[English] Unlocked

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She shot Trey a smile, but even that seemed to lack true joy. I wondered how much of their relationship was real and how much was simply fuelled by spite. "Unlike you, he's not afraid to be himself with me. He doesn't treat me like a child who can't handle the truth. He told me who he was, who you were, the way you all treated him, and soon it became clear that our goals overlapped. I realised what we had to do."

I glanced at Sophia, hoping the sight of her would steady me a little. She looked almost as surprised as I felt.

"Well, it looks like you succeeded," I said heavily. "You've got me. Whatever it is you want, Sophia has nothing to do with it. You can let her go now. This is between you two, me, and the group."

Sophia let out a high pitched squeal and shook her head rapidly. I loved that she wasn't willing to leave me behind, but I wasn't going to let her throw her life away for my sake. I'd cost her so much already.

"Well, isn't that touching," Liv replied, her voice dripping with scorn. "Trey told me you two had fallen hard for each other." For the first time, she turned her attention to Sophia. Walking closer, she dipped a hand under her chin, stroking it with one finger. Sophia tried to pull away, but Liv's grip closed around her face, angling her head upwards. Every fibre of my being wanted to stride over there and tear those hands away but, somehow, I restrained myself. We were still poised on a knife's edge. All I could do was watch as Liv appraised Sophia, envy and hatred blazing in her eyes. "To be honest, I'm not sure I see what all the fuss is about."

She turned back to me. "You want us to let her go? Well, that's entirely up to you. Let's see exactly how much you love her." She nodded to Trey.

"It's simple really," he said, gesturing to the Alpha computer terminal at the end of the room. "You log me into the system, we release her."

"I don't understand," I replied. "You want council access to the network?"

He grinned. "Remember what I said about thinking big? No, council access won't be enough I'm afraid. I want the main international database. My employers want access to everything."

"Your employers?"

He spread his hands. "The Syndicate. You don't think we hired all those men ourselves, do you? No, we've had a little support. Once I told them what we could bring to the table, it wasn't difficult to convince them to give me a position in their organisation. A senior position."

So The Syndicate was involved. I shook my head. The level of betrayal was beyond anything I could have imagined. Trey was quite happy to destroy the entire group, all two thousand years of history, to feed his desperate ego. And Liv, my God. I knew I'd hurt her, but I never dreamed she'd be capable of something like this. Then again, one look at her and it was clear that the woman I'd fallen in love with was nowhere in sight. All that was left was a bitter parody.

I needed to focus. Something he'd said didn't make sense. "Only the current Archon can give you that kind of access. You know that."

He gave a little laugh. "This isn't the time to play games, Sebastian. What do you think we've been doing for the last two years? We've been working out who runs the show. We couldn't see the actual orders of course, but you might be aware that Liv is a little handy with a PC. She actually managed to get a few bits of software piggybacking on your system, while you two were still together, so between that and my basic Alpha access, we've been able to build a pretty accurate picture of the way information in the group flows."

I felt a glimmer of hope, the tiniest hint of light at the end of the tunnel. "And you think it comes from me?"

Trey nodded. "Until a few weeks ago, we had it narrowed down to three. You, Simon, or Charlie. At that point we decided it was more effective to just ask. After giving the others a little more... incentive to tell the truth, they still denied it. Which just leaves you. I have to admit, I was pretty pissed off when you managed to find Sophia the first time. That set us back several weeks. Not to mention Ewan's little stunt." He gestured to the room around us and smiled. "But I guess it all worked out in the end, and that's what counts."

I let my shoulders sag a little, trying to play along. "And what do you get out of all of this?" I asked Liv.

"Oh, my aspirations aren't nearly as grand," she replied. "Revenge will do me just fine. I'm so glad it turned out to be you. We had our suspicions, even from the start, but we couldn't rely just on those. Now we get to take care of everything all at once. It's so much neater this way."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then we kill both of you, drag you over, and swipe your thumb on the scanner anyway." Her voice was ice cold.

"So why not simply do that to start with?" I asked. "Save yourself all this hassle?"

Liv's expression twisted even further. "I'd rather you were alive to watch it happen."

She'd obviously intended to sound like she was talking about the downfall of Alpha, but the way her eyes narrowed fractionally and darted to Sophia as she spoke said it was more than that. I suspected that the moment I gave them what they wanted, Liv was going to have Trey shoot her in front of me and let me watch her die. My group and my girl in one single move. The ultimate payback for the pain I'd caused her.

Judging by the expression on Sophia's face, she realised the truth as well. Whatever flimsy mask of self-control she'd been maintaining so far had crumpled. She looked absolutely terrified. My mind was madly scrabbling for a way to let her know that we weren't totally out of the game. We were only going to have a tiny window of opportunity and I needed her to be ready, but anything I said would tip our hand. And then it came to me.

"You promise you'll let her go?" I asked.

Liv smirked. "Cross my heart."

My death, on the other hand, was apparently a given, but I'd anticipated that the moment I walked through the door.

I nodded slowly and began moving over to the computer terminal. Trey followed, gun trained on my chest. "Don't try anything clever. I'm going to bring up the root Alpha portal, and you're going to swipe your thumb for access, then back away. Understand?"

"Yep."

He opened the program. "All yours."

I reached out, and then paused with my thumb over the pad. "You know this is really sweet," I said, gesturing between the two of them. "A real Cinderella story."

A look of confusion crossed both their faces, but I wasn't really paying attention to them. I was staring at Sophia. For a second, she looked perplexed too, but then her eyes lit up as she recognised the safe word she'd picked the first time we were together. Bingo. I tried to draw a line between her and the floor with my eyes, and she gave a tiny nod. It would have to be enough.

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"Whatever. Get on with it," Trey said.

I took a deep breath, and pressed down.

And the room was plunged into darkness.

There were two brief cries of surprise, and then the crack of gunfire, but I was already diving to the right. Unfortunately I wasn't fast enough. Heat exploded through my arm and I stifled a scream. It was just a graze along my bicep, but it hurt like hell, and blood was already seeping through the ragged slash in my sleeve. I forced the pain away. I couldn't think about that now. If I went down, so did Sophia, and that was not an option.

A few more bullets slammed into the darkness around me, one passing close enough that I could feel the wind of it on my face. I scuttled along the floor, fumbling blindly for the edge of the desk and pulling myself around it. I hadn't been sure it would work. I'd heard rumours about what happened when someone without authorisation tried to log into the central database, but nobody had ever been stupid enough to try. As I understood it, the whole system, lights, door locks, computers, was now locked down, and an alert had gone out over the network. In a few minutes, Alpha would be showing up here in force. Of course we still had *****rvive until they arrived.

For a moment I thought that perhaps Sophia hadn't understood my message, but a split second later there was a loud crack, the sound of wood splintering. She'd thrown herself to the ground.

"What the hell, Trey?" It was Liv's voice, and there was a tremble running through it now.

He let out a howl and fired blindly again. "We checked everyone. It had to be you. It had to!" He sounded as though he was talking mostly to himself.

There was a distant commotion outside. No doubt Trey's guards were trying to leap to his defence. But with the system down, all doors into this room had sealed themselves. They weren't getting in any time soon.

Trey had gone quiet now, apparently realising that sound was everything when you were fighting in the dark. Sophia, however, was still audible. Judging by the noise it had made, the chair had broken when she fell, but she still had to extricate herself from the remains. If I didn't distract them, it wouldn't be long before they found her.

It was incredibly disorienting being in pitch darkness. My mind's eye knew roughly where I'd landed, but with no point of reference I felt lost, like I was swimming in a sea of nothingness. I groped behind me where I thought the bookshelf should be, but all I snatched was empty air. I could still hear Sophia struggling to my right somewhere.

"Trey?" said Liv again.

"Quiet," he hissed. His voice had moved now. It was in the centre of the room. I was running out of time.

Finally, my hands found something solid, the leather spine of a book. I slipped it from the shelf as quietly as I could and then hurled it towards where I'd last heard Trey. I don't know if I struck anyone, but there were two startled screams as the book collided with something, and another bullet zinged into the furniture to my right.

I threw several more, sliding softly along the ground, never staying the same spot. Judging by the yelp of pain, at least one of my projectiles hit its mark, but it wasn't enough. At best I was just delaying them by a few moments. Trey had stopped firing now, knowing the muzzle flash gave him away. I debated simply charging the area where I'd heard him cry out, but I doubted he was staying in one place, either. All that would do is make me an easy target.

I wracked my brain for a way to locate him in the darkness. His mistake had given us a chance, but he still had the advantage. He was armed and I was wounded. Even through the endorphins flooding my brain, my arm was burning like crazy. It wouldn't kill me, but I was already feeling woozy and light-headed. I needed to end this soon.

I fumbled through my pockets looking for anything that might give me an edge. Keys, wallet, phone.

Phone.

And just like that, something clicked into place in my head.

Burying it beneath my jacket, I took a moment to steady my quivering thumb, then I swiped the screen. I had to be quick. I was shielding the light as best I could, but in the pitch darkness it could still give me away. Fortunately, on this unit I only had one number in my favourites list. Sophia's.

I mashed the call button, then locked the screen once more, stuffing it into my pocket to hide the noise. Trey had used her phone to text me just half an hour earlier. I hoped to god he was still carrying it.

After a few agonising seconds, I was rewarded with a chime just a few meters to my left. It was one of those abrasive, pre-programmed ringtones, and it sounded impossibly loud in the blackness. Someone gasped, and I prepared to charge towards the noise, but then another gunshot rang out.

For a moment, I was overcome with confusion. Trey had the only gun, and the shot hadn't come from the same place as the call sound. But then Liv spoke, and I understood.

"What?" Her voice was soft, but full of disbelief, the phone still ringing by her side. There was the sound of something heavy dropping to the floor.

Trey let out a long shriek, and the pain of it was nearly enough to pin me in place. In spite of everything they'd done to us, and the years I'd already thought her dead, I still felt a burst of anguish myself, knowing that she'd been shot. But this was my opportunity, and Sophia's life still hung in the balance. I had to act.

I launched myself into the darkness, hurling my body towards the source of the cry, praying that he was frozen in shock. My shoulder contacted something soft, and there was a grunt, and then we were tumbling to the ground. I wrestled blindly for his arm and two more shots sprayed into the darkness. The sound was loud enough to set my ear ringing. I was bigger than he was, but I was injured, and he was filled with the mad fury of a man with nothing left to lose. My wound was like fire, spreading all across my left side, as I wrestled him for control of the gun. Sophia must have removed her gag. I could hear her calling to me now, desperate and frightened, but I didn't have the oxygen to reply. Every ounce of me was going into this fight.

Somehow, I pulled myself on top of him, wrapping my hand around his fingers and twisting, sending the gun skidding off into the blackness. He clawed at me with his free arm, snarling wordlessly, but with his body beneath mine, my superior weight came into play, and I managed to keep him at bay. But it wouldn't last. I could feel myself tiring.

With one final surge of energy, I forced my way through his guard, seizing his hair and pulling it up before slamming his head back onto the floor. His body went limp.

And just like that it was over.

As the adrenaline faded, the rest of the world came back into focus. Sophia was still calling for me. "Sebastian? Please, answer me."

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"I'm okay," I replied hoarsely. "I'm okay."

She let out a little sob. "I thought he'd shot you. I didn't understand what was going on. Are they...?"

"I don't know." Dragging myself off Trey, I reached out to check his pulse. He was alive. I suspected I'd just knocked him unconscious. I turned towards where I'd heard Liv fall, searching for any sounds of life, but the darkness stayed silent. I couldn't bring myself to try and confirm it. I'd already felt her death once. "I think we're safe," I said.

"What about them?" she asked, and I realised I could still hear the faint rattling of Trey's men trying to break their way inside.

"These doors are deceptively strong. We'll be fine in here until the cavalry arrives."

I searched until I found the gun. It was unlikely Trey or Liv would trouble us again, but I wasn't taking any chances.

By the time I reached her, Sophia had shed the rest of her bonds. She was shivering and, as she burrowed into me, I ran my hand up and down her arm, despite knowing it wasn't the cold that chilled her.

"What happened there?" she asked. "With the lights I mean? One moment I was sure we were dead, the next you were signalling at me, and then everything just went crazy."

"They had the wrong guy."

"So you're not the leader?"

I shook my head. "Nope."

She actually laughed. It was a tiny sound, but glorious too, and it seemed to release something inside me. "Then who the hell is it? Because I have to say, I was pretty sure it was you, too."

At that moment, there were several gunshots outside. Sophia tensed.

"It's okay. That'll be the good guys."

The door opened, and in stepped Joe, flanked by several guards.

"Well, aren't you two a sight?" he said.

It took her a few moments to understand. "No. Way. You're in charge?"

Joe grinned in amusement. "That's perfectly ridiculous, Sophia. After all, I'm just a driver."

But she wasn't having any of it. She turned to me. "Does that make you second in charge?"

"What happened to letting me keep some secrets?" I replied, but I kept my voice light. There was little reason to hide anything at this point.

Soon, the room was swarming with people. Once it had become clear how stacked the odds were, The Syndicate soldiers outside had thrown down their weapons and surrendered. We hadn't lost a single man.

Trey was still out cold, but nonetheless his stretcher was escorted out by an entire team of our best guys. I wasn't sure what exactly would become of him, but I was certain it wouldn't be pleasant. In our laws, the only crime worse than trying to kill a fellow brother is trying to hurt the group itself, and he'd committed both to extreme levels.

Liv, on the other hand, wouldn't have the chance to be punished. Trey's bullet had taken her through the neck, nicking an artery, and she'd bled out, there in the dark. I couldn't even stomach to look at her body. My mind was still reeling from discovering she was alive. Dealing with her death for a second time was the last thing I needed.

At some point, while everything was being dealt with, Sophia slipped away. I found her sitting on alone, on a stool, in the crumbling old bar at the front of the complex.

"This is where it all started," she said as I approached. "If I hadn't snuck through the door that night, all of this would have played out differently."

I nodded. I'd never believed much in fate or destiny. The idea of having no control over my life terrifies me to my core. But it was hard not to feel the divine hand of providence in all of this. How else could I have found the soul that so perfectly matched my own? The person that healed the wounds I'd thought were beyond repair?

"Do you regret it?" I asked. "That night?"

One side of her mouth curled up. "Not even for a second."

Part of me thought that made her crazy, but it was exactly what I needed to hear. I pulled up a stool and joined her.

"Is it over then?" she asked.

"I'm almost scared to say yes, but I think, this time, it actually is. We still have a lot of cleaning up to do. I expect once Trey tells us what we need to know, the group will be moving against The Syndicate ASAP. It will be messy, but it needs to be done. With any luck, things will be back to normal in a few weeks."

She nodded, and for about thirty seconds we sat in silence. "I'm sorry about Liv," she said eventually.

I exhaled slowly. "Now that was a surprise."

She reached out and took my hand. "Are you okay?"

I didn't answer straight away. After all of the betrayal and deception, and with all of the hurdles still to come, I felt like I mostly definitely should not be okay. But sitting there, with her fingers laced through mine, the worst of our problems finally in the rear view mirror, all I felt was a strange sense of contentment.

"You know, I actually am."

EPILOGUE

Sophia

The period after it was all over was a bit of a blur. Having learned my lesson, I stayed close to Sebastian for a few days, making sure all the loose ends were tied up.

When we were confident it was well and truly over, Sebastian moved back into his apartment and I went with him. He'd organised a crew to come through and fix the damage to my place, but I wasn't ready to go back there yet. Maybe I never would be. Sleeping alone still held a lot of terrors for me. I doubted I'd fully get over my experiences for some time.

Surprisingly, it was kind of difficult to adjust to a normal life again. After the constant adrenaline, the daily grind felt a little muted, a little dull. I wasn't stupid enough to actually miss all the peril and the betrayal and the men with guns, but there was a certain mystique to having been involved in that clandestine world that, in retrospect, I could almost romanticise.

Despite the fact that we were living together, Sebastian and I didn't get much time alone for the next few weeks. The Alpha Group was in turmoil over everything that had happened, and there was an awful lot of cleaning up to do. I missed him. After everything we'd been through together, that powerful sense of 'us versus the world', it felt strange *****ddenly be apart once more. But I tried to use that time to focus on getting back into my old rhythm. My boss was pleased to have me back, and I assured him that this time it was for good. A few days later, the promotion he'd hinted at officially came through, and I became a senior associate. There was something extra satisfying about the idea of not just being promoted, but stepping into Jennifer's shoes. I had no doubt I'd be up to the task.

I even managed to fit in a little pre-hens night with the girls, which left me with a headache to rival anything Trey had injected me with.

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"I knew that skank had to have a secret!" said Ruth, when I filled her in on what had happened with Jennifer.

"Yeah, talk about sleeping your way to the top," agreed Lou.

"The worst part is that it was with Alan," I said, suppressing a shudder. "No promotion under the sun is worth that."

"Well, I'm glad things are back on track," said Lou.

Ruth's smile turned playful. "Speaking of back on track, you hinted on the phone that ***-On-Legs had a change of heart too."

I grinned at the nickname. "It looks that way."'

"Well, that's awesome," she replied. "If any other woman is going to have him, I'm glad it's you."

"You never had him at all!"

Her smile widened and she tapped the side of her head. "Up here I did."

I laughed. "I choose to take that as a compliment."

"And so you should. Just don't go getting any ideas about diamond rings and screaming toddlers, like this one here," she said, nodding to Lou, "or I may have to disown you both."

"Oh don't be so dramatic," replied Lou. "Once Soph squeezes one or two out and settles down in the burbs, you can come around on Fridays and play charades with us!"

Ruth's face twisted in mock horror.

"I'm not sure there will be much settling in our immediate future," I told them. "After all, I have a partnership ladder to climb."

In truth, I had been feeling a little uncertain about the future, but not for that reason. It was one thing Sebastian and I had yet to talk about. The events of the last few weeks had shown the depth of his feelings for me, and I returned them just as strongly. But now that things were returning to normal, and the adrenaline was fading, the reality of that commitment was sinking in. For better or for worse I'd fallen for a man with some rather unique obligations, and I didn't know exactly what they meant for us. I had no objections about the way our life was now; in fact, it felt a little like I was living in some kind of dream, but was that going to be our life forever? Were the things Ruth joked about permanently out of reach?

All I knew was that I loved him and wanted to be with him, and I figured we'd work it out as we went along.

A week or so later, Sebastian surprised me with another trip to Mi Casa. It was every bit as warm and welcoming as I remembered, with several waiters I only dimly recognised welcoming me like an old friend. The food was incredible again, and since I knew what was coming, I buzzed with anticipation for the entire meal.

As the plates were cleared, and the music started, Sebastian stood and held out his hand. "May I have this dance, my lady?"

This time there was no hesitation. "Certainly, sir," I replied with a giggle.

We danced for what felt like hours, our bodies slowly igniting each other with sensuous rhythm. I half expected him to pull me aside again, to relieve the tension, but much to my disappointment, he restrained himself.

Eventually, he guided me to the edge of the crowd, and then towards the door. I didn't have to ask where we were going.

It was much warmer outside than the last time he'd brought me here, and even up on the headland, utterly exposed to the elements, there was only a soft sea breeze. We settled on the grass, just a few metres from the cliff's edge, and nestled against one another, gazing out over the dark water.

"This really is a spectacular view," I said.

He nodded, but didn't reply, his brow slightly furrowed in contemplation.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

He blinked several times, then turned to me, his lips curling into a smile. "Everything is perfect." He planted a kiss on the top of my head. "I do want to talk to you about something, though."

"Oh? Let me guess. Thomas has gone rogue and is hunting us even as we speak!"

He laughed. "Not quite." His expression slipped to something that almost looked like nervousness. "I was hoping you'd like to make our living arrangement permanent."

"For real?" We basically were already living together, but nonetheless, the formal acknowledgement was a big step.

"For real," he confirmed. "I love knowing that I've got you to come home to every night. I want to know that I've got that forever."

The word 'forever' sent a warm tingle rolling through my chest. "You make me sound like a kept women," I replied. "What about the nights where I come home to you?" I was going for a little sass, but it was somewhat ruined by the sickly sweet smile I couldn't seem to wipe off my face.

He chuckled. "I love those, too."

I made him sweat it for a few seconds, but the truth was he'd had me from the moment he opened his mouth. Hell, he'd had me almost from the moment we met. There was no want left in our relationship now, only need. I needed him like I needed air, and I couldn't imagine going home to a house without him either.

"Of course I'll move in with you."

He let out a long breath and his face lit up like a Christmas tree. "That's what I wanted to hear."

"Although I have to say, Ruth's probably going to have an aneurysm. I'm the last domino standing, and I have no doubt she'll see this as a sign that the end is nigh."

"The end?"

"You know, marriage, kids, impractically fluffy pets. To Ruth that stuff is the end."

He laughed. "I see."

"No pressure from me — these hips won't be passing any little bundles of terror for at least a few more years — but if you plan any more big changes, give me a little notice so I can ease her into the transition, okay?"

His expression lost a little of its amusement. "Well actually, there is one other thing I wanted to mention."

"Oh?" I said cautiously.

There was a long pause. "I quit."

Something shifted in my stomach. "Quit? What do you mean quit? I thought that wasn't allowed."

"Well, maybe that's not quite the right word. Rather, I asked Joe to fire me."

"He can do that?"

Sebastian shrugged. "He's in charge. He can pretty much do what he wants. Call it a perk of knowing the boss."

"And he was okay with it?"

Sebastian gave a surprised little smile. "Yeah. He actually seemed happy to do it."

I shook my head slowly, trying to come to grips with what he was saying. I couldn't deny that the idea of having Sebastian all to myself filled me with joy, but I didn't want that at the expense of his happiness. "Wow. I appreciate the gesture, Sebastian, but are you sure? I mean, we're doing okay now, aren't we? Things don't need to change."

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"I'm not worried about the ninety nine percent of the time things are going fine," he said. "I'm worried about the one percent that they're not." There was pain on his face now. "Everything that happened recently has made me realise a few things. I'm not sure I'll ever trust the group like I used to. Those men are my friends, and they'll remain that way, but they also swim in dangerous waters. You know that as well as anyone." He took one of my hands in his and raised it to his mouth, brushing soft kisses across each knuckle. "Maybe nothing like that will ever happen again. But I'm not willing to risk it. I'm not willing to risk you."

The look on his face, the fierceness, the fire, the love, it rippled through me. But still, this felt like too much. "I don't know, Sebastian. I mean, this is who you are, this is what you do. It may not make for an ideal relationship, but we can make it work. I never expected you to give up your life for me."

"This isn't me giving up my life, Sophia," he said. "This is me beginning it."

I could only shake my head and grin like an idiot as my heart melted into a puddle in my chest. "Well, how can a girl argue with that?"

He pulled me in for a kiss and, for a while, I lost myself in his lips. There was a strange sensation blossoming in my chest, one that took some time for me to recognise. Hope.

He was right.

Everything was perfect.