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“I talked to Michael,” he said, standing in the middle of my little living room like he was bracing for impact. “And he had an idea.”

My stomach dropped. Hard.

“What kind of idea?” I asked, already knowing I wasn’t going to like the answer.

He hesitated. “Zoe should take your place.”

The room went very still.

“No.”

He opened his mouth.

“No,” I repeated, sharper this time. “Absolutely not.”

“Chloe—”

“I am not letting my sister live in my apartment like bait while you walk into some underground death circus pretending everything’s fine.”

He rubbed a hand over his face. “It’s not like that.”

“Oh really?” I shot back. “Because from where I’m standing, it sounds exactly like that.”

“She can handle herself,” he said. “She’s trained. She’s armed. She’s⁠—”

“She’s my sister,” I snapped. “And I am not outsourcing my part in all of this just because it scares the hell out of me.”

His eyes hit me like chips of ice, and he pointed at me. “So you admit it. This isn’t a cakewalk. You’re scared, because you know this is dangerous. You don’t want Zoe to do this because she could get hurt. That’s the absolute reason why we should come up with a different idea.”

Fuck! I hate it when he’s this smart.

“If you’re going to do something crazy/stupid/brave because it’s the right thing, then you can’t stop me from wanting to do the same thing.”

He opened his mouth.

I cut him off before he could say anything. “Which is why it has to be me, not Zoe.”

He didn’t argue.

Instead, he pulled his phone out of his pocket, unlocked it, and hit a contact before I could stop him.

“Zarek,” I warned.

Too late.

“Simon,” he said into the phone. “Quick question.”

I crossed my arms so tightly my shoulders ached.

He didn’t put it on speaker, but I could still hear Simon’s voice as he responded to Zarek’s shitty plan.

Dammit. He’s liking the idea.

There was a pause.

Then Simon said something I couldn’t make out that made Zarek’s shoulders loosen and my belly tighten.

Zarek nodded. “That would be great.”