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I push myself to my feet. My legs nearly give out beneath me.
For a moment, I stand there swaying, pressing the back of my hand against my mouth, swallowing hard before letting it fall back to my side.
“I never intended to kill either of you, Adrian,” she chimes, almost cheery in her sadistic way. “Not after I saw what the two of you were doing to my numbers.”
She gestures lazily toward the cameras surrounding the arena.
“The views have skyrocketed; they’re the highest they’ve ever been. The money pouring into Kill Feed has practically doubled.”
Her laugh is light as she adds, “So, really, I should be thanking you.”
Thanking me? Fuck that and fuck her and the entirety of Kill Feed.
My gaze sweeps across the arena, catching on the cameras mounted throughout the walls, their lenses still glowing as they track every movement we make.
Still fucking watching.
Selene follows my gaze, her head turning slowly toward the nearest camera. “Kill Feed derailed rather spectacularly tonight, so I had to cut the signal to your watches and make a few adjustments behind the scenes. But once everything took a turn…”
She gives a small shrug. “I decided to let it play out.”
I scoff at that, staring at her. “All this for fame and glory?”
Selene chuckles. “No, darling, all this for entertainment.”
Of course, I should’ve expected as much.
Dante grunts behind me, and my head snaps back.
The fabric of his shirt is cut away. Yasmin presses gauze firmly around the arrow while Yara packs more beneath the shaft, building a brace without touching the metal itself. Once it’s stable, she wraps the bandage around his torso, securing everything in place.
“He’s stable and ready for evacuation,” Yara states, and the relief hits me so suddenly it feels like my soul has just been dropped back into my body.
I turn to face Selene again. Surely she won’t just let us ride off into the sunset together.
“I never gave you the choice to enter Kill Feed, Adrian. That was taken from you,” she finally states, focusing back on me. “So, I’m giving you one now.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I utter, teeth clenching.
“You can walk out of here,” she continues. “Scott-free. Turn your back on my whole operation and never look back.”
I glance down at Dante, then drag my eyes back to Selene, the weight between them pressing into me. “And the other option?”
Her smile returns, brighter than ever. “You stay, and become a hunter.”
The offer should feel almost insulting.
After everything I’ve endured, everything I’ve lost, she’s standing there telling me I can simply walk away, with the counteroffer being that I join her shit show?
“What’s the catch?” I ask.
“Walking away means leaving every part of Kill Feed behind,” she replies, and no elaboration is needed for me to know it means I lose Dante.
“So, what will it be, Summers?” Selene asks with all the patience in the world. “Am I walking you out, or am I giving you a mask?”
I straighten slowly, my hands tightening at my sides before I force each finger to uncurl, one by one. The choice sits heavily across my shoulders, but the weight of it doesn’t matter anymore.
Neither does the game.