𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄

ᴏɴᴇ ʜᴜɴᴅʀᴇᴅ ᴛʜɪʀᴛʏ-ꜰɪᴠᴇ

𝗘den glared at the passenger sharing leg space with her as the helicopter made its final circle around their destination. Legs crossed and continuously bumping into him, blonde curls flowing in the man-made wind, Eden's presence was virtually ignored by her boss.

The man in charge of her actions and her sanctions was formidable, strong, and talented. Emmet Torres was rough around the edges and poisonous in his center, yet when he arrived at their care facility to take them on this trip, she couldn't wrap her head around his decision. Every order he'd given her was laced and cut-throat—to the bone, it was perfection.

Until this one.

She didn't understand why he didn't shoot her in the fucking face.

Blaine squeezed her hand, his seat perched next to hers, his fingers interlocked since they took off into the air space. He knew she was overthinking, but she didn't care. Caycee sat on her left side, her shoulder tapping against hers with each turn of the mighty engine. She was a lot like Blaine—an unnecessary outside force, but unlike him, her convictions and thoughts toward the target were ideal in the situation that presented itself.

Kaedyn Alveréz and Rueben had been notified of her involvement, and Emmet had made them pretend that she was missing or he would kill her. She was a double meaning sitting in a blood bath didn't have her name on it, and Eden couldn't wrap her head around it.

Beau Torres sat next to his father with his back turned toward him. His face was hidden under his sand scarf as he stared out the open doors of the helicopter, clearly unhappy to have been forced on this mission. Eden had argued vigorously that a child had no business in this case, but Emmet overruled her and admitted that it was the perfect opportunity for his son to learn about traitors.

Eden shuddered a breath, pulling up her own sand scarf and tightening the knot on the back of her head. The helicopter found its trajectory amongst the longitudes and latitudes of the arduous Sahara Desert. Golden sand flung from the force of the choppers, but Emmet and Beau wasted no time escaping the hatch and beckoning her group to join after.

She stumbled in the sand, righted by Blaine, and found her place beside Emmet. He glared at his watch, almost as if this meeting was too good for him as if it took too much of his precious time. Seconds later, three men dressed in all black with ski masks escorted the traitor from the back of the helicopter and flung him to a depleted pile a few yards from their feet.

Eden beheld her cousin with unkind eyes as he found some balance and rose to his knees. His hands were tied behind his back, his wrists dripping blood from the unhealed skinning Kai had performed on him after what he'd done to Mason. He had undergone as many surgeries as a bomb survivor, but the only one that mattered was the one that reattached his tongue in his mouth.

She wondered if he knew what was coming for him.

She wondered if he knew what it meant to be under the thumb of the most powerful man in all of Western America and Spain.