Previously on From Tomboy to Temptation:
Ryker and Mia's heist succeeded — but barely. The stolen data exposed parts of his uncle's empire, and for the first time, the enemy struck back personally. Kael vanished mid-operation, and Ryker's uncle made his threat clear: the war is no longer in the shadows.
---
The safehouse was gone.
The walls that once held their secrets now echoed with silence and smoke.
Ryker stood in the middle of an abandoned mechanic's garage, rainwater dripping from his jacket, his face carved in restraint. The flames from the night before had burned through his calm. Only purpose remained.
Mia watched him from the corner, wrapping a bandage around her arm. She hadn't slept — couldn't. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Kael's signal disappear from the comms, heard the static swallowing his last words.
"Any update?" she asked quietly.
Ryker didn't answer at first. He was staring at a map spread across the hood of a car, marked with circles, lines, and coordinates. His expression was unreadable.
"Nothing," he finally said. "He's off-grid. Either captured… or worse."
Mia swallowed hard. "Don't say that."
He looked up, meeting her eyes. "We have to prepare for both."
The bluntness of his tone hit her like a slap. But she knew — that was how Ryker processed fear: by burying it under logic.
"You think your uncle has him," she said.
Ryker nodded slightly. "He's bait. He knows I'll come for him."
Mia crossed her arms. "And you will."
He hesitated. "If I go now, it's suicide."
"Then we don't go unprepared," she countered. "We find where he's keeping Kael, and we make sure he never sees us coming."
He stared at her, the faintest glimmer of admiration breaking through his grim focus. "You talk like you've done this before."
"Maybe I've just been paying attention," she said softly.
For a heartbeat, the tension shifted — not from anger or fear, but something deeper. They'd crossed a line last night, and the memory of that kiss lingered like a live wire between them.
He turned away first, exhaling sharply. "We'll need new IDs. Clean transport. Somewhere we can plan without him tracking us."
Mia stepped closer, brushing her fingers over the edge of the map. "I know someone."
Ryker raised a brow. "Someone?"
She met his gaze. "An old contact from before all this. She owes me a favor — and she's good at disappearing people."
Ryker studied her for a long moment. "Can you trust her?"
Mia's jaw tightened. "We'll find out."
---
The contact's name was Sera — hacker, forger, and professional ghost. Her hideout sat buried beneath an old nightclub on the outskirts of the city, accessible only through a maintenance elevator and a code punched into an unmarked keypad.
The elevator creaked open to a world of neon light and hum of machinery. Sera looked up from her workstation, cigarette dangling from her lips, eyes bright with mischief.
"Mia Quinn," she drawled. "I thought you were dead."
"Almost," Mia said. "Can we talk?"
Sera's gaze flicked to Ryker, then back. "Depends. Who's the brooding storm cloud?"
Ryker's lip twitched. "Just someone who needs your help."
Sera smirked. "You always had a type, Mia."
"Not now, Sera," Mia muttered.
Sera laughed and gestured toward her monitors. "All right. Sit. What kind of mess are you two swimming in?"
Ryker spread the stolen drive across the table. "Encrypted data from the Valen Network. I need full access — and I need to find someone. Name's Kael Devran."
At that, Sera's easy smile faltered. "You're serious."
Mia nodded. "He's missing. Taken during a raid."
Sera tapped her keyboard, fingers flying. "If Valen's involved, you're poking at a hornet's nest with a matchstick. But…" — she grinned — "I do love fireworks."
---
Hours passed.
The base filled with the glow of monitors, files decrypting line by line.
Ryker paced behind Sera, silent but watchful. Mia leaned against a wall, exhaustion catching up to her. The hum of servers was almost soothing — until Sera's tone changed.
"Got something."
Ryker was instantly at her side. "Talk."
Sera zoomed in on a feed — a facility on the southern docks, guarded but off official records. Inside, a blurred figure was being dragged through a corridor.
Mia's hand flew to her mouth. "Kael."
Ryker's fists clenched. "How soon can we get in?"
Sera shook her head. "Not yet. You storm that place now, you'll both end up next to him. But…" — she looked at Mia — "you might have a way in."
Mia frowned. "What do you mean?"
"You used to run courier work, right? Before all this?"
"Yeah."
Sera brought up a document — a list of personnel. "They're hiring couriers. Under different aliases, but you match one of their old records. If you go in posing as a delivery contractor, I can forge clearance."
Ryker's eyes snapped to hers. "No."
Mia turned. "Ryker—"
"It's too dangerous."
She stepped forward, meeting his glare head-on. "Everything we've done has been dangerous. You said yourself we need a way in."
"I won't risk losing you too."
The raw honesty in his voice startled even him. Sera raised an eyebrow, muttering, "Yikes. Didn't see that coming."
Mia's tone softened, but her resolve didn't waver. "You won't lose me. Trust me, Ryker."
He hesitated — then nodded once, tight and reluctant. "We do this my way. You wear a tracker. Constant feed. One word from me, and you're out."
"Deal," she whispered.
---
Night fell again — cold and slick with rain.
Mia adjusted the cap of her uniform, the falsified ID badge clipped to her collar. The facility loomed ahead, steel and silence.
"Comms check," Ryker's voice came through her earpiece.
"Loud and clear," she murmured. "Entering now."
Every step inside felt like walking into a lion's den. Guards moved methodically, scanning badges, cross-checking manifests. She kept her head down, steady and calm, while Ryker watched from a surveillance feed Sera had hacked into.
"East corridor," he instructed softly. "Third door on the left."
She turned the corner — and froze.
Through a reinforced glass wall, she saw him. Kael — battered, restrained, but alive. His eyes flicked up in shock as she appeared on the other side.
"Ryker," she whispered. "I see him."
But before Ryker could answer, a voice echoed through the intercom.
"Welcome back, Ms. Quinn."
The blood drained from her face.
Ryker's uncle stepped into view on the feed, smiling like a wolf. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice when one of my couriers suddenly came back from the dead?"
The cameras turned — all on her.
Ryker swore under his breath, slamming his fist into the console. "He knew. It's a trap."
"Get her out!" Sera shouted.
"I can't," Ryker hissed. "He's locked the feed."
Mia backed away as guards closed in, heart pounding. "Ryker—"
The comm crackled. "Hold on, I'm coming for you."
"Ryker, no—!"
Static swallowed her voice.
---
Outside, the night erupted in chaos.
Ryker sped through the streets, rain blurring his vision, fury burning behind his eyes. He'd already lost Kael once. He wouldn't lose her too.
The facility loomed ahead like a shadowed monolith. Alarms blared. Floodlights swept across the docks as he burst through the gates on a stolen motorcycle, weaving past gunfire and sirens.
Inside, Mia fought her way through narrow corridors, adrenaline and fear pushing her forward.
"Ryker!" she shouted into the comm.
"I'm inside," his voice came, rough and low. "Hold on."
She turned a corner — and froze as a gun clicked behind her.
"End of the line," one of the uncle's men growled.
Before she could react, a blur of motion slammed into him from the side. The guard dropped. Ryker stood over him, breathing hard, eyes wild.
Mia stared. "You're insane."
He managed a crooked smile. "You're welcome."
Another explosion rocked the facility — Sera's handiwork. "That's your exit!" she yelled through the comm.
Ryker grabbed Mia's hand. "Move!"
They ran, fire and smoke chasing them into the open night. Behind them, the building erupted in a pillar of flame — the kind of destruction only one message could send.
The uncle's network wasn't untouchable anymore.
---
Hours later, they stopped miles away, in an abandoned train yard. Rain still fell, soft and cold.
Mia sat on a crate, wrapping her arms around herself. Ryker stood nearby, soaked, silent.
"You shouldn't have come for me," she said quietly.
He looked at her, expression unreadable. "You think I'd let them take you?"
"I was supposed to be the decoy—"
"And I was supposed to protect you," he said sharply. "Looks like we both failed our roles."
She rose, stepping closer. "You didn't fail me, Ryker. You saved me."
The distance between them evaporated again — the kind of closeness that burned slow but bright.
"Every time I try to keep you safe," he murmured, "you end up right where the danger is."
"Maybe that's because the danger is always where you are," she whispered back.
For a second, he almost smiled. Then his gaze dropped, voice low. "Kael's still out there. And now he knows we're coming."
Mia nodded. "Then we go after him."
Ryker met her eyes — fierce, tired, but alive. "Together."
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