“Leave the dying one,” the radio crackled back. “We have the woman. Fall back to the primary coordinate.”

They were leaving him behind to die in the cold.

I wanted to scream, to charge out and tear them apart with my bare hands.

But Eli was shaking in my arms, and Isabella was already gone.

I had to survive to get her back.

I waited until the heavy boots retreated up the concrete stairs.

The heavy door slammed shut once more, followed by the slide of a deadbolt.

The silence that followed was heavy and suffocating.

I crawled back out of the pipe, my knees sinking into the freezing slush.

I rushed to Luca’s side and knelt in the mud.

His face was pale, his skin clammy to the touch.

“Luca,” I whispered, lifting his head.

“Still… breathing,” he croaked, his teeth stained with blood. “Go. They have… Isabella.”

“I’m not leaving you to freeze,” I said.

I dragged him into the recess of the maintenance pipe, hiding him beneath a pile of discarded canvas tarps.