“If you’re not going to sign, why did you come here?”

I exhaled, suddenly eager for some of the coffee she hadn’t yet started brewing. “I won’t answer that, and for the record, you’re putting all three of us at risk with this line of questioning.” She now knew I was in Tower’s territory under false pretenses, and if and when he asked her, she’d have to tell him what she knew.

“Something’s wrong,” Kenley said. “More wrong than usual. How am I supposed to know how much danger any of us are in if I don’t ask questions?” She pressed the brew button and coffee began to drip into the pot. Kenley stared at it, her forehead furrowed, her lips pressed together as she thought, obviously trying to decide which verbal land mines to avoid and which to hit head-on. “Does you being here have something to do with my sister?”

“She’s not the reason I came to the city. But she’s the reason for nearly everything I’ve done since I met her.”

“Why does Kori think I need to be protected, today in particular?” she asked, and I picked at the edge of the Formica where it was starting to lift from the countertop, trying to decide whether or not to answer that. “Please. If it involves me, I have a right to know.”

“Because Tower threatens you to keep Kori in line.”

Kenley rolled her eyes. “I’ve known that from the beginning. What’s different about today? What does any of it have to do with you?”

I exhaled slowly, hoping Kori wouldn’t hate me for what I was about to say. Because Kenley was right—she did have a right to know. “If I don’t sign on, Tower’s going to kill Kori and put you in the basement in her place.”

Her face paled so fast I thought for a minute that she’d pass out. “I don’t… I can’t…” She didn’t seem to know how to finish either sentence.

I carried my stool into the kitchen and set it on the floor behind her, then started opening cabinets in search of coffee mugs.

“Kill Kori?” she said, sinking onto the stool, and I could only nod. “And put me…?”

“In the basement. But we’re not going to let that happen.” I pulled two mugs from the third cabinet I’d tried and pressed the pause button on the coffeepot, then filled them both.

“You can’t stop it,” she whispered, accepting the mug I pushed toward her. “You can’t stop Jake.”

“No. Not on my own, anyway. At first I thought I could just kill Tower, but—”

“No, you can’t!”

“Because of his successor. I know.”

“You know who it is?” She reached absently for a container of powdered creamer, and her hand shook as she lifted it.

“No. Do you?”

Kenley nodded. “I can’t tell you who it is, but I can tell you that things will be worse for us both—maybe for all three of us—if Jake dies.”

Jonah. It had to be. Who else would both Kori and her sister be so terrified of?

“We don’t have to kill Jake.” Though, personally, I was on board with killing both him and Jonah. “I can stop him from hurting Kori—with your help.” And if she could break the seal binding Kori, she could break the seal binding Steven, too.

She poured the creamer but forgot to stir it. “How?”

But she wasn’t ready to hear that just yet. I’d have to work up to it. “Kori loves you more than anything, you know,” I said, and Kenley nodded, still dazed with shock, sipping from her mug, and when she lowered it, a clump of powdered creamer stuck to her upper lip. “She’s given up her whole life to protect you, and because of that, she’s been through things I can’t imagine.”

“There was nothing I could do.” Her voice shook. “Jake wouldn’t tell me where she was. I couldn’t help her.”

“She’s melting down, Kenley. They fucked her up in that cell. She’s out now, but it’s not over for her. One minute, she’s spitting nails and throwing punches, and the next, she’s cowering in the corner, fighting flashbacks and panic attacks.”

Kenley nodded miserably. “I know. She screams in the middle of the night, and the first time I tried to wake her up, she punched me before she even had her eyes open. I’ve done everything I can think of to help her, but she won’t talk about what happened, and therapy isn’t covered under Tower’s medical plan. Not that she’d go if it was. Not that he’d let her. He wants her to suffer.”

“We can help her. You and I.” I held her gaze, trying to emphasize the importance of what I was saying. “She’s given up everything for you. It’s time to give something back.”

“How?” Her mug shook in her hands.

“Let her go, Kenley. Break the binding keeping her here.”

Her head swiveled back and forth, her eyes wide with terror. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. You’re the only one who can. It’s time to set her free.”

She shook her head, and I could see her thoughts flicker over her face before they fell from her tongue. “I can’t. I can’t be here alone. I’m not strong like she is.”

“Bullshit.” My hand slammed into the counter. “You pulled a gun on me, then stole my blood. You are as strong as you need to be, and you can survive this place. I couldn’t say it if I didn’t believe it was true, right?” I said, holding up my palm to remind her of the binding she’d sealed without my consent. “You can even survive the basement. But if you free Kori, she and I will do everything within our power to make sure you never wind up there. You know she’d never abandon you, and she’ll be even better able to help you when she isn’t bound to obey Tower. Do this for her. Do this for all three of us.”