Lexi

The message on both our phones felt like a death sentence. I stared at the words until they blurred, my hands trembling around my phone.

"This isn't happening," I whispered, more to myself than to Lucian.

"We need to call the police," Lucian said, his voice tight with controlled anger.

"No!" The word came out sharper than I intended. "You don't understand. If we involve the police, people I care about will get hurt."

Lucian leaned forward, his dark eyes searching my face. "What people? What aren't you telling me?"

I wanted to lie again, to keep pretending that I had everything under control. But sitting in this dingy diner at two in the morning, with death threats on both our phones, the facade finally crumbled.

"My father," I said quietly. "The man I met here tonight was Ethan Shaw. He... he owns debts. My father's gambling debts."

Lucian's expression didn't change, but something shifted in his eyes. "How much?"

"Two hundred thousand. Plus interest that seems to be increasing. Plus the cost of my mother's columbarium f*e." I laughed bitterly. "Frank Moore was my only hope of making enough money to pay it off. That exposé on you was supposed to be worth six figures."

"So you're a reporter investigating me, and someone with a grudge against both of us knows it." Lucian ran a hand through his hair. "Perfect."

"I'm sorry," I said, and meant it. "I never wanted anyone to get hurt. I just... I was desperate."

"Why didn't you tell me?" His voice was gentler now. "I could have helped."

"Because men like you don't help people like me without expecting something in return." The words came out before I could stop them.

Lucian was quiet for a long moment. "You think I'm like your father."

It wasn't a question, and the accuracy of it hit me like a slap. "Aren't you?"

"I've never gambled away my family's future. I've never left my daughter to clean up my messes." His voice was steady, but I could hear the hurt underneath.

"But you're used to getting what you want. You're used to people doing what you tell them to do."

"Yes," he admitted. "But there's a difference between being in control and being selfish."

My phone buzzed again. This time it was Frank Moore.

"I have to take this," I said, my stomach sinking.

"Where's my story, Carter?" Frank's voice was loud enough that Lucian could hear every word. "I just got word that Kane's dead. Natural causes. Do you know what that means for our exposé?"

"Frank, I…”

"It means we need dirt on Cross more than ever. The man's untouchable now. So whatever you've been holding back, I want it. Tonight."

I looked across the table at Lucian, who was listening to every word with an unreadable expression.

"I need more time," I said weakly.

"You're out of time. Send me what you have in the next hour, or you're fired. And Lexi? Don't think about shopping this story to anyone else. I own you until that debt to your mother's facility is paid."

The line went dead. I stared at my phone, feeling the walls closing in from every direction.

"He knows about your mother's care costs," Lucian observed.

"Everyone knows. It's not exactly a secret when you're three months behind on payments."

"But he's using it as leverage. That's not just business, that's personal."

I hadn't thought about it that way, but he was right. Frank had been unusually invested in this story from the beginning.

"What are you thinking?" I asked.

"I'm thinking someone's been pulling strings for a while now. Your boss assigns you to investigate me. You get into financial trouble that makes you desperate enough to do anything for money. Kane dies right when we're getting close to something. And now someone's threatening us both."

"You think it's connected?"

"I think someone's been playing a very long game." Lucian's phone buzzed, and he glanced at it. "Marcus is still outside. We should go."

"Go where? Home? So whoever this is can follow through on their threat?"

"No. Somewhere safe while we figure this out."

"There is nowhere safe!" I stood up abruptly, drawing stares from the few other late-night diners. "Don't you see? I'm trapped. If I don't give Frank the story, I lose my job and my mother loses her care. If I do give him the story, I betray you and probably get us both killed. And if we don't show up at that pier tomorrow night, this mysterious friend kills me anyway."

Lucian stood too, reaching for my arm. "Lexi…"

"No." I pulled away. "I need to think. I need to..."

I didn't finish the sentence. Instead, I grabbed my purse and headed for the door, leaving Lucian sitting in the booth.

The night air was cold against my face as I stepped outside. Marcus was indeed parked across the street, and I could see him straightening up as he spotted me.

I had maybe thirty seconds before Lucian followed me out. Thirty seconds to decide what to do with the rest of my life.

I looked back through the diner window. Lucian was throwing money on the table, getting ready to follow me.

For weeks now, I'd been lying to him, investigating him, planning to destroy his reputation for money. But somewhere along the way, something had changed. Maybe it was the way he looked at me like I mattered. Maybe it was how he'd defended me at the gala. Or maybe it was just that he was the first person in years who seemed to see through my defenses without trying to exploit what he found there.

Whatever it was, I couldn't do it anymore.

I pulled out my phone and typed a quick message to Frank Moore: "I quit. Find someone else to write your hit piece."

Then I deleted the recording I'd made of Lucian weeks ago. The one that would have been worth six figures. The one that could have solved all my problems.

Lucian emerged from the diner just as I hit send.

"Feel better?" he asked, walking over to me.

"Actually, yes." And surprisingly, I did. Scared out of my mind, but better. "I just quit this investigation and deleted the only leverage I had to pay my debts. But I feel better."

"The recording?"

"You knew?"

"I suspected. You're not as subtle as you think." He almost smiled. "What changed your mind?"

I looked at him, this complicated, dangerous, surprisingly caring man who'd somehow become the most important person in my life.

"I decided I'd rather die as someone I can respect than live as someone I can't."

Lucian's expression shifted, becoming something I'd never seen before. Vulnerable, maybe. Or hopeful.

"We're not going to die," he said quietly.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because whoever's doing this made one crucial mistake."

"What's that?"

"They assumed we'd keep playing by their rules." He pulled out his phone and showed me a new message he'd typed but not sent yet. "Game time indeed. But we're changing the rules."

I read the message: "We'll be there. But not alone. And not unarmed. Time to meet face to face. - L.C."

"You want to turn this into a confrontation?"

"I want to end it. Whatever this is, whoever's behind it, it stops tomorrow night."

I should have been terrified. Instead, I felt something I hadn't experienced in months: hope.

"So what's the plan?"

"First, we keep you safe. Then we figure out who's been orchestrating this whole thing. And then..." His smile was sharp and dangerous. "Then we make them regret ever threatening you."