That talk

*Tjeck*

Adis seems to be himself again, but the real question is how long this newfound clarity will last. He knows he has messed up, but that doesn’t guarantee he won’t fall back into old habits. The allure of drugs is all too easy to succumb to in a moment of weakness, and she will always remind him of what he has lost.

"Kress has looked into some things," Kattie informs me as I sit on their worn-out couch, anxiously waiting for Adis to emerge so we can talk. Kattie perches on a stack of beer boxes across from me, her hands resting on my knees, a gesture that both comforts and distracts.

"Sonny has confirmed she’s been with them for two days. But he won’t reveal who paid him to abduct her. He did mention the reason, though." Kattie’s eyes convey a sense of urgency that sends a chill down my spine. "She’s engaged… to Christopher."

"Christopher?" The name doesn’t register in my mind. To be honest, I’ve never been great with names; I’m far better at remembering faces.

"He used to go by Toph," Kattie adds, her voice laced with concern.

Toph… I remember him all too well. He was instrumental in helping Zombie establish his pack and served as his Beta for many years. He’s a man I had hoped never to encounter again.

"Toph knows she’s been at Sunny’s. He’s aware we had a fight the day he let her go," Kattie continues, her grip tightening on my knees as if to steady herself. "He isn’t stupid. He knows someone paid Sunny."

"And Toph is going to assume we’re behind it," I say dryly, cutting her off before she can voice the thought herself.

Kattie and I are the only ones privy to Toph’s secret. We alone understand why he left the underworld. If anyone wanted to take a hit at him, it would undoubtedly be us, except that it isn’t.

"And he knows there’s a strong possibility she’s with us," Kattie presses on. "That man just became a significant threat to us… again."

"We need to talk to him. Now," I say, urgency creeping into my voice. Honestly, her hands, now resting just above my knees as she leans in, make it hard to focus on anything else.

She sighs, her grip tightening as if to anchor herself. "Then we need to tell him where she is."

"He probably already knows that," I reply, leaning forward to grasp Kattie’s hands in mine, gently pulling them away from my legs. "If we don’t go to him, we risk drawing the Nobles and the entire government down on us. Alone, he can’t do anything. If he shows his face here, we’ll tell everyone why he left."

"Adis is going to hate this," Kattie sighs again, concern etched across her face.

I gently rub my thumbs over the top of her hands, offering a hopefully reassuring smile. "We’re not going to tell him."

The weight of the moment hangs heavy in the air, tension crackling between us. The stakes have never been higher, and the choices we make now could change everything.

*****

Adis and I walk through a small, deserted neighborhood, a place long forsaken and now choked with overgrown weeds and crumbling facades. It feels like a ghost town, a remnant of a life once vibrant and bustling, much like the rest of the underworld we inhabit.

This patch of land sits awkwardly between the towering high-rise that Adis calls home and the dilapidated old jail where Kress and his pack, The Stars, has established their base.

I needed to draw him out of the apartment, away from prying ears and Amber.. It’s time for a candid discussion without the risk of her eavesdropping.

"I shouldn't have given her that name," he admits, his gaze fixed on the cracked pavement as if it holds all the answers.

"No, you shouldn't," I reply, my voice steady. What else can I say? The truth hangs heavily between us, unspoken yet palpable.

"I can't take it back now; everyone uses it," he continues, sending a pebble skittering across the road with a frustrated kick. "She wants to stay, which means I have to talk to all the Alphas and make them understand that no one is to reveal her true name."

"Why not?" I counter, my brow furrowing in confusion. "We know who she is. Even with that knowledge, she could still choose to stay. Many people make that decision. Can't she know who she really is? Doesn’t she deserve that… knowing what she’s turning her back on?"

"I can't lose her too," Adis says, his voice barely above a whisper, his eyes averted from mine as if he fears the weight of his own words. I hear the pain etched into his tone. "It feels like losing her all over again."

"She isn’t Amber, you know," I warn him, urgency creeping into my voice. He can’t cling to that thought; she can never be the Amber he lost. "If you pressure her to become someone she isn’t, you will surely lose her. You will break her."

"There’s something about her that captivates me," he confesses, his expression softening as he speaks. "It’s not the aspects that remind me of Amber; it’s the very things that set them apart. Her fragility, the way she blushes when she catches my gaze." A gentle smile graces his lips, a flicker of hope igniting within me that maybe, just maybe, this can end well after all.

"But she can’t stay fragile here," I caution, my heart pounding. "As soon as Zombie sees her, she becomes a pawn in his twisted games. You know that. She isn’t strong enough for that kind of world."

"I’m ready to defend her with my life," Adis declares, his eyes locking onto mine with fierce determination. He has always had a flair for the dramatic. "Zombie will never get near her." His tone brooks no argument, a declaration of his unwavering resolve.

"You can’t protect her forever," I remind him firmly. "You won’t always be there. She needs to learn how to defend herself. If she’s going to survive in this place, she has to stand on her own two feet."

"When she’s ready, not before," he insists, closing the door on the conversation with finality.

A heavy silence envelops us as we stand amid the ruins, the weight of our words hanging in the air, a fragile truce formed between hope and reality. We both know the stakes are high, and the world around us offers little mercy. But for Adis, and for her, perhaps there is still a chance… a glimmer of light in the shadows that threaten to consume us all.