"What??" I ask. "Wha- what is that?"

Kieran hands me the paper and photos and grabs his keys from a nearby shelf.

The Polaroids show a woman with dark hair and eyes, huddled in a corner with her hands and feet bound. She looks like she's in her fifties. She's wearing a beige cardigan and matching top and her hair is tied up in a bun. Her smeared eye makeup and scared expression make my stomach drop.

The paper has a message scrawled in black marker:

Your girl for my girl. You have 3 days. Call me when you're ready.

It's Victor's handwriting. He didn't sign it, but he didn't have to. He knew that Kieran would know who it was from.

"We have to go," Kieran says, taking the papers back and heading out the door. "Now."

He strides toward his car like he's about to burn the world down, but I catch up to him and tug at his shirt. He swivels on his back foot and stares me down. His brows are pinched and his jaw is clenched. To most people, he would look angry, but I can sense everything beneath the surface: he's terrified.

"We have to go to Zane's. Now. He'll... or maybe Finn or... someone will know what to do."

"Okay, but you're not driving," I say, taking the keys from his hand. He looks at his empty palm for a moment, then his eyes meet mine. "You're too worked up, you're not safe to drive."

I walk the rest of the way to his car and open it, jumping inside. My hands are shaky, but at this point I'm definitely the safer driver between the two of us.

"Where are we heading?" I ask, starting the engine.

"You know that restaurant where we met them? They live in the same building."

I nod and pull into the street.

"Call Zane, let him know we're coming. Then call Finn too or whoever else."

He nods and picks up his phone. He calls Zane first but doesn't offer much detail—it's an emergency, we have a problem, Victor has escalated, and we're coming over. Zane seems to get the message and Kieran hangs up and dials Finn. Again, Kieran doesn't really explain the details, but he seems to sound the alarm enough that Finn agrees to meet us there.

*****

After a tense and silent drive downtown, I pull into an underground lot and park. Kieran doesn't say a thing, he just opens his door and heads for the elevator. We ride it to the penthouse level and Kieran doesn't even knock at the door, he just barges in. I follow behind him.

"Bloody hell, mate, you look like shit," Zane says. "What happened?"

Kieran pulls the folded papers out of his pocket and shoves them into Zane's hand.

"Victor," he says.

My stomach clenches at his name. I haven't had a chance to process all of this, but now that we're here, I can't help but realize the weight of the situation. I brought Victor into Kieran's life. If I didn't, Kieran's sister would be okay.

Zane looks them over and his brow furrows. His eyes flicker green for a moment before he looks back up at Kieran.

"Is this... Rosie?" he asks.

Kieran nods.

"Fuckin' bastard."

Ava comes out to the living room in her pajamas with a concerned expression.

"What's going on?" she asks. "Zane said it was an emergency."

"Victor kidnapped Kieran's sister," Zane says with a solemn expression, handing the photos back to Kieran and setting the note on the coffee table as he sits down.

"K-... Kieran's... You have a sister?"

"Yeah," he says.

"Why didn't you ever mention her?" Her voice is soft and confused.

"It's nothing personal, Aves." He shrugs and looks at his feet. "It's just not something I talk about."

"The only reason I know is that he let it slip once when he was pissed off his arse," Zane says.

"It never occurred to me anyone would go after her."

There's a rapping at the front door and Zane stands up to get it. He returns with Finn, whose eyes seem to bounce between the four of us with growing questions and concerns.

"Wait... You have a sister?" Finn says to Kieran, his expression wracked with concern and confusion.

Kieran nods, his eyes never rising to meet Finn's.

"Come on," Ava says, walking over to the sofa. "Let's sit down and work this out."

We follow her and find seats around the coffee table.

"Catch me up on the basics," Finn says. "Your sister—what's her name?"

"Rose," he says.

"Khatri?"

"No uh... I changed mine to my mom's maiden name. Rose Colvin. Or wait, shit..." He huffs out a frustrated breath. "She got married, it's uh... Sharma, I think. Fuck, I don't even know my sister's last name."

He cringes and shakes his head.

"That's a'right, mate. So we think Sam's ex, Victor, has her?"

Zane grabs the note from the table and passes it to Finn. His brow furrows and he skims the note.

"Okay. Well he's escalating in a big way," Finn says. "And he's changed targets."

"How so?" Ava asks.

"Up until now, it's all been about Sam—contacting her, having access to her. To a man like Victor, Sam would be a favorite plaything that he couldn't have, and therefore the target of his anger. But something changed, because now she's not the enemy, Kieran is."

"He's fucking right about that," Kieran hisses under his breath. "He wants an enemy, he's got one."

"How do you know?" I ask.

"Well, nothing is certain of course. But between the kidnapping and the note, it's a strong bet. Take a look at the words 'my girl' here..." Finn lays Victor's note on the table and taps the words with his fingertip. "Look at how the ink pools and the paper indents here, where he writes 'my girl'. He's applying extra pressure—he's raging."

"He's been angry since I left," I say.

"But it's not just about you, anymore. He's targeting Kieran directly now, which makes me think something has changed. He doesn't want you to just come back to him anymore, this is about making a point."

"Making a point to me?"

"No," Kieran interjects. "To me."

He's leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped together in front of his mouth. His grip is so tight that his fingers have gone white.

"It's a possessive gesture," Finn says. "Does he know that you two are... involved?"

"I..." I start to speak, but I pause as I remember my last conversation with Vic. I didn't tell him that Kieran and I were a couple, but he certainly assumed as much. "Shit... yeah, I think he knows."

Kieran shoots me a surprised glance.

I should have denied it. Why didn't I deny it?

If I had hidden our relationship from Vic, he never would have gone after Rose. She's just another innocent person who got pulled into my drama.

This is my mess and other people are getting hurt by it.

"It's alright, Sam. You didn't do anything wrong," Finn says with a sympathetic expression.

Kieran nods, resting his hand on my knee and stroking it with his thumb.

"So we need information," Zane says, his expression hardening. "...where he's keeping her, who's working with him, what his endgame is."

"Isn't his endgame getting Sam back?" Ava asks.

Zane has been quiet but friendly in our previous interactions, but his demeanor now has shifted. It's like he's a general readying for war.

"It wouldn't be mine," he says.

"What would?"

"He sees Kieran as a threat to her. In his mind, Samantha isn't safe as long as Kieran is king."

"He needs me out of the picture," Kieran murmurs.

I think back to our phone call. Vic said it himself: I need your help to kill him.

They're right.

"He wants to kill you," I say, turning to face Kieran. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything, but so much was going on. He said he wanted me to... help him, somehow. That's why he called."

Kieran's brows pinch in confusion.

"How could you help? Only a demon can kill the Demon King. And it's practically impossible because I have the power to control them."

"So does she," Zane says, tipping his head toward me.

"Oh." Kieran's eyes widen as he looks at me.

"What does that mean?" I ask.

"You have all my powers. You could use them to counteract anything I do."

"Maybe enough to allow Victor to kill him." Zane eyes me up and down as he says it, like he's assessing me as a threat.

"Well what if I don't cooperate?" I ask. "Because I'm not going to help him kill Kieran. Or kill anybody, for that matter."

"From everything we've learned about Victor so far," Finn says, "he's a methodical planner. I'm betting he has several contingencies."

"So first, we need to find where he's keeping Rose, get somebody in there to free her," Zane says matter-of-factly, like he's discussing steps in a home renovation. "He's probably got someone guarding her—not an Incubus or Succubus, because they'd be susceptible to Kieran's powers. We don't know who else he might have on the payroll."

"If I were him, I'd get a Daeva in my pocket." Finn runs a hand through the scruff on his chin then turns to look at Ava. "They can sense lies. Make sure you won't turn on him."

"So no subterfuge, then. At least, nothing they can sense. But once we free Rose and she's clear of the fight..." Zane's eyes flicker to the floor before landing on mine. "We need to address the problem permanently."

It's clear what he means: Victor needs to die.

I thought I'd feel upset over the idea, maybe shocked even, but it just feels hollow. I fell in love with this man. He held my hand on that roller coaster when I got scared. He told me bad jokes in bed until 2 am and I laughed until my sides burned. But I see him more clearly now. It's like that person never existed and Victor is—and always was—someone else entirely. And all I can think now is that he's dangerous and hurting people.

Kieran looks at me and tilts his chin in the direction of the patio.

"Give us a minute, guys," he says, standing up and offering me his hand.

He leads me out to Zane and Ava's rooftop patio. The view of the city is beautiful from up here, but the cold outside air bites my skin and my stomach tangles in knots as I watch Kieran lean against the railing. There's so much hanging in the air between us. He stops and turns to face me.

"I need you to understand something, Sam..." He swallows hard and sweeps his hair back with his hand. "I try to be a nice guy, but goddamn it sometimes I'm a fucking bad dude. I'm not a hero, okay? I'm not afraid to do the wrong things for the right reasons."

"Okay..." I say. I don't know what the right response is, but it's all I can come up with.

"I'm gonna kill him." His voice is low and gravelly, with an almost-imperceptible waver underneath. "I won't fucking let this son of a bitch hurt anyone again—especially you. I won't. I can't. And I get if that's a dealbreaker for you, I do. But that's who I am."

In comparison to the other revelations I've had over the last year, the idea of murder seems somewhat tame.

"It's... it's not a dealbreaker for me, Kieran. I understand."

His eyes snap to mine and he seems almost startled by my answer.

"You do?"

"I do. I mean, he's trying to kill you, he kidnapped your sister... and it's not like we can turn him in to the cops or something. I get it."

He closes the distance between us and wraps his arms around my waist, tugging me in for a hug and resting his forehead on mine.

"Thank fuck," he huffs, letting out a shaky breath and closing his eyes. "I really didn't want you to leave me."

"I'm not leaving you."

I love you.

The words keep threatening to spill out, but I hold them in. Guilt over this whole situation is still churning in my gut. Kieran's sister is in danger, because of me. Someone is trying to hurt him, because of me. Now Kieran is going to have to kill someone—all because of me.

"What if..." I can't believe I'm even asking this, but it's starting to look like an option. "What if we hand me over?"

Kieran flinches away, dropping his hands to his sides. His eyes turn dark and his jaw goes slack.

"We fucking don't," he spits. "Not happening, Sam."

"I'm not trying to throw myself to the wolves, here," I say. "I'm just saying, could that help? Would he let Rose go?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Why d-"

"'Cause we're not fucking trading you, Sam!" The ground rumbles slightly beneath us and the building seems to sway as he looks at me with fire in his eyes.

Apparently that power isn't specific to sex.

"Don't you think we should at least discuss it?"

"Do I think we should discuss risking your life? No, Sam, I don't think we should."

"It's not necessarily risking my life. Victor wants me alive. He'd have no reason to kill me, right?"

"He could hurt you."

"I don't think he wou-"

"He already did!" he interjects. "You're gonna bet everything on Victor not being the psychopath he's already proven he is?"

I never really thought about it in that way, that Victor had hurt me. Since it had all been in a dream, I had somehow reasoned that it didn't really count.

"Okay, maybe you're right. But I don't think it's necessarily betting everything to come up with a plan where I'm the bargaining chip."

"Damn it, Sam." His throat catches slightly. "You are everything."

My heart skips at his words.

"But you... I..." I trail off, because I don't even have a way to end that sentence.

"You wanna know why I don't want to risk you, Red?" He lets out a heavy breath and steps toward me. He grabs my face in his hands, pinning my eyes to him. "Because I cannot fucking live in a world that you're not in. I can't do it. Don't fucking make me."

He tugs me forward until our lips crash together, his palms never leaving my cheeks. When he pulls away, his eyes stay locked with mine. He drops one hand to the side of my neck and loops the other arm around my waist.

"I lied," he says. It's pretty much the last thing on earth I expected him to say. I don't know what to make of it, but he continues. "I said it. Because I meant it. And because I was a coward, I panicked and took it back."

I feel my heartbeat stutter in my chest and my lips fall open.

He can't be saying what I think he's saying.

"Don't." I shake my head. "You don't have to say this just because you're worried about m-"

"I'm not," he says. "You remember when you asked me if I'd ever been in love?"

"Yeah. You said no."

"Ask me again, Red."

"I-... do you-"

"I fucking love you." His dark eyes hold mine with such conviction that it sends a shiver up my spine.

"I love you too."

"Good," he says with a smirk, pressing his forehead to mine. "'Cause that could've been real fucking awkward."

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