Andrei looks at the table. One beat. Then up. "Mary's dead."
The words are simple, and they land like something physical, like a change in air pressure, like the moment before a storm when everything goes very still. My stomach drops. The room spins. A cold, crushing weight slams into my chest, stealing the breath from my lungs.
“Reth’s sister,” I murmur, my pulse a drumbeat between my ears, frantic and deafening.
Ian’s frozen as he stares at Andrei. “You’re fucking with me, right?”
“I wish I was.”
“Motherfucker!” Ian slams his fist into the counter, and I jolt, my hand flying to my mouth, tears already burning my eyes.
Mary. His little sister. The reason he survived for so long, the reason he let Valeria destroy him little by little.
My chest caves in with a grief that isn’t even fully mine. I can feel his pain like it’s carved into my own bones, the way this will gut him, the way it will make him believe he failed the one person he never wanted to fail. The terror of what this will do to the man I love is so sharp it feels like knives twisting under my skin. If Reth is still alive—and hehasto be alive—this will shatter whatever pieces of him are still whole.
“This will destroy him,” I say softly to no one in particular, my voice trembling.
“Jesus Christ.” Ian’s face has gone bone-white, and he drags a hand down his face, eyes wild, and for one terrifying second I think he might put his fist through the wall. “What the fuck happened?”
"We’re notsure."
“You’re not sure?” Ian blurts. “What the fuck, man?”
Andrei throws his hands in the air. “Listen, all we know is Mary’s dead. We don’t know how or what happened.”
“Do you know who?”
Andrei’s demeanor shifts. The flat, efficient soldier who walked through the gate moments ago is gone.
He leans back slightly in his chair, shoulders tightening, eyes dropping to the table like the wood grains suddenly hold answers he doesn’t want to give. His jaw works once, twice. The reluctance is palpable—this is a man who has delivered bad news before, but this particular piece tastes like poison even to him.
“We, ah…we know the story that’s been circling,” he says finally, the word dragged out like it costs him. His voice is lower now, almost reluctant. “But we haven’t been able to confirm it.” He rubs a hand over his mouth, exhaling hard through his nose. “Valeria’s people… they’re?—”
“Spit it out, goddammit.”
“They’re claiming it was Reth.”
The silence that drops over the kitchen is absolute.
Ian goes completely still, the kind of stillness that feels like the moment before a detonation. My stomach plummets, a sick, twisting freefall that leaves me dizzy, my vision narrowing at the edges as panic surges hot and choking through my veins.
“They’re saying he came in high, out of his mind,” Andrei continues, forcing the words out like each one burns. “That Mary tried to talk him down and he… lost it. They’ve got witnesses. Dead security guards. Security footage. A whole fucking narrative.”
“No.” The word rips out of Ian, low and broken. “No. That’s bullshit.”
“I know,” Andrei cuts in quietly, but his eyes are haunted. He doesn’t want to believe it either. “But it’s a clean story, Ian. Too clean. And right now, it’s the only one anyone outside this room is hearing.”
“Reth would never…” The words tear out of me, fierce and certain, no hesitation, no crack of doubt. “He would never do that. He would never kill his own sister.”
The denial is iron in my chest, absolute. I know him. Iknowhim—the man who carried the weight of protecting Mary for years, who walked back into hell again and again so she could live free of it. He might be a killer, but he’s not a monster who would murder the little girl he promised to protect. My belief in him is the only steady thing left in this storm.
Ian’s pacing now, shoulders rigid, spitting out profanities that shave the air.
“What about Reth?” I ask, my voice cracking with the weight of everything I’m trying not to scream. “Do you have any idea where he might be? If he’s still?—”
“Don’t fucking say it.” Ian points at me, eyes wild with rage. “Do not fucking say it. He’s alive, okay?” His jaw clenches so hard it looks painful. “He’s fucking alive.” He looks at Andrei. “Right?”
The pause before Andrei answers is the worst thing I’ve experienced in my entire life. My breath catches. My hands are shaking in my lap. I feel like I’m standing on the edge of a cliff and the ground is already crumbling.
