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She looks at me, eyes wide, lips parted. “This is why—” I nod tightly, and I hate that she’s crying again, but I can only hope they’re happy tears. She kisses me, arms around my shoulders. “I love you. I love you so much. I always have.”

The confession has something taking flight inside me. I return the kiss, and I hold her to me—the only woman I’ve ever loved. The only one I felt worthy enough to love. Who made me realize it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if someone as good as her loved me back.

That maybe I wouldn’t fail her.

Maybe I could do right by her.

Maybe we all could.

She whispers she loves me, over and over, and I say the same.

And I’ll say it every day for the rest of my life.

Chapter 29

Zayden

Aslow drip hammers against my brain, the sound drawing me out of darkness. My head is bowed, my breathing slow, and I open my eyes slightly, but even the shadowed room feels too bright. I close them again, counting slowly, then open, close, open, close, repeating the motion until my vision adjusts and the thud in my head becomes somewhat bearable.

I try to shift my shoulders, but my hands are cuffed behind my back, arms threaded through the wooden slats of a chair, which means escaping it’s going to be a real bitch.

I’m underground. A basement, maybe, but if it is, it hasn’t been used in a while. The floor is uneven cement, puddles dotted about, the drip that woke me coming from the far side of the room. A pipe, or a leak from outside, maybe. The room is fairly large, a set of wooden stairs to my left, some sodden cardboard boxes to my right. It’s freezing, and I’m barefoot, still in my jeans and T-shirt from the house.

I grit my teeth against the reminder of how I ended up here. The world collapsing around me, the heat, the noise, the smoke and debris. I had tried to get to the second floor—tried to get to her—but couldn’t. Buried beneath rubble, I could hear Yale and Bullet, but my body wouldn’t let me do anything other than listen.

Once the sound cannon went off, I passed out. I can only guess that Ryker found me and brought me here.

Xavier was with Silence. He’ll have gotten her out. Unless they’re still in the panic room, but he knows to keep moving. Yale does, too.

A door opens at the top of the stairs, and a man comes into view, around my age, light hair cut short. He’s clean shaven and in dirty jeans and a thick sweater.

Ryker.

My memory of him is warped from what I now know, and it’s jarring to see him looking so … approachable. The kind of guy you’d smile at if he passed you in the street.

“You’re up,” he says simply, not looking at me, instead searching for something on the far side of the room. He lifts an old tape player from a plastic box and walks over to me, placing the device at his feet, a good six feet from the chair I’m in. “Nice to meet you, Zayden Silver.” I say nothing. He can’t use my words against me if I don’t say a fucking thing. He smiles. “Always in survival mode, eh?” I track him as he goes to the other side of the room and finds a second chair, dragging it behind him. The noise claws at my brain, at a concussion that is probably one for the fucking books, but I hide my wince.

He places the chair by the tape player and sits.

“Do you know how long I looked for you? For all of you? It was like whack-a-mole. You’d pop up, or one of your victims would, and I’d get there and …” He clicks his fingers. “Gone. But when I finally fucking found you, you got me a gift, didn’t you? Our beautiful girl.” My fingers curl into my palms, but I remain expressionless. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pair of white, silk panties. A small, gold crown is embroidered on the front, and I know that because I bought them for Silence.

“Are you crowning my pussy?”

“These are my favorite.” He lifts them, the garment dangling from his finger. “Pretty, right?” He presses them to his face and inhales, closing his eyes.

A flash of heat has me gripping my fingers so hard my knuckles crack. “I’m going to cut you in fucking half.”

“No, you won’t, because you’re handcuffed to a fucking chair. You have no power here, Z. You give me what I want, or I take it. And if I take it, I’ll destroy it at the same time, and you don’t want that.” He pauses, his breathing picking up. “You owe me.”

Disgust curls my lip. “Why? ’Cos I killed your brother? He’s one of fucking many.”

“You wanna do this the hard way? Fine.” He takes his phone out, resting Silence’s underwear on his thigh again, and dials. He puts it on speaker, running his fingertip over the crotch of the panties as he waits. The call connects, but no one speaks. “Silence? Is that you?”

“What do you want?” she asks, and I relax at the sound of her voice. She’s okay, at least, and hopefully far away from here.

Ryker smiles. “One of two things. You or the business. It’s really up to you which I get.”

“How about neither, fuck face?” Xavier says, and my lips twitch into a smile.