登入Felix's POVI didn't say much on the drive back. Eden noticed. She noticed everything now, some sharpened instinct she'd picked up since the church, since she'd learned what it cost to make the hard calls herself. But she didn't push, not right away. She just watched the city slide past the window and let me have the silence for a few miles before she finally broke it."You're quiet," she said."I'm always quiet when I'm driving; it helps me think.""You never think when you're driving. You sing along to whatever's on the radio and tell me terrible jokes." She turned her head, studying me in that way she had now, like she was cataloguing something for later. "Something's wrong.""Nothing's wrong.""Felix.""I said nothing's wrong." I didn't mean for it to come out as sharp as it did, and I caught the way she went still beside me, surprised, because I never snapped at anyone. Ease was the whole point of me. Ease was the costume that let me move through this family without anyone asking
Greta's POVI'd had two years to get good at reading men like Felix Schmidt. Foster homes did that to you, and then witness protection did the rest, teaching you to clock the exact moment a man's smile turned into a leash. Felix's smile hadn't changed since the basement. That was the problem. He still thought he was the one in control of this conversation."Are you going to let us in, or are we doing this on the porch?" he asked, hands in his pockets, easy as anything."We're doing this wherever you're standing, because you're not coming inside." I kept the door at half-width, my body filling the rest of the gap. "Say what you came to say."His eyes flicked past me into the hallway, cataloging old habits, probably, the kind you don't shut off even when you're trying to be charming. "We need to talk about relocating you. Somewhere further out. New papers, a new face if you want one. Clean start.""No.""Greta—""I said no." I didn't raise my voice. I'd learned that screaming gave men l
Eden's POVThe morning news ran the story before Daniel could control it. Federal Agent Found Dead in Church Shooting, Investigation Underway. No mention of names beyond his rank. No mention of us. But it was out there now, a loose thread the Bureau would pull until something unraveled.We gathered in the war room before nine. Daddy at the head of the table, Daniel to his right with a folder of contingencies already half-drafted, Silas leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, his ribs still wrapped under his shirt. Jonas sat closest to me, quiet, watchful. Felix sprawled in his chair like none of this concerned him, ankle crossed over his knee, scrolling on his phone. Michael Voss stood near the door, still unsure if he was allowed to sit."They'll canvas everyone who knew him," Daniel said. "Coworkers. Informants. His ex-wife. Eventually they'll find Greta.""She's already been debriefed by the Bureau once," Silas said. "She'll know how to handle questions.""That's not the pr
Jonas's POVThe morning light hit the room with an unforgiving sharpness, slicing through the blinds and painting bars of gold across her skin. She was still asleep, but the heavy, dreamless stillness of the night was starting to fracture. I watched her lashes flutter, a subtle sign that the real world was clawing its way back in.I couldn't wait any longer. The stillness had become a wire pulled too tight, and the need to know she was actually real—not just a ghost I’d conjured to survive the dark—was burning through me. I moved before I could think, sliding off the edge of the mattress and hovering over her. She stirred, a small, soft sound escaping her throat as she shifted against the pillows. I didn't give her a second to blink the sleep from her eyes. I didn't want the polite morning, or the confusion, or the space. I wanted the immediate, visceral evidence that she was still here, still mine.I crowded her, pinning her to the mattress with the weight of my own body. She gasped,
Jonas's POVThe hallway floorboards didn't creak, but I heard her breathing before I saw her. I was sitting at the edge of my bed, the room bathed in the weak, blue light of a streetlamp filtering through the blinds. When she pushed the door open, she looked small. Tired. She didn't say a word, just slipped inside and crossed to the bed, her movements heavy with a bone-deep exhaustion I recognized.She didn't ask if she could stay. She just climbed in, pulling the duvet over her shoulders, and curled into a ball on the side closest to the wall. I stayed perfectly still, my back against the headboard, watching the way her chest rose and fell.I hadn't moved in two hours. My muscles were stiff, aching from the rigid posture I had forced myself to hold, but I didn't care. I couldn't risk waking her. I couldn't risk breaking this fragile peace.In the dark, the room felt different. It felt like a space that had finally found its purpose. I looked at her, at the soft curve of her neck and
Eden's POVI didn't go back to the estate. Not directly.I drove Greta to the safe house myself—a Schmidt property off the books, a brownstone in Brooklyn with steel shutters and a panic room in the basement. Greta didn't speak the whole way, just stared out the window with hollow eyes, clutching the blanket I'd thrown over her shoulders."You're free," I said when we stopped. It sounded like a lie even as I said it. No one was free. Not really. Not in this city, not in this life. But Greta could run. Could disappear. The Schmidts would let her; they had bigger prey now.Greta turned, her hand on the door handle. "They're going to kill him, aren't they, Voss?"I met her eyes in the rearview mirror. "Yes.""Good." Greta got out. She didn't look back.I drove to the church. Not the one where I'd met Voss—another one, older, Catholic, with a graveyard that stretched back to the Revolutionary War. I called him from the parking lot, my voice steady, my hands shaking."I'll do it," I said.
Eden's POVI left it unlocked on purpose. I knew it was Daniel. The groceries in the fridge that I never bought, the sheets that suddenly smelled fresh when I hadn’t washed them, the mirror that no longer had streaks even though I never touched it. It wasn’t just in my head. He’d been coming here.
Eden’s POVI was going to leave. I’d packed my things, mentally, at least, and told myself that this city, this woman, and this whole pathetic attempt at a mother-daughter reconciliation wasn’t worth it. I was going to walk away with my dignity and pretend none of it touched me and also pretend I d
DanielHer breathing was shallow in the car, ragged, like each inhale hurt her lungs. “I—I can’t breathe,” she gasped, grabbing at her chest. That was all I needed to hear.“Hospital. Now.” My voice was steel.The driver hit the gas, and I pulled her closer; her body curled into mine like she was t
Daniel’s POVThe basement of the old warehouse on the outskirts of the city was a far cry from the refined, leather-scented dungeon of my estate. This place was raw. It smelled of damp concrete, rusted iron, and the pervasive, cloying scent of fear. I had chosen it for its lack of history, a blank







