Within moments, Miguel was assisted aboard the helicopter. The helicopter ascended, its rotors churning snow into a violent whirlwind before the machine vanished into the darkness.
Silence reclaimed the world, moonlight stretching elongated shadows across the frozen landscape.
“Elliana, are we truly allowing that monster to escape?” Adah asked, her eyes tracking the empty sky.
“Wasn’t that dangerously reckless?”
An enigmatic smile ghosted across Elliana’s lips.
“He is wounded by me, reduced to a shadow of his previous self. What danger can a shattered man possibly present?” Her words suspended themselves in the frigid air, heavy with unspoken implications.
Cole’s eyes widened as comprehension struck.
“Elliana, what have you done to him?”
Elliana responded, a predatory gleam illuminating her eyes.
“Miguel takes pleasure in transforming people into his obedient puppets with AI chips, doesn’t he? I merely offered him a generous serving of his own poison.”
Adah’s jaw went slack.
“Wait—you injected him with an AI chip?”
“Precisely,” Elliana confirmed.
“The kick served as misdirection. And that patronizing pat on the head… it provided perfect cover to inject him with something I engineered myself.” Triumph curved her lips upward.
“My chip surpasses anything the Evernight Alliance has ever conceived. Miguel answers to me now. With nothing more than an order, I can reduce him to an obedient dog at my feet.”
“Ha-ha! Elliana, you’re absolutely brilliant! Who could resist your magnetic charm?” Adah threw her arms around Elliana, planting an enthusiastic kiss on her cheek.
“If I’d been born a man, I would’ve married you in a heartbeat!”
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The rest of their group chuckled at the exuberant display, but Cole’s expression transformed instantly into something thunderous, darker than the night pressing around them.
Moving before anyone could anticipate it, Cole roughly wrenched Adah away and dragged Elliana possessively into his embrace. He fixed Adah with a lethal glare.
“Back off!” he growled.
“If you’re searching for a girlfriend, pursue someone else. Stop setting your sights on my wife.”
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