LOGINThe drive to Harvey's apartment felt longer than it was.Fenris gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles went white. The city blurred past him. The lights smeared into streaks of gold and red. He did not see any of it. He saw only Harvey's face. He heard only Harvey's voice. He replayed the phone call over and over in his head.He knows we were together last night.He knows you stayed.He knows everything.He parked outside Harvey's building. He did not bother with the parking lot. He left the car in the middle of the street. He walked through the lobby. He did not wait for the elevator. He took the stairs. Three floors. Two at a time. His heart was pounding. His hands were shaking.He pushed open the door to Harvey's apartment. It was unlocked. Harvey was sitting on the couch, a glass of wine in his hand, his gray eyes calm. He looked like he had been waiting."Fenris," he said. "I was wondering when you would get here.""Tell me it is not true.""Tell you what is not true?""
The morning light was gray and thin, slipping through the blinds like water through cracked glass. Raven lay still, her cheek pressed against Fenris's chest, his arm wrapped around her waist. His heartbeat was steady beneath her ear. Slow. Calm. Alive. She did not move. She did not want to wake him. She did not want to break whatever fragile thing had settled between them in the night. He had held her like she was the only thing keeping him alive. He had whispered her name like a prayer. He had kissed her forehead, her cheek, her lips. Soft. Tender. Like he was afraid she would disappear. She had stayed. She had held him back. She had let herself be held. But the weight of everything else was still there. The fire. The bodies. The truth. The USB drive. The proof. The knowledge that the man holding her had killed her parents. She closed her eyes. She tried to push it away. She could not. She slipped out of bed. Her feet touched the cold floor. She grabbed his shirt from the chair
She was home for less than an hour when the door flew open.Not knocked. Not unlocked. Open. The wood slammed against the wall. The sound cracked through the silence like a gunshot. The frame splintered. The lock broke. She did not care. She could not care. She was already on her feet, her heart slamming against her ribs, her breath caught in her throat.She knew who it was before she saw him. She felt him before she saw him. The air changed. Grew colder. Thicker. Heavy with something that felt like rage and grief and betrayal all tangled together. She had never felt anything like it. She had never seen anything like it.Fenris stood in the doorway. His chest heaved. His hands were fists at his sides. His gray eyes were black. Not cold. Not controlled. Something else. Something she had never seen before. Something that looked like a man who had already snapped. A man who had already broken. A man who had nothing left to lose.He did not speak. He walked toward her. Each step was delib
The apartment was dark.Not the darkness of night. Something worse. Something chosen.Heavy curtains swallowed the city. No lamps. No mercy of ordinary light. Only a single candle on the table, its flame bending with the draft when she opened the door. The shadows it threw were wrong. Too long. Too restless. Crawling up the walls like they were alive.Raven stood just inside the threshold. Her back pressed against the cold wood. Her hands were fists she didn’t remember making.Harvey didn’t look at her.He crossed the room to the table, picked up a glass of wine, and drank like she wasn’t there. Like she was furniture. Like she was already his.She hated that most of all.“You’re shaking,” he said.“I’m cold.”“It’s warm in here.”She said nothing. Because it was warm. Because she wasn’t cold at all.He set the glass down and turned. His gray eyes moved over her the way a man reads a contract. Looking for what it might cost him.“You know why you’re here.”“Yes.”“You know what I expe
She did not remember driving home.The streets blurred past her windows. Headlights smeared into streaks of gold and white. Her hands were steady on the wheel. Her heart was not. She parked. She walked up the stairs. She unlocked her door. She sat on the floor.Her back was against the wall. Her knees were pulled to her chest. Her hands were shaking.She looked at her phone.No messages from Fenris.Twelve days.She had stopped counting the hours. She had stopped hoping. He was gone. He was not coming back. She did not know if he was ignoring her. She did not know if he was hurt. She did not know if he was dead.She did not know anything anymore.But she knew one thing.Harvey was not going to let her go.She thought about Sasha.Her best friend. The only person who had stood by her. The only person who knew the truth. The only person who had held her while she cried.She could not let Harvey hurt her.She thought about the photograph on his phone. Sasha, walking out of her apartment
The club was the same one from before.Dark. Loud. Anonymous. The bass vibrated through her chest. The lights flashed in her eyes. Bodies pressed against her from all sides. Raven pushed through the crowd, her heart pounding, her hands clammy.She should not have come alone. She knew that. But Harvey had said come alone, and she needed to know what he knew.She found the private room at the back. The door was unlocked. She pushed it open.Harvey was already there.He sat on the couch, legs spread, arms draped over the back, like he owned the place. His gray eyes tracked her as she walked in. He did not smile."Close the door," he said.She closed the door."Sit.""I would rather stand.""Suit yourself."He leaned back. His eyes never left her."You came," he said."You said you had information.""I do.""Then give it to me.""Not so fast."He reached into his jacket. She tensed. He pulled out a folded piece of paper."This is what you want.""What is it?""The name of the man who kill







