Page 38 of Fractured Loyalties
I nod slowly. “You don’t have to.”
He tilts his head slightly, like that’s something he can’t compute.
I clarify. “Not that I’m offering to help kill him. But...you don’t have to carry it all like this.”
“I do.”
The finality in his voice is a door slamming.
“I want to come with you,” I say before I can stop myself.
His eyes sharpen. “No.”
“You said I’m the reason he’ll get careless. What if I can help you corner him?”
“You help me by staying alive.”
His voice is harsh, clipped. It’s the first time I’ve seen the temper behind the stillness.
“I’ve already been dying by degrees,” I snap. “You said you weren’t doing this halfway.”
Silence.
Then he exhales sharply. Turns away.
“Mara,” he says, without turning back. “If you come, there’s no guarantee what you’ll see. And I won’t be able to stop. Not once it starts.”
A cold chill rips through me.
And still, I say, “I need to know who you are. All of it.”
The day has stretched thin—quiet meals, unspoken plans, long silences broken only by the occasional glance across the room. And now, as late afternoon settles in, the sun sinks lower, casting molten gold through the living room windows. It’s too beautiful for what’s coming. The house looks painted, like a still from a life that doesn’t belong to me.
Elias is in the next room, talking quietly on the phone. His voice is low, precise. I can’t make out what he’s saying. Probably on purpose.
I sit on the edge of the couch, hands clasped between my knees. I haven’t told anyone where I am. Not Celeste. Not Alec. No one.
I should feel isolated.
I feel...awake.
My body hums like it’s tuned to the same frequency as the man that's probably pacing behind that wall. Everything in me wants to follow him, even though I know where he’s going.
Even though I know what he’ll do.
When he returns, he doesn't speak right away. Just tosses his phone onto the counter, eyes locked on mine.
“Backup’s in place,” he says.
I nod. I don't ask who or what that means. He won’t tell me, and I think I’d rather not know.
“Come with me,” he adds.
I blink. “What?”
He takes two slow steps closer. “Not to the confrontation. But before. There’s something I need to do.”
“Where?”
