The crunching of the sedan's tires against the gravel driveway was disconcertingly loud as they rolled towards Tristan Vargas' mansion. Flynn drove to the left of the brightly-lit building, parking the sedan at the back of a darkened lot that was filled with Teslas and Ferraris, and more than a few limousines.

"Wait," Kieran said, as Mistral moved to open her door. A moment later, two figures walked into sight.

"That's Sean Wilde and Francesca," Aidan hissed furiously. "Why didn't you tell us they'd accompanied Raven?"

Kieran waved a dismissive hand. "You don't need to worry; they'll be taken care of. Watch." He tilted his chin to where Sean and Francesca were stepping into the limousine that was parked directly in front of theirs--Amber Chase's--and glanced down to tap out several commands into his cell phone.

The lights within the limousine, which has turned on briefly, now flickered off. Kieran couldn't make out what was going on behind the tinted windows of the limousine, but he didn't need to to know that Sean and Francesca would be scrambling frantically for a way to escape. Not that they'd find one.

"What did you do?" Aidan asked, at the same moment that Veronique chuckled.

"Clever," she murmured.

"I hacked into the car's artificial intelligence system and initiated a full lockdown." Kieran glanced at his watch. "Flynn, Aidan and Mistral, you have two minutes and thirteen seconds to position yourselves."

Without another word, the three exited the sedan. Kieran watched as Mistral strode across the parking lot to lie in wait for Amber Chase, her black bodysuit camouflaging in the shadows between a Lamborghini and a Porsche. Flynn and Aidan sauntered towards the mansion, Aidan leaning against the wall in such a way that he was hidden from view by passersby until they rounded the corner. Flynn, meanwhile, continued around the corner and disappeared from view.

"I wondered what you were doing," Veronique said, nodding to Kieran's phone. "I suppose you also looped all of the cameras that are facing this direction?"

Kieran nodded shortly, leaning slightly forward in his seat to watch as Amber Chase rounded the corner of the mansion. She nodded to Aidan, who had somehow procured a cigarette, and lifted a lighter to its tip as he nodded genially back. Inwardly, Kieran laughed; he knew his twin would never allow the cigarette to actually catch light, as Aidan couldn't stand the scent of burning tobacco.

Amber Chase lifted the skirt of her simple black gown with one hand as she entered the parking lot, navigating the gravel beneath her high-heeled feet with a careful, practiced, gait. Kieran sat back against his seat, watching soundlessly as Amber approached the place where Mistral was lying in wait. He could hear Veronique breathing beside him, her inhales too deep and even to be anything but patently fake.

The blur that was Mistral leaped from the shadows, all black curves and bronze limbs, and Kieran's adrenaline levels spiked annoyingly as Amber Chase whipped instinctively around to meet her attacker. Amber Chase was skilled and experienced, with years of knowledge at her disposal, but her ankle-length dress and four-inch, or so Kieran estimated, heels placed her at a direct disadvantage. Meanwhile, Mistral had the advantages of stealth and youth on her side, and her arms and legs remained completely unhindered by the material of her bodysuit.

Limbs clashed in the dim light, and Kieran had to admit that Amber Chase was indeed holding her own, uneven gravel beneath heeled feet and all. She braced one hand on the hood of a yellow Maserati for balance as her leg extended outwards, the wedge of her heel speckled with sinister silver studs. Mistral turned sideways, her outstretched arm batting Amber's leg back down to the ground.

Amber recovered quickly, moving backwards toward her limousine in an attempt to escape that Kieran had ensured would be futile.

Then, the doors of the limousine opened.

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A/N:

Another cliffhanger, darlings, and this one more suspenseful than the last! How you must hate me ;D but we all know that hate and love are very similar emotions, so be sure to vote and/or comment your thoughts! Have a wonderful rest of your day/night and I'll see you all next week ^^;