CHAPTER 23

The phone slipped from my hand, and I barely caught it in time, as the words echoed in my head, my heart racing. We know where you are.

Julian's voice finally broke through my daze, urgent and low. "Skylar, what's going on? Who was that?"

I turned to him, struggling to form words, but everything in me screamed run. "My uncle… they've found us," I managed to choke out.

"What?" Julian's eyes were wide in disbelief. He stepped forward, grasping my arm, his grip tight with urgency. "We need to go, now."

I nodded, my breath catching in quick gasps. I didn't have to think twice. "Let's move.

We quickly fled the room, Julian in the lead. The tension in his body spoke a thousand words of the weight this very moment held within its belly. Every creak of the floorboard, every shadow in the corner of my eye, was a threat.

Then, out of nowhere, the silence was shattered by a blast of gunfire.