The city did what it always did after blood and smoke. It cleaned its face and pretended nothing happened.
By the time dawn burned the edges of Verrin's skyline, Ava and Liam had already slipped through the lower docks, their car trailing the last of the night storm. The new safehouse didn't look like much. A three–story brick building half-swallowed by old cranes and the smell of rusted metal. But the walls were thick, the neighbors minded their own business, and no one asked for names.
Inside, silence wrapped around them like the morning fog.
Liam shut the door, leaned against it, and exhaled. The bruises from the rooftop fight were starting to bloom under his shirt. A thin line of blood traced his shoulder where the stitches had split again. Ava crossed the room without speaking, grabbed the medical kit off the shelf, and dropped it on the table with a quiet thud.
"Sit down," she said.
"You're bossy when you're scared," he murmured.
She didn't deny it. "I'm right when I'm scared."
He lowered himself into the chair. Up close, the wound looked worse. She cleaned it with practiced hands, the sting of antiseptic filling the air. His jaw flexed, but he didn't make a sound.
The room was a skeleton of furniture. Two mismatched chairs. One narrow couch. Dust on everything but the table. It wasn't a home, but it was the closest thing they had left.
Ava wrapped the last strip of gauze, then pulled back. Her hands smelled like alcohol and adrenaline. He caught her wrist before she stepped away.
"You're shaking," he said.
"Still breathing, aren't I?"
"That's not the same thing."
For a second, neither moved. The tension between them wasn't new, but something about the night they survived made it sharper, heavier. Outside, a cargo ship's horn cut through the air. Inside, their breaths fell into the same rhythm.
Before anything could break the silence, a voice echoed from the hall.
"Uh… excuse me? Are you people renting or robbing this place?"
Ava's head snapped toward the door. Liam's hand went to his gun. The voice came again, nasally, amused.
The man in the doorway wore an oversized hoodie, boxers, and the kind of confidence that made no sense in dangerous situations. Early thirties, sharp brown eyes, hair sticking out in ten directions. He held a coffee mug that said 'World's Okayest Genius.'
"Who the hell are you?" Liam asked.
"I could ask the same thing," the man said, pointing his mug like a badge. "Milo Quinn. Building super. I fix things, I gossip, and apparently, I walk into other people's criminal conspiracies."
Ava raised a brow. "We're not criminals."
"Cool," Milo said, unconvinced. "I'll pretend I didn't hear the part where you dragged a bleeding man in at dawn."
Liam lowered the gun, more annoyed than worried. "You didn't see anything."
"Of course not," Milo said brightly. "And if anyone asks, I was asleep, dreaming of better tenants."
Milo started to walk away, then peeked back. "By the way, your lock's a joke. I fixed it. You're welcome."
When the door closed behind him, Ava let out a slow breath.
Liam smirked. "Comic relief."
"More like liability."
"Sometimes they're the same thing."
They shared something that almost felt like a laugh. It broke the tension, just enough to let air in.
Ava turned back to him. "We have to be careful now. They know what we have."
"They've always known."
The clock above the counter ticked into the quiet. Both of them carried the weight of Arthur Vale's disappearance like a stone tied to their ribs. Revenant had moved first. They wouldn't wait long to move again.
Liam reached for his shirt. She stopped him. "Rest."
"I don't rest."
"You will tonight."
He looked at her, eyes shadowed, jaw set. But under it, she saw what no one else ever did, the exhaustion, the fear he never let out loud.
"Fine," he said. "But only because you said please."
"I didn't."
"You almost did."
He stretched out on the couch, the leather creaking under his weight. She sat at the table, arms folded, listening to the city waking outside, the groan of cranes, distant engines, someone laughing two floors down. The world moved on as if they hadn't almost died.
Then her burner phone vibrated.
She flipped it over. One message. No number.
WE SAW YOU. YOU'RE NEXT.
The letters pulsed against the cracked screen.
Ava stared at it until Liam sat up. "What?"
She showed him the message.
He didn't flinch. "Then let them come."
But in his voice, beneath the calm, something darker stirred.
Outside, the fog rolled back to reveal Verrin's skyline, bright, cruel, and waiting.
The rain returned in thin, quiet lines that streaked the dockside windows like a warning no one wanted to read. Ava sat on the edge of the worn couch, her burner phone still on the table. The message glowed against the gray light.
Liam was pacing like a wolf with nowhere left to run. His shoulder was bandaged, but blood was already starting to seep through the edge. She hated that he didn't flinch.
"We should disappear," she said softly.
He turned. "And let them write the story without us?"
"Staying makes us targets."
He stepped closer. "We've always been targets, Ava."
The space between them thinned, heavy with everything they hadn't said since the rooftop. Outside, the foghorn bellowed through the harbor. Inside, the room held nothing but their breathing.
Milo's voice came from the stairwell. "If you two are going to brood in sexy lighting, at least offer the third wheel a drink."
Ava shot him a look. "You shouldn't be here."
"Technically, I live here," Milo said, waving a screwdriver like a magic wand. "You're the suspicious fugitives squatting in my building."
Liam smirked despite himself. "You're annoying."
"It's part of my charm," Milo replied. He pulled out an old radio from his hoodie pocket. "And lucky for you, I pick up strange signals."
The radio crackled. Someone was broadcasting encrypted messages on a loop. Four letters repeated through the static: R-A-V-N.
"Raven," Ava whispered.
Milo grinned. "Bingo. Which means you owe me rent."
That was how they ended up in a rain-streaked café near Meridian Avenue an hour later. It was early enough that only insomniacs and spies seemed awake. Liam sat by the window, scanning faces in the glass. Ava waited at the back booth.
The man who finally walked in looked nothing like the myth.
Unruly hair. A trench coat that might have been stolen from a theater wardrobe. Glasses smudged with fingerprints. But there was no mistaking the sharpness behind his lazy smile.
Noah Price.
The White Raven.
"Sorry, I'm late," Noah said. "A dead senator and a fire tend to make traffic weird."
Ava didn't move. "You've been writing about Revenant for a year."
"Writing is just how I breathe," Noah said, sliding into the booth. "But you, you're what makes the story bleed."
Liam leaned forward. "What do you know?"
Noah tapped the side of his temple. "Revenant isn't just a program. It's a network built to erase whoever stops being useful. People. Files. Past lives."
"Who runs it?" Ava asked.
Noah smiled faintly. "Everyone. That's the problem."
He slid a folded napkin across the table. In neat ink, it said: Eden Hotel.
"That's where the first switch was tested," he said. "And if you're smart, you'll run the other way."
Ava pocketed the napkin. "Running isn't our style."
"Good," Noah said. "Because you'll probably die."
He left as quietly as he came, blending into the rain like smoke.
Back at the safehouse, Milo was sprawled on the couch, watching an old action movie with the sound off. He didn't ask what they'd learned. He didn't have to. Their faces said everything.
Liam dropped his jacket. Ava brushed past him, but he caught her wrist gently. The pulse between them thumped like an unspoken word.
"You don't have to hold everything alone," he said.
She met his eyes. "Neither do you."
The distance between them collapsed, and they both walked into a room.
Their lips met with a hunger that couldn't be denied any longer. His kiss was possessive, demanding, his tongue exploring her mouth with a reverence that made her weak. Ava felt the wall against her back as Liam pressed closer, his hard length evident against her stomach. She arched into him, her fingers digging into the muscles of his back, urging him deeper.
He broke the kiss only to trail his mouth down her jawline to her neck, sucking and biting the sensitive skin there. Ava gasped, her head falling back against the wall as his hands moved to her breasts, thumbs circling her hardening nipples through the fabric of her shirt.
"I want you," she breathed, her voice barely audible over the rain pounding against the windows. "I want all of you."
Liam growled in response, his hands frantically tugging her shirt over her head, exposing her lace-covered breasts. He didn't wait, dipping his head to capture one nipple between his lips, sucking and teasing it through the fabric. Ava whimpered, her fingers tangling in his hair, holding him close as he switched to the other side.
His hands slid down her body, gripping her hips before moving to undo the button of her jeans. He pushed them down her legs, his mouth following, leaving a trail of hot kisses on her stomach, her hip bones, her inner thighs. When he reached her lace panties, he looked up at her, his eyes dark with desire.
"Tell me what you want," he demanded, his breath hot against her skin.
Ava trembled, her words coming out in a rush. "I want your mouth on me. I want you to make me come."
Liam didn't hesitate, pushing her panties to the side and diving in. His tongue swept through her folds, finding her clit with unerring accuracy. Ava cried out, her hands clutching at his shoulders for support as he worked her with his mouth. His tongue circled and flicked over her sensitive bud, driving her higher and higher.
He inserted two fingers inside her, curling them to hit that spot that made her see stars. Ava's hips bucked against his face, seeking more friction, more pressure. Liam obliged, his mouth relentless as he fucked her with his fingers, his tongue never leaving her clit.
"Oh God, Liam, I'm so close," she whimpered, her body coiling tighter and tighter.
He hummed against her, the vibration sending her over the edge. Ava came with a scream, her body convulsing as wave after wave of pleasure crashed over her. Liam didn't stop, drawing out her orgasm until she was shaking and boneless.
When she finally caught her breath, she looked down at him. "My turn."
She pushed him back, undoing his jeans and freeing his hard cock. She dropped to her knees in front of him, looking up at him through her lashes as she took him in her mouth. He groaned, his hands tangling in her hair as she bobbed her head, taking him deeper with each stroke.
Ava hollowed her cheeks, sucking him hard, her tongue swirling around the head of his cock. She could feel him trembling, his control slipping. She reached between his legs, cupping and massaging his balls, feeling them tighten in her hand.
"I'm going to come," he ground out, his hips jerking uncontrollably.
Ava hummed in encouragement, taking him as deep as she could, her throat relaxing to accommodate him. He exploded with a shout, his hot seed filling her mouth. She swallowed every drop, her tongue cleaning him gently as she pulled away.
They stayed there for a moment, catching their breath. Then Liam lifted her to her feet, capturing her mouth in a searing kiss. "I'm not done with you yet," he growled against her lips.
He pushed her back against the wall, lifting her legs to wrap around his waist. Ava felt the tip of his cock at her entrance, hard again and ready. "Now, Liam," she begged. "I need you inside me."
He thrust into her in one smooth motion, filling her. Ava cried out, her nails digging into his shoulders as he set a punishing pace, driving into her over and over. She met him thrust for thrust, their bodies slick with sweat, the sound of skin slapping against skin filling the room.
"Harder," she demanded, her voice breathy and desperate. "Make me forget everything but you."
Liam obliged, pounding into her with abandon. Ava felt her orgasm building, her body tightening around him.
"Touch yourself," he ordered, his voice rough with his own pleasure. "I want to feel you come on my cock."
Ava slid her fingers onto her clit and started rubbing, while being thrusted, and the two were in perfect sync until they both let out a loud noise, showing both had reached orgasm together.
They stayed tangled in the quiet afterward, his heartbeat against her spine, her fingers tracing lazy circles against his chest. For the first time in days, neither was running.
Milo's voice broke the spell from the hallway. "If you two broke the bed, I'm charging extra."
Ava groaned into Liam's shoulder. He laughed quietly. The world was burning outside, but for a heartbeat, it felt survivable.
The burner phone buzzed again on the floor. A single word flashed on the cracked screen:
"Eden."