(Car pov)

  The gates of the compound were already open when I arrived.

  That alone made my stomach drop even further, the moment I saw all my checkpoint guards looking sleepless had done enough to me.

  I barely waited for the truck to come to a full stop before I jumped out, boots hitting the gravel hard. The air felt wrong—heavy, tinged with something chemical and sharp.

  My guards were still standing.

  But barely.

  Most of them looked dazed, some crouched near the driveway, others leaning against vehicles like their bodies hadn't caught up with their minds yet.

  "What happened?" I demanded, grabbing one by the shoulders.

  Her pupils were sluggish. She winced, rubbing her temple.

  "They... gas..." she coughed. "Used gas... came fast..."

  My jaw clenched so hard it hurt.

  Gas.

  Not bullets first.

  Gas to disable.

  Clean. Efficient.

  Pnned.

  "Fucking Lina..." I hissed under my breath.

  Only someone who knew the ventition yout. The blind spots. The timing of shift changes.

  Betrayal burned hotter than fear.

  I didn't wait for more details. I ran.

  Through the front doors—shattered.

  Gss crunched under my boots. The marble floors were scuffed, furniture overturned. The faint lingering scent of whatever they'd deployed still hung in the air, making my eyes sting.

  All my guards inside were down, but breathing.

  "Miguel!" I shouted, my voice echoing violently through the halls.

  No response.

  My pulse pounded harder with every step.

  I reached the staircase.

  And froze for half a second.

  Le.

  She was on the ground near the railing.

  Unconscious but breathing.

  Relief flickered—she was alive.

  But that relief was swallowed instantly by something colder.

  If Le was down...

  Then Miguel had been alone.

  I sprinted up the stairs two at a time, my chest tight, lungs burning. The bedroom door was splintered off its hinges.

  The room inside looked like a war zone.

  Broken gss everywhere. Bullet holes through the wall. The bed torn apart.

  Empty.

  Too empty.

  My hands trembled as I stepped further inside.

  No blood.

  No body.

  Just absence.

  They didn't kill him.

  They took him.

  And that realization was somehow worse.

  I stood there for half a breath, forcing myself to think instead of break.

  Gas. Coordinated entry. Extraction team.

  This wasn't chaos.

  This was targeted.

  They wanted leverage.

  They wanted pain.

  And Lina would know exactly what Miguel meant to me.

  I pulled my phone out with shaking hands and dialed immediately.

  "Lock down every exit within a three hundred-mile radius," I ordered the second someone answered. "Find me every vehicle that left this property in the st day. I want traffic cams, drones, everything."

  My voice was steady.

  Too steady.

  "I don't care what it costs."

  I looked around the destroyed room one st time.

  They thought taking him would weaken me.

  They had no idea what they'd just unleashed.

  "I want every person with a CJNG vest dead."

  ——