Page 27 of The Devil's Thorn
I slide into the back seat without a word.
Kellan climbs into the passenger seat, tapping the screen in front of him as Ash starts the engine. The car hums to life like a warning.
The ride starts in silence.
City lights blur past the windows as we ascend from the garage and merge into the night. Everything outside glows in gold and crimson—autumn clinging to the edges of the skyline like a secret. People rush sidewalks with lives untouched by the kind of world I’m walking into.
I envy them.
And I hate them for it.
“Hotel’s ten minutes out,” Ash says, his hands tight on the wheel. “Surveillance is light tonight. Only one other Pakhan-level guest reported.”
“Someone Rafael would care about?” I ask.
Kellan shakes his head. “No. No one that would make him stay off the floor.”
I nod, fingers curling slightly in my lap. “Then he’ll be there.”
“You want him to see you?” Kellan presses.
“I want him tofeelme,” I answer, eyes fixed out the window. “Before he even knows why.”
Silence falls again.
They don’t understand it—not fully. The hunger. The need. The years I’ve spent with Rafael Romanov’s name etched into my bones like a curse, a map, a promise. Tonight, I step into the same room as him.
And I won’t leave until he looks at me. Until his eyes tell me everything I need to know.
Kellan finally breaks the silence again. “This could take a while, Iz.”
“I know.”
“It’s not just walking in and catching him in a lie.”
“I know.”
“It could take months.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I say.
And I mean it.
Because I’d rather spend the rest of my life inside the devil’s fire than leave without knowing if he’s the one who burned down my world.
Ash pulls up to the private valet entrance at the back of Hotel Obshor. The building looms above us, cold and silver, glittering like it’s made of sharpened glass. Every light is deliberate. Every camera a threat.
The world inside is his.
And I’m walking into it.
The car stops.
I wrap my fingers around the door handle, but I don’t open it right away.
Outside, the back entrance of hotel waits in cold silence. There are no signs here. No glittering lights. No smiles. Just cameras, reinforced glass, and a door meant for ghosts.
Kellan glances at me from the passenger seat. “You breathe yet?”
