suit sneered, clinching his hold on the gun. "Amusing. That's precisely what they said to say about you."
Adrian's chest heaved. His head reeled. The hooded ring. The one who had looked like their father. And this gun-toting stranger today, too, claiming they were his as well.
Ava's trembling voice broke the silence. "Adrian… who do we trust?"
The air crackled with hostility. The suited man's gun swept across the room, adamant and unforgiving. The hooded ones bristled, their hands quivering at their hips as if held ready for a cue.
The man at their core Adrian and Ava's so-called dad cradled his arms wide, his voice commanding enough to silence even the whispers.
"You think a gun makes you powerful here?" His tone was smooth, on the verge of mocking. "These kids are mine by blood. Nothing you carry can erase that."
The suited man's lip curled. "Blood doesn't matter. Control does." His eyes flicked toward the twins. "And I already control all that comes into contact with them."
Ava's chest constricted. She wanted to scream, to demand answers, but her voice caught in her throat.
Adrian took a step forward despite himself. "Stop talking about us like we're… property." His voice cracked, but the anger underneath made it ring louder. "We deserve the truth. Both of you."
The room bristled at his words. The cloaked circle shifted uneasily. The suited man narrowed his eyes.
And then the impossible happened.
The man who looked like their father laughed a deep, unsettling laugh that echoed off the stone walls. "The truth, my boy?" His smile widened, his teeth glinting in the candlelight. "The truth is simple. You're not prisoners. You're the prize."
The words hit Adrian like a blow. Ava staggered back, her grip on his arm tightening until it hurt.
"Enough!" Caldwell broke in, standing between them, her body trembling with barely contained fury. "They're not your pawns and they're not your weapons. If one of you wishes to have them, you're going to have to go through me."
Adrian caught a glimpse of fear in her eyes for the first time not fear for herself, but for them.
The suited man leveled his gun, the barrel glinting in the faint light.
The cloaked circle unwound, poised to strike.
The twins stood caught between forces they did not know, both of which claimed to own them.
And then the earth beneath them shook. A low thunder caused dust to fall from the ceiling. The candles capered furiously.
Something or someone was coming.
The thud grew louder, vibrating through the soles of Adrian's shoes. The candles capered wildly, their flames curving as if something below were heaving up against the earth itself.
The hooded bodies scattered, their singing shattering into anxious whispers.
"What's that?" Ava gasped, her voice cracking with fear.
Caldwell's gaze snapped upwards, then to the tunnel they had come in from. She knew. Adrian could see it in her face. But she didn't say anything, her mouth clenching instead. "Stay behind me.".
The appropriate man set his feet firmly, though his gun trembled for the first time. He screamed above the increasing clamor. "This isn't part of the plan."
The man who looked like their father smiled. "It was never your plan to command."
The ground trembled with a jarring shock, a violent jerk that sent a crate crashing and bursting. Papers scattered across the floor, snapshots pirouetting through the air. Adrian caught one as it floated over his foot and stopped.
The photo was of him and Ava. Taken recently. In their penthouse.
Ava gasped as more photos spilled out. Birthdays, stolen kisses, even times they'd thought they were alone. Someone had been watching. Not years ago yesterday.
Adrian's blood ran cold. He lifted his eyes to the circle of hooded individuals, then the suit, then finally to Caldwell.
"Who took these?" His voice trembled with rage. "Which one of you still watches us?"
Silence.
The thunder cracked into a vicious snarl, a split in the stone floor between twins and hooded ones. The ground opened with a roar that was ear-shattering, black powder pouring into the air.
Ava screamed, stumbling back into Adrian's grasp.
The man in the suit cursed, shooting a wild bullet up at the ceiling.
And in the powder, as rock fell and candles snuffed themselves out, a figure materialized out of the crack slow, deliberate.
Boots. Polished, heavy.
A low, cold voice cut through the commotion.
"Step back from the heirs."
Dust swirled in the room as the voice echoed. All the silhouettes froze the group of cloaked figures, the suit man, even Caldwell.
Adrian's heart thudded in his chest. Another one?
The figure stepped through the rift, boots crunching on loose stone. His face was lost in the haze, but the feeling of him was unmistakable cold, authoritative, trained.
The occasion-dressed man grew cold. "You weren't supposed to be here."
The stranger chuckled, the sound like drawn metal on glass. "And yet. here I am. Cleaning up your messes."
The hooded figure who bore a resemblance to their father snarled, his hand shooting through the air. "You don't belong in this corridor. Get out before you regret it."
The stranger brushed him aside, eyes fixed single-minded on Adrian and Ava. He raised a gloved hand, finger pointing at them as if to pronounce judgment.
"They are coming with me."
Adrian felt Ava's hold tighten. Her breathing was shallow, her words barely above a whisper. "Adrian… everybody wants us."
Caldwell moved between them, using her body as a shield. "Over my dead body."
The man in the identical suit snapped, patience gone. "Then so be it." His gun sighted Caldwell.
At the same time, hooded men drew concealed knives, their semicircle collapsing inward.
The man at the fissure crept toward something concealed under his coat.
Adrian's mind was screaming there was no escape.
And then the candles went out together, darkness filling the room.
A gunshot echoed.
A scream tore through the blackness.
And the final thing Adrian perceived was Ava's hand leaving his.