Page 91 of Claimed By the Damned

The room falls silent, the devastating weight of what we just witness settling over us. Lila isn't just missing; she's in the hands of the one man we fear most.

Bastian’s eyes flick to the timestamp on the CCTV footage. “This was hours ago,” he states, his voice grim. "She’s probably already at his home. Deep inside his territory.”

“Okay,” Bastian says, his voice dangerously calm as he pulls the schematics for Kolya’s estate onto the main screen, the image ofthe fortress-like compound filling our vision. “The plan changes. This is no longer a search. It’s an extraction from hostile territory. We’re behind, and every second counts.”

My heart pounds against my ribs. She is there, with him, and we are hours behind. The thought is a vice around my chest.

The room buzzes with a new, darker purpose. The previous urgency is still there, but now it is overlaid with a grim determination. We aren’t just chasing; we are preparing for war.

“We need to jam his security feeds before we even think about a breach,” I mutter, my fingers already tracing potential entry points on the schematic displayed before us. “Perimeter, internal sensors, backup generators… Ryker, you’ll take point on disabling their comms and any outward facing surveillance from the west approach. Grim, you and I will—”

A sharp, sudden knock echoes from the main door of the war room.

Every gun in the room is drawn in a fraction of a second, safeties clicking off as we spin towards the sound.

My pulse spikes. No one should be knocking. This is a secure location, our stronghold. No one should be here unannounced. Not without a damn good reason, or a death wish.

Bastian’s jaw is locked tight. Ryker is already moving to the side, gun aimed at the door. Grim, silent as death, positions himself near the back, his rifle steady.

I step forward, gun raised, and crack the door open just enough to get a look.

The past stares right back at me.

Theo.

My breath catches. My world tilts. My grip on the gun tightens reflexively, the cold steel a familiar anchor in a suddenly churning sea of disbelief and a betrayal so profound it steals the air from my lungs. Shock, raw and visceral, slams into me, momentarily short-circuiting thought.

Theo.The name is a brand on my soul, a constant, aching reminder of failure, of a bond shattered by his choices, by my absence. The little brother I left behind, the one I saw in mugshots, in crime reports, in my fucking nightmares, stands there like he hasn't been radio silent for years. As if he hadn't turned his back on everything we were supposed to be. As if he hadn’t just materialized out of the ghosts of my worst regrets at the exact moment my world is imploding over Lila.

I should shoot him on sight. The thought is cold, instinctive, a reaction born of years of festering anger and the immediate, desperate need to protect what’s left of my fractured world. Lila is gone, andhechooses now to reappear?

“What the hell are you doing here, Theo? I don’t have time for bullshit right now.” My voice is steel, stripped of warmth, each word laced with the ice of old wounds and fresh agony. I don’t have time for this. Not with Lila in that bastard’s hands.

He raises his hands slowly, those same piercing gray eyes—oureyes—locking onto mine. Eyes that once held shared dreams, now reflect a past I tried to outrun. “I’m not here to fight.”

“Theo.” His name tastes like ash. Like regret. Like guilt. Like every fucking mistake I’ve made since I walked out of that house all those years ago.

I hear Ryker shift behind me. “This your long-lost brother?” His voice is low, edged with surprise. He, like Bastian, knows the name, knows this is the brother I’ve carried like a stone in my gut for years.

Theo doesn’t flinch. “Yeah. And I’ve got information you need. About Kolya. About where he’s keeping Lila.”

The air in the room shifts, tension snapping like a live wire. Anger still burns in my veins, but against my will, against every instinct screaming at me to slam the door, to put a bullet in the past he represents, a desperate flicker of hope ignites. How couldheknow anything useful? This has to be a trick, another layer to this nightmare.

I press the barrel of my gun against his chest, searching for a sign of deception, for the con I’msureis coming.My hand trembles slightly, not from fear of him, but from the war raging inside me. Trust him? Trust Theo? The idea is poison. But Lila… Lila is out there. The impossible choice crystallizes: my rage versus her safety.“You’ve got five seconds to explain how you know jack shit before I put a bullet in you.”

Theo doesn’t move, doesn’t blink. “Kolya’s estate has weaknesses. I know them. I know his security, his guards, his schedules. I know where he’s keeping her. And I know how to get us in without getting killed.”

The gun feels heavy in my hand. How the hell would he know all that? Unless...

I glance back at Bastian, who meets my gaze with that unreadable expression of his.

I grab Theo by the collar and shove him back against the wall. “Why the hell should I believe a damn thing you say? How do you know any of this?”

Theo exhales, a sound heavy with resignation. "Because I worked for Kolya for years."

A beat of silence. Bastian’s head snaps up. Ryker lets out a disbelieving curse under his breath. My brother worked for Kolya? The man who tortured Lila? The man who has hernow? The words hit me like a physical blow, a fresh stab of betrayal twisting the knife of old wounds. The idea that while I was building a life, trying to do some good, my own blood was serving a monster… it’s unthinkable and truly sickening.

"I’m not proud of it," Theo continues, his voice rough, meeting my furious gaze. "But what I know can help now. I was one of his guards. I guarded Lila."

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