9

"Get your head down, Ethan. Now."

Caleb’s palm slammed against the back of my neck. He shoved me toward the floor of the black SUV. Outside, the world was a riot of blue and red strobes. The air tasted like pulverized concrete and ozone.

"I can't Caleb, I can't breathe"

"Stay down!" He barked. He didn't look back. He was already rolling down the bulletproof glass. The roar of the press surged into the cabin like a physical wave. "Back up! Clear the perimeter! My partner is injured. If one lens touches this car, I'll have your credentials pulled by morning!"

He sounded like the king of the world again. Not the man who’d been bleeding in a warehouse. Not the man who’d just pinned me to a panic room floor. He was the CEO. The Alpha. The shield.

"Mr. Thorne! Was this a targeted attack on the merger?"

"Is Ethan Vane safe?"

Caleb didn't answer. He shoved the door open and stepped out into the chaos. He didn't let go of my shoulder. He hauled me out with him, tucking me under his arm, his large frame blocking the flashes.

"Step back!" Caleb’s voice was a whip. He looked at the chief of police. "Secure the lobby. I want a full sweep of the mechanical floor. Now."

"We're on it, Mr. Thorne." The officer didn't even hesitate. He just moved.

Caleb steered me through the cordoned-off entrance. His grip was bruising. He didn't care. He was marking territory in front of the cameras. We hit the lobby, the marble floors covered in a fine layer of white dust.

"You're making a scene," I hissed. I tried to pull away. My ribs screamed.

"I'm keeping you alive." Caleb leaned in. His mouth was an inch from my ear. "Stop fighting me. Look at the cameras. Smile like you're glad I saved you, or they’ll start asking why you were in a panic room with a man you're supposed to hate."

"I do hate you."

"Then do it better."

He handed me off to a security detail like I was a piece of fragile luggage. "Take him to the private lounge. Nobody goes in. Nobody comes out. If a single person without a badge gets close, you’re fired."

"Caleb—"

"Go, Ethan." He turned his back on me. He was already barking orders into a satellite phone.

The lounge was a tomb. It was reinforced, glass-walled, and smelled like expensive scotch and the smoke clinging to my skin. I sat on the edge of a velvet sofa. My hands wouldn't stop shaking. I grabbed a bottle of bourbon from the sideboard and poured a glass. Straight. No ice.

The door opened.

I didn't look up. "I said nobody in, Caleb."

"I'm not Caleb."

The voice was smooth. Like silk over a razor blade. I looked up. Lucas Reed was standing in the doorway. He looked perfect. Not a hair out of place. He wore a charcoal suit that cost more than my first car. He looked like a man who’d just stepped out of a boardroom, not a helicopter with a sniper rifle.

"Lucas." My hand tightened on the glass. "How the hell did you get past security?"

"I’m a concerned friend, Ethan." Lucas walked in. He didn't wait for an invite. He sat in the chair across from me. He looked at the dust on my suit. "Quite the explosion. Caleb always was a bit... explosive. It’s a shame he’s so reckless with your life."

"Get out. Before I call the guards."

"The guards work for Caleb. And Caleb works for himself." Lucas leaned forward. He dropped the mask. His eyes were cold. "Let's stop the theater. I know about the ledger, Ethan. I know Caleb is hiding the routing numbers for the offshore pool. He’s playing the FBI, and he’s playing you."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do." Lucas smiled. It didn't reach his eyes. "Caleb thinks he’s won. He thinks he’s got you tucked away in his gilded cage. But he forgot one thing. He forgot Sophia."

My heart stopped. The glass slipped from my fingers, shattering on the rug. The bourbon soaked into the fabric like a dark wound. "What about Sophia?"

"She hasn't answered her phone in twenty-four hours, has she?" Lucas checked his watch. "She was supposed to land in London. She never cleared customs. My men found her at the terminal. She’s... comfortable. For now."

"You touched her?" I lunged across the table. I grabbed Lucas by the lapels. "You touch a hair on her head and I'll—"

"You'll what?" Lucas didn't flinch. He looked at my hands. "You're bankrupt, Ethan. You're a guest in your own office. You have nothing. But I can make this very simple. Give me the ledger Caleb is hiding. Give me the kill switch to his accounts. Do that, and Sophia walks onto a private jet home. Don't, and... well. She’s a beautiful girl. It would be a waste."

"She’s my sister, you son of a bitch."

"Then act like it." Lucas shoved my hands off him. He stood up and straightened his tie. "You have six hours. Tell Caleb you want to see the files. Get the codes. If you try to tell him about this conversation, Sophia dies. He won't save her, Ethan. He’ll trade her for the win. He always does."

Lucas walked out.

I stood in the center of the room. The silence was heavy. I felt like the walls were closing in. Sophia. My baby sister. The only person in my family who didn't look at me like a balance sheet.

The door opened again. Caleb walked in. He looked triumphant. He had a smudge of grease on his cheek and a look in his eyes that I recognized. Hunger.

"Reed is gone," Caleb said. He walked toward me. "I saw him leaving. What did he say?"

I looked at him. I looked at the man who had been following me for years. The man who had a drawer full of my photos. The man who had been an informant while my world burned.

"Did you know?" I asked. My voice was a whisper.

"Know what?" Caleb reached for me. "Ethan, we have the perimeter. We can move to the safe house in an hour."

"Did you know Sophia never made it to London?"

Caleb stopped. His hand stayed in the air. He didn't blink. He didn't look surprised. He just lowered his hand and let out a slow, steady breath.

"She’s safe, Ethan."

"Safe?" I stepped toward him. My vision was tunneling. "Lucas just told me he has her! He told me he took her at the terminal!"

"I know." Caleb’s voice was flat. Professional. "I’ve had a team on her since she left the apartment. We lost contact at Heathrow. Lucas had a jammer. We’re tracking the signal now. I couldn't tell you. You would have done something stupid. You would have gone to Reed."

"I would have gone to save my sister!" I roared.

"And you would have walked into a trap!" Caleb stepped into my space. He grabbed my shoulders. "If you went to him, he’d have both of you. This way, I have the leverage. I have the ledger. As long as I have the money, he won't hurt her. She’s a chip, Ethan. Nothing more."

"A chip?" I felt my face crumple. Snot ran down my lip. I didn't wipe it. "She’s my sister, Caleb! She’s twenty-one! She’s terrified!"

"She’s fine. I have the best people on it."

"You lied to me." I shook my head. "In the panic room. In the warehouse. You knew she was gone and you didn't say a word. You let me... you let me touch you. You let me believe you were protecting me."

"I am protecting you!"

"No." I pulled back. I looked at him like I was seeing him for the first time. The photos. The surveillance. The "cage." "You’re just making sure the merchandise doesn't get damaged before the sale."

"Ethan, don't."

I didn't wait. I swung.

My fist caught him square in the jaw. Crack. Caleb’s head snapped back. He stumbled, hitting the sideboard. A row of crystal glasses shattered under his weight. He stayed down on one knee, his hand going to his face. He looked up at me, a trail of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.

"I'm not your pet," I hissed. My knuckles were throbbing. The skin was split. "And I'm not your informant."

"You just made a mistake," Caleb rasped. He stood up. He didn't look angry. He looked disappointed. "Reed is going to kill you the second you give him that ledger."

"Then I guess I’ll have to kill him first."

I turned and walked toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Caleb shouted.

"I'm going to finish the bargain."

I walked out of the lounge. I didn't look back at the security team. I didn't look at the cameras. I walked straight to the elevators and hit the button for the lobby.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

Unknown Number: Five hours left, Ethan. Don't be late.

I leaned my head against the cool metal of the elevator wall. My heart was slamming against my ribs. Caleb was right about one thing. Reed would kill me. But Caleb was wrong about everything else.

I pulled a small, hidden drive from my cufflink. Not the ledger. Not the offshore codes.

It was the Paris files. The ones Caleb thought he had burned.

I reached the lobby. The press was still there. The cops were still there. I saw Lucas Reed’s black sedan idling at the curb, just outside the police line.

I walked toward it.

I wasn't playing Caleb’s game anymore. I wasn't playing Lucas’s.

I was playing mine.

I opened the car door and slid into the back seat. Lucas was waiting. He looked at my split knuckles.

"I see you had a disagreement with Mr. Thorne."

"Give me the phone," I said. My voice was cold. Dead. "I want to hear her voice. Now."

Lucas handed me a burner. "One minute. Then we talk about the ledger."

I put the phone to my ear.

"Sophia?"

"Ethan?" Her voice was small. Sobbing. "Ethan, please. They won't tell me where I am. There’s a man with a"

The line went dead.

"Satisfied?" Lucas asked.

"Drive," I said.

I looked out the window as we pulled away from the curb. I saw Caleb standing on the steps of the building. He looked small. For the first time, the king looked like he’d lost his crown.

I reached into my pocket and gripped the drive.

Caleb thought he was the only one who could build a cage.

He was wrong.

"So," Lucas said, leaning back. "Do you have the codes?"

"I have something better," I lied.

The car sped into the night. I didn't know if I’d be alive by morning. I didn't know if Sophia would. But I knew one thing.

The devil was about to find out what happens when you corner a man who has nothing left to lose.