The dagger was sharp, but constrained by the size of the ring, its de was small. The rope binding them, however, was thick.


    To avoid arousing the suspicion of their guards, Evangeline sawed at the rope with painstaking care, keeping her movements as subtle as possible. To an outside observer, she simply looked lost in thought.


    After what felt like an eternity, she felt the rope on her wrist go ck.


    Her eyes lit up, and she nced toward their guards. It seemed they had growncent, assuming escape was impossible. One of them was already asleep on the floor, while the other sat slumped against the door, head lolling as he drifted off. Evangeline looked up at the window. A faint light was beginning to break, suggesting it was early morning. In the dim light, she could just make out the silhouettes of mountains outside. Mountains and ake. This presented a problem. Serenity City was known for its scendscape, with plenty of mountains andkes. This clue alone was not enough to pinpoint their location. Even if she got outside, she probably wouldn''t be able to identify where she was.


    But that didn''t matter. As long as she could get a phone with a signal, sending her location would be easy. Their own phones were gone, but the guards must have theirs.


    With this in mind, Evangeline slipped the severed rope off, keeping her hands behind her back as she discreetly massaged her stiff, chafed wrists.


    "Evangeline, how did you " Poppy''s eyes widened in astonishment.


    Evangeline quickly shot her a warning look, nodding toward the dozing guard at the door.


    Poppy understood and immediately mped her mouth shut.


    Evangeline scanned the room, her gaze finally settling on a loose brick lying among the debris. She looked back at Poppy, mimed zipping her lips, then pointed to the two guards and made a sharp, chopping motion to the back of her own head.


    In her time with Finn, she had learned a few things about self-defense, including the pressure points on the human body She knew where to strike to render someone unconscious without causing permanent harm. She wasn''t sure if Poppy understood her gestures, but when Poppy nodded, Evangeline rose silently to her feet.


    *CRASH-*


    A cup shattered on the floor of the vi. Two bodyguards stood with their heads bowed, not daring to breathe as Soren''s fury radiated through the room.


    His temple throbbed. "Useless! You lose one person, and you call yourselves professionals? What do I pay you for?"


    "Why didn''t you intervene when Evangeline was taken?"


    One of the bodyguards trembled. "Mr. Fawkes, it''s not that we didn''t want to. You ordered us to monitor her without being seen. Evangeline already had protection. To avoid being discovered, we had to keep our distance. By the time we realized what was happening and got there, she was already gone. It was dark, and we were too far away..."


    Soren bit back his anger. "She had protection? Where were they?"


    The bodyguards exchanged a look. "Mr. Fawkes, just before she was


    taken there was attempron


    her Her protectors intervened and took the assants to the police station."


    Soren froze, a memory of what he had uncovered about Evangeline and Victor shing through his mind. His brow furrowed. "Who were the assants? The Lockridges'' men?"


    "No, sir."


    The bodyguard paused. "We went to the police station to find out what happened. The men were sent by Miss Yates."