“You rat bastard!” Kori shouted, and I pulled away from Kris to see her standing halfway down the stairs. Staring at the stain in the carpet formerly known as Gwendolyn Tower. “I wanted to take out the last of the Towers! I’ve fucking earned it!”

Kris laughed. “No one’s taking out the last of the Towers.” He pulled me closer. “We’re gonna keep her.”

“I’m not a Tower,” I insisted. But Kevin and Aria were. I hoped with every cell in my body that it wasn’t too late for nurture to overcome nature for them, as it had for me. And I fully intended to give it my best shot. With Kris at my side.

Kori stomped down the rest of the stairs and propped her hands on her hips, looking down at the corpse. “I’m not cleaning that shit up. He who spills the brains cleans the brains. You know the rules.”

“I tell you what,” Kris said, and his grin was irrepressible. “If you clean up this one teeny little corpse for me now, I’ll let you take out Cavazos all on your own. Bargain of the century, Kor. Act now—this offer won’t last long!”

“Go fuck yourself,” Kori grumbled on her way into the closet, presumably to bring Gran in out from the cold. “Both of you.”

Kris laughed so hard I was afraid he’d choke.

“Don’t mind her,” Kenley said, clicking the safety on her little pistol. “That’s how she says ‘I love you.’”

“Well, in that case, she can go fuck herself, too,” I said. But I secretly hoped she was already gone and hadn’t heard me.

“So, now what?” He tugged me away from the cooling corpse still oozing gray matter onto the carpet. “What will you do now that your mortal enemy’s dead, her kingdom in ashes scattered over her corpse?”

“I want to give it all back, Kris.” I stared into his eyes and saw my need reflected in his. “The money. The house. It’s all stained in blood, and the only way to clean it is to use it for good. For your kids.”

“My kids?”

I nodded. “What more could you do for them with Tower’s fortune? How much better could you hide them? Protect them?”

“You’re serious?” He stared into my eyes, searching for the truth. Demanding it.

“Yeah. But there’s a catch.”

“And that would be...”

“Me. And Kevin and Aria. We come with the money. You get all of us, or none of us.”

I pulled him close for another kiss, and he groaned. “I’m in...” he murmured against my lips. “Kevin and Aria are younger than the kids I’m used to dealing with, but if they’re your brother and sister, they can’t be all bad.” He frowned, reconsidering. “Well, they can’t be worse than Kori, anyway. So I’m in for all of it. The only question is...how much of you do I get?”

I laughed as his steamy gaze traveled south of my chin. “All of me. But only if you say the magic word.”

“Agh!” he growled as I followed him up the steps. “You and that damn word.”

But in the end he said it.

In the end, he said it all night long.