Chapter 47: Do you miss me yet?

My hands rose slowly, fingers loosening their grip on the rifle until it slipped free. I let my chin tilt upward, exposing my throat to the stale air.

Of course this would happen.

Of course.

To my periphery, Terri was being patted down—rough, impersonal hands dragging over her arms and waist while she sniffled quietly, trying not to cry. Boots thudded across concrete, the sound echoing off bare walls, multiplying until it felt like the room itself was marching.

The air smelled wrong. Old dust. Oil. Sweat that had soaked into concrete and never left.

Someone reached me.

Hands slid over my hips, my ribs, my chest—too slow, too deliberate—then lower.

My jaw tightened.

Seriously?

Like I’d hide something there.

“Wait a damn second…”

The voice came from behind me, far from the person who had been patting me down.

Female.

My shoulders stiffened.

“…Is that—? No way.”

She laughed softly under her breath. Disbelieving. Almost delighted.

Then, louder:

“You.”

My blood went cold.

Please don’t be talking about me.

“The brunette with the tan and the shitty haircut,” she said. “Turn around.”

I closed my eyes for half a second, as if pretending this wasn’t happening might undo it.

A gun cocked.

“Now.”

I turned.

The world narrowed to her.

She burst into laughter— full, hysterical, unrestrained— despite the weapon aimed squarely at my chest. My eyes dragged over her face, cataloging the damage time and violence had carved into it.

I knew those features.

Or… most of them.

The shaved side of her head was new. The blonde hair dyed jet black. The scar above her eye— jagged, pale, angry— was definitely new.

A far cry from the girl I remembered.

“Adrian fucking Carter,” she said, grinning wide. “I’ve hit the damn jackpot.”

I felt eyes burn into me from all sides. Lila. Aubrey. The others.

I couldn’t look at them.

“Hailey,” I said flatly.

Her smile faltered.

“You look different,” I added quietly.

She scoffed. “And to think— I never expected to see you again after what happened.”

A low chuckle slipped out of her. Ugly. Enjoying itself.

“Fate really does love bringing people together, doesn’t it?”

I exhaled through my nose. “Listen. Just let us go. You can take the guns. All of them. Even the ones we walked in with.”

“Fuck no.”

The word was immediate. Final.

“No,” she repeated, eyes glittering. “I think I’ve got a few better ways of repaying you for the shit you put me through.”

My pulse spiked.

“Hailey—seriously? That wasn’t even my fault, I—”

“Shh.”

She stepped closer.

The man behind me locked my arms back hard enough that my knees nearly buckled. Pain flared down my shoulders. I bit it back.

Hailey hooked two gloved fingers under my jaw and forced my face up to hers.

“Didn’t you miss me, baby?”

I didn’t answer.

Her smile darkened.

A guttural scream tore through the room.

Lila.

I twisted my head just enough to see her thrashing against the men holding her down, feral, desperate. Her eyes were bloodshot red— unrecognizable.

Terri was staring at her, face drained of color.

Hailey laughed and swung her gun toward Lila.

“So that’s the ugly whore you replaced me with?”

A beat.

“Then again,” she added lightly, “you had a thing for anyone, as long as they were blonde, right?”

I snapped my jaw free from her fingers.

“Eat shit, Hailey.”

She smiled wider.

“Just take what you want and fucking leave,” I said. “That’s all this has to be.”

For a moment, she stepped back.

Just a moment.

Her gaze drifted, unfocused, brushing over the room. Over my people.

“You know,” she said slowly, “I’m glad I left that dump. Englewood never did shit for me. No future. No growth.”

I frowned. “What?”

“But that doesn’t mean I didn’t miss you.”

Her voice softened— just enough to be dangerous. I couldn’t tell if it was real or a performance.

The man behind me forced me down.

My knees hit the floor.

Hailey crouched in front of me, eyes level now. Her gloved fingers slid into my hair, gripping just tight enough to hurt.

“When I left, it pained me more than you realized.”

A beat passed.

“I wanted you to come with me,” she said quietly. “So fucking bad. I wanted to give you a better life. A better place. Better people. Better everything.”

Memories surged up uninvited.

“But I guess I needed you more than you needed me,” she went on. “You chose to stay with people who never gave a shit about you. In a place that you swore would take you places if you worked hard enough.”

A pause.

“And that’s fine.”

Her eyes flicked to the others again.

“I won’t give you an ultimatum this time.”

Someone struggled nearby. A gun cocked. The movement stopped.

Her voice cracked.

“Im giving you a chance to come home with me, Adrian,” she said. “I can give you everything you need— even now. Even with the world gone to shit.”

She didn’t add anything else.

Like she was afraid to.

I looked at Lila.

She was sobbing— silent, broken, wrecked in a way I’d never seen before.

Then the others. Faces hard. Eyes lowered. Afraid of the choice they thought I might make.

…Did they really think I’d leave them?

I looked back at Hailey.

“I’m sorry things didn’t work out between us, Hailey.” I said quietly. “But I can’t do that.”

Silence.

Her expression hardened like cooling steel.

“Have it your way.”

She stood, turned, and took a rifle from one of her men.

“We’re leaving.”

At the doorway, she stopped and looked back at me.

“You’re gonna die out here.”

My blood ran cold. Her gaze hovered over the rest of them.

“All of you.”

Her words were sharp, final enough for me to believe it just a moment.

She turned finally.

“And I’m taking that busted, bloody truck outside too.”

Then they were gone—one by one—boots fading into the distance, leaving us kneeling in the aftermath.

And the space they’d hollowed out behind them.

I released a breath I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding and collapsed forward onto my elbows, the cold concrete biting through my sleeves. The room felt hollow now— too big, too quiet— like it had been scooped out and left behind.

A beat passed.

Then I slammed my fist into the floor.

“DAMN IT!”

The sound cracked through the station, sharp and ugly. Pain flared up my knuckles, but I welcomed it. It grounded me. Kept me from spiraling.

Footsteps approached.

I didn’t look up.

Aubrey.

I lifted a hand before she could grab me, palm out, asking— no, warning— her to stop. I sucked in a shaky breath and pushed myself upright, shoulders tight, chest burning.

Silence didn’t last long.

“Hailey Finkleworth?” Aubrey said, disbelief thick in her voice. “You really dated her? The same girl who got expelled for fighting the principal junior year?”

I straightened, brushing dust and dried blood off my jeans with more force than necessary.

“It was a long time ago,” I snapped, words sharp as broken glass.

She scoffed. “Well, guess what? Your greediness just cost us everything. Some leader you are.”

I closed my eyes.

For just a second, I let the words hit. Let the guilt and frustration claw their way up my spine, mixing with the anger until I couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began. My jaw clenched so hard it ached.

“Adrian…?”

I opened my eyes.

Terri stood a few feet away, arms wrapped around herself like she was holding her pieces together by force. Her voice was quiet. Fragile.

“…What do we do now?”

The question hung there, heavy and unforgiving.

Before I could answer, Aubrey cut in.

“I’ll tell you what we’re gonna do,” she spat. “Die in this rot. We’ve got no weapons, no medical supplies, and one rundown piece of shit car that can barely carry all of us.”

I felt the room shift.

I saw it in their faces— the way shoulders stiffened, the way hope cracked just a little more. Fear settling in, slow and poisonous.

Peter was sweating profusely, despite the chill of the concrete room. His hands kept rising to his face, fingers dragging beneath his eyes like he was trying to wipe away thoughts that wouldn’t leave him alone. His breathing was shallow, uneven—anxious energy coiled tight in his chest, looking for somewhere to escape.

Cherie leaned against the wall, arms crossed, boots braced like she was ready for impact. Her expression had gone dark, the usual sharp grin nowhere to be found. Her eyes tracked me carefully, calculating—not afraid, but weighing odds. Measuring me.

Lila stood a few feet away, eerily still. She’d calmed down, at least on the surface, but the evidence of the storm was written all over her face. Dark eyeliner streaked down her cheeks, smeared and jagged, like war paint. Her jaw was tight, lips pressed together, eyes locked on me with something raw and exposed burning behind them.

Isabella watched in silence, as she always did. Her expression remained unreadable— but this time, I caught it. A crack. Just for a second. Her gaze flickered, betraying uncertainty before the mask snapped back into place.

Even Hale. Even he looked shaken.

My head snapped toward Aubrey.

My eyes went cold.

She met my stare without flinching.

“I’ll tell you what we’re gonna do,” I said, my voice low, steady—dangerously calm.

The room went still.

“We’re gonna get our shit back.”

Eyes widened. A few breaths caught. Terri’s mouth parted slightly. Someone muttered under their breath.

Aubrey folded her arms, eyebrow arching. “Yeah? And how the hell do you plan on doing that?”

Something inside me bent—not breaking, but compressing. Like steel under pressure.

I lifted my chin.

My voice didn’t rise.

“And I know just the way to do it.”

The silence that followed wasn’t doubt.

It was anticipation.

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