Page 23 of Lone Wolf (Red Rivals)

CHAPTER 23

Sunny

The name catches in my throat as I stare at the woman standing protectively in front of the other captives.

Am I going crazy? Am I losing control again, seeing what I want to see instead of…

The woman stares back, focus sharpening as she really looks at me. Recognition dawns on her face—the slight parting of her lips, the widening of her eyes.

“ Sunny? ”

Time freezes. The mission, the room, everything falls away as we stare at each other across a chasm of years and trauma and impossible odds.

“It’s me,” I say, my voice breaking. “Yeah. It’s me, Sunny.”

“But they—” She breaks off, but she takes a half-step forward, hope warring with disbelief on her face. “They told me you were dead.”

“I heard the same about you,” I manage, followed by a laugh that’s more of a sob.

She moves then, crossing the space between us in quick, uncertain steps. I meet her halfway, and when our bodies collide in a desperate embrace, I know it—she’s real. Solid. Alive. The feel of her arms around me—thinner than I remember but strong—breaks something open inside me.

“I looked for you,” I choke out against her shoulder. “For years.”

“I never stopped thinking about you,” she replies, her voice thick with emotion.

I pull back just enough to see her face, drinking in details I never thought I’d see again—older, harder, scarred in ways both visible and invisible, but undeniably my big sister.

“I need to get these women to safety,” she says urgently, though her hands still clutch my arms as if afraid I’ll disappear. “They’re my responsibility.”

That’s when I remember where we are, what we’re doing. The mission. I turn to Lyssa, who’s been standing back with the rest of the team, giving us space while maintaining security.

“This is my sister,” I tell her, the words still feeling surreal on my tongue. “Mari, this is?—”

The sudden burst of gunfire cuts me off. From the corridor outside comes the sound of shouting and heavy footsteps—more guards, more resistance.

“Contact!” Lyssa barks into her comm, and runs right back into the hallway, followed by Elijah and Zach.

Ariadne moves immediately after them to the door, weapon raised. “Multiple hostiles,” she reports tersely. “Heavily armed.”

The moment of reunion shatters, reality crashing back with brutal force. We’re still in the middle of a trafficking den, surrounded by enemies. Mari steps back, her expression hardening into something familiar yet strange—the look of someone who’s survived hell and will do whatever it takes to keep surviving. “All of you,” she says urgently to the other women, “get in the safe room.”

They continue to stream into it, but I push her to go with them. “You get in there, too,” I tell her, already shifting back into mission mode. “We’re getting you all out of here, but I have to help secure our exit first.”

Mari stares at me, seeing something in my face that makes her pause. “But Sunny?—”

“Please, trust me, and get in the safe room. Close it up behind you. We’ll let you know when it’s clear. But in case they past us—” I press my backup handgun into her palm.

She doesn’t even look down at it, clearly torn between following me and protecting the women in her care.

“I promise,” I tell her. “I’m coming back for you. I won’t lose you again. But you need to get in that safe room and let us do what we do best.”

Something in my voice must convince her, because she nods once, sharply. “Be careful. They won’t hesitate to kill.”

“Neither will I.” My voice is hard, but Mari seems almost relieved. She backs toward the safe room, our eyes locked until the last possible moment before she slips in. The heavy door closes with a definitive thunk , and I turn to face the battle that stands between me and keeping my promise.

I join Ariadne at the doorway. “The women are secure,” I tell her, pushing down all the emotions threatening to overwhelm me. “I’ve got left flank.”

Ariadne gives me a quick nod, and I feel a surge of gratitude for her calm efficiency. But we’re out of time. Lyssa and the others have already taken out a number of the Mancinis swarming toward the doors, but the heavy fire has forced them into a side room. I watch Ariadne execute the closest guy to us before he can even raise his weapon. The second manages to fire a burst that splinters the doorframe near her head, but she doesn’t flinch, returning fire with mechanical precision.

“Converging on your position,” Scarlett’s voice comes through our comms. “Ten seconds out.”

“Copy that,” Ariadne replies. “Lyssa and friends pinned down in a room, center of the corridor.”

And now the remaining enemies press their advantage, laying down suppressive fire that forces us back from the doorway. We pull back into the room to find cover, and then work in seamless coordination as the Mancinis push into the room, creating crossfire that leaves the remaining hostiles with nowhere to hide. When Scarlett’s team arrive seconds later, they quickly get rid of the rest.

As our backup secures the prisoner and confirms the area is clear, Ariadne turns to me. Her eyes scan over me quickly, assessing.

“You okay?” she asks quietly.

“Never better,” I reply, and it’s true. Despite the battle, I feel lighter than I have in years—like a burden I’ve carried for years has suddenly lifted.

Because it has.

I move immediately toward the safe room door, holstering my weapon. “Mari?” I call. “It’s Sunny. It’s clear now.”

There’s a moment of silence, then the sound of heavy bolts zipping back. The door opens slowly, and Mari steps out, still tense and wary until she confirms the threat is gone.

“We need to move quickly,” Ariadne says, all business. “The Mancinis will send more backup, and they could arrive any minute.”

Mari nods, turning back to the women behind her. “It’s okay,” she tells them. “These people are here to help us. We’re getting out.”

There’s disbelief on many of their faces—hope is dangerous when you’ve been captive so long. But they follow Mari’s lead, filing out of the safe room.

“Extraction route secure,” Hadria reports over the comms. “Medical team on alert at Elysium.”

“Copy that,” Lyssa responds. “We have ten civilians. Beginning evacuation now.”

The journey through the mansion and back to our convoy is blessedly uneventful. But I stay close to Mari the entire time, afraid that if I look away, she might vanish like a mirage. And in the transport vehicle heading back toward Elysium, Mari and I sit side by side, shoulders touching. Ariadne sits across from us, but I keep glancing at Mari, still making sure she’s real, that she’s here beside me after all this time.

“I still can’t believe it,” Mari says softly, echoing my thoughts. “After I tried to escape the third time, they told me you’d been killed—punishment for my disobedience. That’s when I… Well, I gave up.”

I squeeze her hand tight. “I never stopped looking for you,” I reply, my throat tight. “But just recently, the information we found…it suggested you were dead. But I couldn’t give up, not when I knew there were others…” I trail off.

Mari squeezes my hand back. “How did you find us?”

“The Styx Syndicate found you. I joined them because I was looking for you.”

Mari looks at me and then across at Ariadne curiously. “The Styx Syndicate…that’s your organization? I thought maybe you were law enforcement.”

“Oh, no,” Ariadne answers with a grim smile. “We aren’t law enforcement. Though I suppose you could say we like to enforce a law of our own in and around Chicago.”

Mari studies her with the discerning gaze I remember from childhood, then turns back to me, asking me a wordless question. I guess she must have seen the way Ariadne and I look at each other. I give Mari a little nod, and she actually smiles. “I’m glad,” she murmurs.

“Ariadne helped train me,” I tell her, because I can’t tell her everything else that Ariadne means to me right now, not in the back of this vehicle with all these other people listening.

Mari nods slowly, processing this. Then, to my surprise, she reaches across and touches Ariadne’s knee briefly. “Thank you.”

I see the surprise flash across Ariadne’s face, though she hides it quickly. We ride the rest of the way in silence, and I lay my head on Mari’s shoulder as I watch Ariadne across from us. She gives me a tiny smile, and I give one back.

We get back to Elysium and get all of the women into what Scarlett says is trauma-informed medical care. Mari insists on overseeing all of it before she’ll submit to any checkups of her own, and I stay with her. Ariadne stays close, too, and I’m grateful for her presence, though she makes sure to give us some room.

And after we’ve settled all the other women, and wait for Mari herself to be seen, we talk some more. “What happened to you?” I ask the question that’s been burning inside me. “The Syndicate had intelligence saying you were…that you died soon after being taken.”

Mari’s face darkens, her gaze dropping to her hands. “Some of us fought back at first. But they killed the most vulnerable among us when we did—to punish us, break our spirit. It didn’t take long to realize that if I didn’t behave, they would make others suffer for it. And I just couldn’t stand to think that I was causing that suffering.”

My hand tightens around hers. I haven’t let go of her since we got into the car, and now my rage simmering just beneath my skin. I want to hurt everyone who touched my sister, everyone who tried to erase her.

“But after a while,” Mari continues, “they realized I was more valuable alive than dead. I was good with the new girls—could calm them down, get them to cooperate without as much violence or drugs. So I…became a handler of sorts. I…” She trails off, and disgust crosses her face.

“You protected them,” Ariadne tells her, understanding in her voice.

Mari looks up at her. “I guess. As much as I could. I couldn’t save them, but I could…make it less terrible than what happened to me.”

“You survived,” I say fiercely. “That’s what matters.”

“Not just survived,” Ariadne adds unexpectedly. “You found a way to help others even in the worst circumstances. That takes extraordinary strength.”

Mari looks at Ariadne with surprise. “Maybe,” is all she says, and then she glances at me. “What about you?” she asks me. “After I was gone?”

I hesitate, wondering how to condense those years of grief, searching, and hardship into words my sister can handle right now.

“I was angry for a long time,” I say finally. “I wanted to kill our father for what he’d done.”

“Did you?” Mari asks, her tone neutral.

“I didn’t have to. The cartel did it for me just six months after he sold you to them.”

Mari absorbs this without visible reaction, then simply nods. “Good.”

“After that, I left home. I was on my own,” I continue. “I did whatever it took to survive on the streets while I looked for you. Eventually, I found my way to the Syndicate.”

“And to Ariadne,” Mari adds, glancing between us.

“That was…more complicated,” I say with a small smile toward the woman who’s become my anchor.

Mari looks at Ariadne again. “You don’t strike me as someone who makes connections easily,” she says.

“I don’t,” Ariadne replies with unexpected honesty. “Because I was trained for years to be a weapon, not a person.”

Mari’s eyebrows raise slightly and she drops her voice, looking around warily. “By the Syndicate?”

“No. By a woman we called Grandmother. The Syndicate helped me escape her influence. I was sold to her, abused, trained until I had no thoughts of my own anymore. But now I am free,” Ariadne says simply. “And your sister has been a large part of that.”

“Can I ask...” Mari hesitates, then continues. “Did you manage to forget?”

I stay quiet, curious about Ariadne’s answer. This is something I’ve wondered about too, but never asked.

“No,” Ariadne says carefully. “I can’t forget. I want to, and I even pretended I had for a while—but that just made things worse. I know now that I’ll always carry what happened, but eventually, it will become just one part of my story, not the whole thing.”

“What helped you the most?” Mari asks quietly.

I watch Ariadne consider this, her face softening slightly as she thinks.

“Time. Learning to trust my own judgment again.” Her eyes meet mine as she adds, “And having people around me who see who I really am beneath the trauma.”

My heart swells at her words.

“It won’t necessarily be the same for you,” Ariadne continues, and I’ve never heard her sound so gentle as she comes forward to crouch down in front of Mari. “Everyone’s path is different. But there is a path.”

Mari contemplates this, then nods slowly. “I don’t know who I am without the fear anymore. It’s been so long.”

“You’ll figure it out,” I tell her with absolute conviction. “And we’ll be there, whatever you need.”

“We will,” Ariadne confirms simply. “All of us.”

The doctor finally comes to check Mari, who is by now visibly exhausted. But as she’s led away to a private room for her evaluation, she looks back at me with a flash of panic.

“I’ll be right here,” I promise. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Once Mari is out of earshot, I turn to Ariadne, the walls I’ve maintained during the mission finally crumbling. Without a word, she pulls me into an embrace, and I let the tears come, my body shaking with relief and disbelief.

“She’s alive,” I whisper against her shoulder. “All this time, she was alive.”

“And you found her,” she says simply, holding me tighter. “I’m so happy for you, Sunny.”

I pull back just enough to look at her. “ We found her. I couldn’t have done this without you—or the Syndicate.”

Before Ariadne can respond, Hadria approaches, her expression as close to relaxed as it ever gets. “Well done, both of you. The operation was a complete success. All women accounted for, minimal casualties, and we’ve captured three Mancini lieutenants for interrogation.”

“What will happen to the women we pulled out of there?” I ask anxiously.

“That’s up to them,” she says. “They will be able to make their own choices—and the de Luca network will be able to get them wherever they want to go, and support them when they get there.”

“But Mari…” I say. “She—I can’t let her—” I break off, anxiety flooding me.

Hadria puts a hand on my arm. “Like I told you, Sunny, you have a home here with us—and that extends to your sister, too.”

The word ‘us’ sends warmth through me despite my exhaustion. “Thank you,” I say, because I can’t find the words that might get anywhere near expressing my relief.

“You were part of this victory,” Hadria says. “And I’m the one who should be thanking you.” She actually gives a tiny smile before leaving us alone again. As we wait for Mari, I find myself filled with hope. Real, substantial hope, not the desperate kind that kept me searching when logic said to give up. Hope for Mari’s healing, for my future with Ariadne, for the possibility that broken things can be mended, that lost things can be found.

Ariadne is quiet beside me, lost in thought. I catch her looking at me with an expression I’m still learning to read.

“Just thinking,” she says when I raise a questioning eyebrow.

“About?”

She pauses, and I see her considering, then choosing honesty. “About how far we’ve both come. And how far we still have to go.”

I take her hand, fingers intertwining with hers in a gesture that still feels new and precious. “Like you said, we’ll figure it out together.”

A new path for both of us. For all of us.