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Noir’s father.

My mouth parts, but nothing comes out.

Dagger stares at him like the entire world just rearranged itself into something unrecognizable.

“You’re lying.”

“No.” Noir’s smile widens. “That’s the first honest thing I’ve said tonight.”

A sound escapes me.

Small.

Pathetic.

I hate it.

Noir hears it and looks back at me.

For a second, I expect something. An apology maybe. Some crack in the mask. Some proof that the man who touched me so gently earlier existed somewhere underneath this monster.

Nothing.

Just calculation.

“My father couldn’t have a rat in his ranks,” Noir says. “Even one I loved.”

My heart stops.

Dagger’s voice goes deadly quiet.

“You killed Brynn.”

Noir doesn’t answer right away.

He looks out over the city instead, past Dagger, past me, like he can see all the way back to whatever night he’s remembering.

“She was going to run,” he says. “She had names. Routes. Enough to hurt him. Enough to hurt me.” His jaw flexes once. “She thought love meant I’d choose her.”

My vision blurs instantly.

“No.”

The word comes out of me broken and thin.

Noir finally looks at me.

“She was wrong.”

Everything inside me caves in.

Not dramatically.

Not loudly.

Just collapses.

Like the floor gives way under my ribs and all the air disappears with it.