Page 178 of Crave

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My heart bucked against the stillness. Just once.

The man behind me didn’t speak again. He didn’t have to.

The programming did the rest.

I could feel the darkness rising to swallow me whole.

Then—

A voice.

Crackling. Distant. Male.

“…Silas. We have her.”

And then, through the haze of my failing consciousness—I heard his voice.

Silas.

Feral. Furious. Unhinged.

“Who the fuck is this?”

But I couldn’t answer.

My body had already given in.

The monster leaned in, his mouth at my ear.

“You were always ours.”

The last thing I felt was his breath against my skin—cold and calm and final.

And then nothing.

Chapter Forty

SILAS

The momentthe line went dead, I knew.

Not just that we were too late.

But that whatever had taken her—wasn’t coming to negotiate.

It was coming to finish what it started.

Blood. Smoke. Silence.

Then the storm broke.

I didn’t need confirmation. I didn’t need coordinates or names or witnesses.

They had her.

Deep down in my gut I knew they had Gabe.

They had to.

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