Begging for a Second Chance (Sienna Sloan and Jarred Sterling) novel Chapter 549

"Mr. Sterling, it's highly likely they knew we were monitoring this location. They anticipated the breach and executed a premeditated evacuation."

Declan glanced up, sneaking a look at Jarred's increasingly stormy expression. His heart pounded, but he gathered his courage to continue.

"What I don't understand is their passivity. If they were terrified of exposure, they could have intercepted us when we first scouted the mountain and locked onto the coordinates. They could have tried to negotiate. Instead, they stayed completely off the radar. It makes me think... they specifically didn't want us to uncover whatever was happening in here. Or perhaps, they know exactly who you are and are deliberately hiding something from you."

A dead silence fell over the bunker, broken only by the faint echo of their breathing.

Jarred remained wordless, his lips pressed into a grim line.

The dark clouds in his eyes thickened, as heavy and ominous as a looming midnight storm.

He walked slowly toward the back wall and leaned in.

Near the baseboard, a small patch of the wall was slightly darker than the surrounding concrete.

The edges of the stain were uneven, like the residual mark of a liquid that had seeped deep into the stone.

Crouching down, he brought his face close to the discolored patch and inhaled softly.

He smelled nothing.

But just as he started to stand, the faintest trace of a scent—almost completely dissolved in the air—drifted up from the pores of the wall.

It smelled like dried botanicals, sun-baked over years, bleeding subtly through the harsh scent of cement and lime.

Medicinal herbs?

Perhaps because of all the time he had spent with Sienna, he was hyper-sensitive to that particular scent.

Jarred froze instantly.

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