Page 93 of Thunder's Reckoning

Three more raps followed, quicker, urgent. Then a voice.

“It’s me. Leena.”

My chest cinched tight.

Miriam raised her brows. “Who?”

I swallowed hard. “She’s… someone that works with Zeke.” My voice went flat, dread coiling tight.

“What the heck does she want here?”

As if she’d heard us, Leena’s voice cracked through the wood again, high and trembling. “Sable, please. I need to talk to you.”

Every muscle in my body went rigid.

“I don’t think so,” Miriam muttered, rising to her feet.

Leena’s tone shifted—faster, desperate. “It’s about Thunder. I love him. I know what he’s told you, but he and I—he’s still sleeping with me. I have proof. If you open the door, I can show you.”

My breath hitched. The words cut deeper than I wanted to admit.

Miriam spun, her eyes narrowing like knives. “Don’t you dare believe that girl. I don’t know her, but I know poison when I hear it.”

But Leena pushed harder, voice breaking. “Please, Sable. Don’t let him keep lying to you. Just let me show you—”

Miriam stepped closer, her body between me and the door. “This ain’t right,” she hissed. “Somethin’s off. I feel it in my bones.”

But doubt was already there, burrowed deep. I remembered her, bright hair, the way she’d sat on his lap. The image roared back, stabbing and cruel, and for one terrible second, I believed her.

My hand moved to the lock.

The latch clicked.

And there she stood. Leena. Her face streaked with tears, her hair wild like she’d run all night. She shoved her phone toward me. “The proof is here. From his office a few nights ago. Do you want to see?”

“You’re lyin’,” Miriam spat, her eyes raking over Leena. “My boy wouldn’t do what you’re accusin’ him of. You ain’t nothin’ but the past.”

And then the sound split the night.

Zara’s cry.

High, startled, edged enough to slice bone.

“Get off me!” Malik’s voice roared a second later, ragged and furious.

The blood drained from my face. Miriam’s eyes went wide, then hardened to steel.

“They’re here.”

Boots thundered against the boards, shadows filling the room. Broad shoulders. Cold eyes. Guns. I knew them at a glance, the kind trained in fire and obedience. Gabrial’s men.

Everything in me turned to ice.

Miriam shoved me toward the porch, her voice a roar. “Run, Sable!”

But I couldn’t run. My babies were screaming.

I bolted the other way, back inside, toward the stairs.