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She stays quiet.

“Let me help you back to bed,” I tell her.

“You can walk with me.” She stands and tests her ankle. “I can manage the stairs.”

We reach the hallway before my phone vibrates. Drew’s name appears on the screen. I answer while Cassie waits beside me.

“I found the purchase,” he says. His voice is rough with fatigue. “The investigator identified the accelerant, and I found a matching transaction at a supply store outside Aldermere.”

“Tell me about the payment.”

Cassie looks up at me. I put the phone on speaker.

“The card is connected to VHL,” Drew says. “Vintner Hospitality Logistics paid for the accelerant used to set the stable fire.”

18

CASSIE

Morning light reaches across Andrei’s bedroom and stops at the foot of the bed, where Murphy has claimed the blanket. He opens one eye when I move, then closes it again. My ankle aches beneath the pillow propping it up, and the dressing on my forearm catches against the sheet when I reach for my phone.

I sit up hoping for a message from Connor but knowing there won’t be one. I check anyway.

Andrei is asleep beside me, one arm stretched above his head. Sleeping, his face loses the guarded expression he wore while telling me about Misha and the men who came to his family’s house. Last night I heard him play the piano his mother bought, then listened as he explained why the coin outside the stable worried him. He gave me more of himself than he has before.

Still, he refused to answer whether he has killed anyone.

I put the phone face down on the bedside table. The question remains between us, even after he held me and promised he wouldn’t lie. I chose to stay with him last night, and I would choose it again. That doesn’t make the answer matter less this morning.

Andrei wakes when I ease my leg off the pillow. His hand closes around mine before his eyes fully open.

“Is your ankle worse?” His voice is rough with sleep.

“It’s sore.” I flex my foot beneath the blanket. “I was going to find coffee, assuming Murphy hasn’t already demanded breakfast from someone.”

“He has.” Andrei glances toward the cat. “Sofia came in half an hour ago. Murphy followed her downstairs and returned after he ate.”

“He left me asleep through breakfast?” I ask. “His loyalty has limits.”

A faint smile changes Andrei’s face. He brings my hand to his mouth and kisses my knuckles, then notices the phone beside the bed.

“No news?”

“Not yet.”

He sits up, and the smile disappears. I hate that a question about my brother can take us from this room back to everything waiting outside it. I hate more that I can’t stop asking.

“Drew sent a message while you were asleep.” Andrei reaches for the water glass on his side of the bed and passes it to me. “The person who bought the accelerant used a card tied to VHL, the same company Connor was investigating.”

I take a drink, then hand the glass back.

“Drew asked the store to preserve the security footage,” he continues, “but the image he has so far doesn’t identify the buyer.”

Before I can respond, my phone rings. Linda’s name appears on the screen.

I answer with my heart already pounding. “Have you heard from Connor?”

“No, Cassie.” Her voice is low, with office noise in the background. “I’m sorry to call so early, but I wanted you to hear this from me directly. Rick didn’t come in today.”