Page 59 of Glitched Fates & Stolen Mates

“Good,” I muttered, though the vindication felt hollow.

“That’s… why I’m here. Mainly to check on you, of course, but…” She took a shaky breath. “Kit’s decided to resign from Killigrew Street. Effective immediately.”

My mouth fell open. “What?!”

“His top priority is you,” Priya explained, her voice careful and measured. “He wants you to be able to go to work without feeling unsafe or uncomfortable. He’s going to Seb this evening to tell him that he won’t be returning tomorrow.”

I gaped at her, stunned. The idea of Killigrew Street without Kit was… impossible. He’d been there the longest aside from Seb. He was Seb’s right-hand man, his lieutenant, the one who kept us all in line when missions went sideways. Kit was the backbone of every operation, the steady presence that held everything together when chaos erupted around us.

More than that, he was woven into the fabric of the place. The way he organised the weapons room with military precision. His morning runs that mapped every potential escape route in a three-mile radius. The granola bars he slipped into everyone’s pockets before long missions. The protective fury that blazed in his eyes whenever any of us were threatened.

Sure, he spent most of his time being grumpy with everyone, nagging us again and again about keeping the kitchen clean. But he loved Killigrew Street—loved the team—with every inch of himself. It was obvious, plain as day.

Without Kit, we’d be missing our core operating system. All the other code would still exist, but nothing would compile. Rory would throw constant runtime errors with no exception handler. Seb would be stuck in an infinite loop. The whole system that was Killigrew Street would just… crash.

“No,” I found myself saying, shaking my head. “He can’t do that. Killigrew Street wouldn’t survive it.”

Priya’s eyebrows shot up. “Felix—”

“That can’t happen,” I interrupted, scrambling to my feet. “Kit isn’t just… he’s not replaceable. None of us are, but Kit especially. He’s the glue that holds everything together. Without him, we’re just a bunch of misfits playing dress-up in a haunted hotel.”

Priya laughed, shaking her head. “Don’t tell Seb all that. But you’re completely right, and believe me, I told Kit that. But I couldn’t change his mind.”

“I’ll quit!” The words burst out of me before I could stop them. “I’ll quit before he does, so he can stay.”

“No.” Priya’s voice turned sharp. “He’s doing this so you can stay. He won’t have it any other way.”

“But Killigrew Street is the most important thing to him!”

Priya shook her head sadly. “No, Felix. You’re wrong. You are.”

My head spun, that same dizziness that struck me every time I thought about the enormity of it all. The weight of being someone’s entire world and not even knowing it.

Priya shifted on the sofa, her hands fidgeting with her scarf. “I have no right to ask you this, after his behaviour, but…”

She looked at me directly, her dark eyes pleading.

My heart sank. “You want me to convince him to stay.”

The thought of seeing Kit every day after what had just happened made me want to cry. Those intense, stormy eyes following my every movement. Knowing that he thought we were destined to be together whilst I could barely wrap my head around the concept.

“He’s really, really sorry, Felix. And for what it’s worth, if you take this whole… stalking incident out of the equation, you know Kit and his morals. I think he’ll be the perfect gentleman from now on. He’ll go back to basically ignoring you.”

Was that what I really wanted? I’d been enjoying becoming friends with Kit. I’d even found myself looking forward to spending more time with him alone again next week. The way he’d praised me during our training sessions had made my heart beat faster, made me feel capable in a way I’d never experienced before. But more than that, I enjoyed talking with him, for some reason. Which was crazy, because I usually hated talking. But there was something about the intense way he listened to me—like he genuinely wanted to hear every tiny nugget I had to say—that made me want to keep talking.

“Kit thinks I’m in love with Wren,” I said suddenly. “He kept bringing Wren up again and again. I was so confused.”

Priya laughed. “I thought about telling him a couple of times that you and Wren were just friends, but he kept telling me not to meddle, so…”

I rolled my eyes. Telling Priya not to meddle was a lost cause.

“Will you talk to him?” she asked, reaching over to squeeze my arm. “See if there’s a way he can stay at Killigrew Street, with you? But if it comes down to one or the other, it should be you who stays, Felix, okay?”

I sighed, defeat settling over me like a heavy blanket. “Ugh, fine. I’ll go get dressed.”

“Want me to come with you to Kit’s?”

I was tempted—having backup sounded appealing. But I shook my head. “If we’re going to keep working at Killigrew Street together, we need to somehow work out how to make it not awkward.”