Page 105 of Ghost

Luna

Before leaving Ghost’s office,I use everything he taught me over the past year to get off the property without him knowing.

He saved me once; now I’ll save him.

I send a text message to one of the prospects at the front gate, masking it to look like it came from Ghost’s phone, letting them know I’m leaving to see a family member who was just admitted to the hospital.

Ghost will be able to trace back everything I’m doing, but by the time he does, it won’t matter. I’ll have either made a deal to set this right or gotten so deep that I wouldn’t want Ghost dragged down with me.

By the time Ghost returns, I’ll be gone.

Maybe in time, after I clean up this mess and give them what they want, I’ll be free to come back. If I do, I hope he’ll forgive me.

The prospect at the gate checks his phone when I pull to a stop in my car. He reads the message he thinks is from Ghost and doesn’t think twice about waving me through. I hope I didn’t sign his death warrant by sneaking past him.

It’s not his fault.

It’s no one’s except mine.

I try not to glance at the rearview mirror as the Twisted Kings compound shrinks in the distance. The compound is the first place that ever felt like a home, and with every mile, it aches to leave it behind.

It’s not a long drive to the industrial district, but it feels like an entirely different world as I pull up. I abandon my car a building down and go the rest of the way on foot so I can scope out what I’m walking into without them hearing me.

When I finally reach the warehouse that matches the address they messaged, I take a deep breath and close my eyes. This is it. My moment of truth. Ghost has kept me in the dark over what I’ve done, but it’s time I pay for my sins.

I step into the warehouse, and it’s dark, except for a path of light that streams from an office to the left.

“Hello,” I call out.

The air is dusty and reeks of chemicals.

“I guess miracles do happen.” I hear a voice echo from the shadows. “Didn’t think Ghost would actually let you out of his hold. Kind of hoped he’d give us a reason to come in for the retrieval.”

“Ghost doesn’t know I’m here,” I yell back to the mystery man.

“That makes more sense.” The man chuckles, and it echoes through the walls. “He always had a soft spot for a pretty face that needed saving.”

I clench my fists at my sides, wondering if he’s talking about Paulina. “I’m here. What do you want?”

A scuffling of shoes on concrete comes from my left, and I spin to face it. The man’s boots drag on the warehouse floor with every step until a figure finally forms in the shadows. And when he finally comes into view, my heart pounds in my chest.

“Steven?”

My former foster brother has aged since I last saw him, but he also somehow looks exactly the same. His hazel eyes are distant, and I never could decide if they were warm or cold.

He smirks, and it tugs on the deep scar that cuts through his lip. I remember him getting it when he stepped in and took a beating for his brother.

“Been a while, Luna.” Steven pops his knuckles. “But I don’t go by Steven anymore, so you can call me Grimm.”

It’s an unsettling name—the bringer of death. And I wonder if the rumors I heard after we cut ties were true. He might have protected me while we lived together, but there was always a side of him that reminded me a little too much of his father.

A relentless side.

A dark side.

He was impatient and thought he was owed something for what he was forced to live with.

Back then, I wanted to believe him. He and his brother had been through enough that when he taught me how he would hack the school’s computer to change his grades to avoid a beating, I understood his reasoning. I even got it when he broke into the city utility billing system and zeroed out the water bill so they wouldn’t shut it off when his dad was too broke to pay it.