The return wasn’t filled with celebration. It felt more like a funeral for the man Damon used to be.

Mara heard them before she saw them—heavy footsteps shuffling down the hall outside the apartment, accompanied by low, pained sounds. When the door opened, what she saw was like something from a dark dream.

Elias was being helped by two of Damon’s silent, serious-looking men. He was barely conscious, his face a mess of bruises and blood, and his body drooped in exhaustion and pain. A ...