The MC President's Forsaken Wife (Zara and Knox) novel Chapter 456

Chapter 224-1

Chapter 224-1

Nov

+25 Point

Nower the phone slowly, staring at the blank screen as the silence of the penthouse crashes back

over me like a tidal wave.

For a second, I can’t move. My chest feels tight, my lungs refusing to expand fully, the raw, cold terror of the unknown wrapping Its fingers around my spine.

Then, from the private foyer down the hall, the soft chime of the keycard scanner signals that the

private elevator has reached the penthouse floor.

I let out a long, ragged breath, wiping the tear from my cheek with the back of my hand. I throw back the covers, swinging my legs out of bed.

Xena lifts her head from the foot of the mattress, her big ears flopping forward, watching me with curious dark eyes as I pull on a thick oversized sweater belonging to Locke. I’m desperate for his scent, his warmth, anything to keep him close.

I walk down the hallway, Xena at my side, my bare feet quiet against the hardwood floors, and head toward the living room. The heavy brass elevator doors slide open, and two figures step out

into the private foyer.

Jade walks with that sharp, effortless grace she always carries, a heavy leather jacket pulled over her shoulders, her eyes scanning the room out of pure, ingrained habit. Beside her, Willow unwraps a thick woolen scarf from her neck, her soft face drawn with a quiet, raw vulnerability that looks

brand new on her.

Neither of them says a word at first.

They don’t offer fake smiles, they don’t pretend this is a casual late-night visit, and they don’t try to minimize the dark, dangerous cloud hanging over us. They just step across the threshold into the warm glow of the penthouse, bringing a deep, unshakeable solidarity with them.

Willow steps forward first, wrapping her arms around me in a tight, fierce hug. I lean into her, absorbing the warmth, letting out the breath I’ve been holding since Locke hung up the phone.

“He called you?” Willow asks softly, pulling back slightly to look into my face. “He told you we were

coming?”

“Just now,” I say. “He said Vane and Grit are moving things tonight.”

“Mayhem told me that too,” Jade says, her high heeled boots clicking across the floor. “Not the chemicals, but everything else.”

“And the guys?” I ask, standing beside the kitchen island as Willow walks over to set the kettle on

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ཨཀཊ༢༽།

Chapter 724-1

the stove. “Are they all moving out already?”

1.25 Points

“They’re staging along the embankment, staking out the higher ground,” Jade says, pulling out a barstool and sitting down. “Rook and Hammer are keeping eyes on the warehouse gates. Cobra’s taking the lead rig with Mayhem, and Locke is coordinating the choke point on the iron bridge.”

Willow watches the blue flame lick the bottom of the kettle, moving with a cautious, unfamiliar slowness; there’s a faint, uncharacteristic tremor in her fingers as she adjusts the burner.

She’s completely new to all of this, swept into the orbit of a dangerous motorcycle club in a world she never asked to understand.

“I didn’t know night could feel this long,” Willow says, her back turned to us. “I’ve never… I’ve never been around anything like this before.”

I sit down beside Jade, pulling Locke’s heavy sweater tighter around my shoulders, breathing in the faint scent of cedar lingering in the wool.”

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