Page 91 of BounBound By Scars

Seb lifted his hand.

A sharp, deliberate fist in the air.

A halt signal.

Zarek. Logan. Dylan—they all fell silent.

The meaning wasn’t lost on them.

Something unspoken passed through the room.

I watched Seb wrestle with something, some internal wall.

And then… he said it.

Just one word.

“Phantom.”

The reaction was immediate.

Zarek paled. Logan flinched. Dylan swore under his breath.

I froze. This wasn’t even Ronan’s call sign. It was ‘Viper’.

So I didn’t know what the hellPhantommeant. But they did. And they weren’t telling the rest of us.

Whatever this was—this term, this designation—it wasn’t something they wanted in circulation.

This was clearly above my paygrade.

TWENTY-TWO

Kabir

It didn’t feel right.

I shouldn’t have been alone at the Command Center.

Ever since Squad Six joined forces with Blackthorn Security all those months ago, I’d grown used to Zane’s presence—his sharp mind, his sarcasm, his silence that filled up a room more than most people’s noise ever could.

And now, without him here, the silence felt heavier. Sharper. Like it was actively working against me.

The guilt was louder than any noise could’ve been. I hadn’t found him. I hadn’t protected him. And every passing hour made that fact sit heavier on my chest.

Lia had stopped by earlier. She brought me dinner when I didn’t show up at the lounge for the team meal. I couldn’t sit and pretend things were normal. Not with Zane missing. Not with the mission hanging by a thread.

I told her I had work to do, and that wasn’t a lie. I needed to get back into the White House firewalls. I needed to try every fucking backdoor left. Because Zane wasn’t here to do it, and no one else could.

Sure, the rookies were helpful... in the way toddlers were helpful.

I was spiraling. And then I remembered something.

DaLia.

I hadn’t checked it all day. Not once. I needed to do my daily monitoring of any hits or movements tied to Squad Six or our families.

Fuck.Fuck.

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