I wanted her not to die a prolonged, agonized death, screaming my name in fury, hating me until her last breath.

I sank onto the couch again and met his gaze over the coffee table. “One more day,” I said. “Can Meghan hold on for one more day?”

Aaron looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “What is it about this girl? You’ve only known her for a day.”

“You’d understand if you met her. She needs my help.”

He leaned back in his chair, shaking his head slowly. “She doesn’t need you. She doesn’t even want you—you said that yourself. And even if she did, she’s not worth it. She’s a killer!”

“If she’s killed, Tower made her do it.”

His frown deepened. “And you think being bound to follow orders absolves her of any guilt?”

I exhaled slowly, trying to swallow a sudden surge of guilt and anger when what I really wanted to do was unleash it on him. “I’ve killed under orders, Aaron.”

“You were a soldier.”

“That doesn’t make it right. I’m no more innocent than she is, so if you think hating Kori will make it easier for you to kill her sister to save yours, you may as well hate me, too. She had nothing to do with what happened to Steven.” But we both knew I had, even if inadvertently.

“You’ve lost perspective,” Aaron said, and he sounded sad.

He was right. Being near Kori was like standing on an iron plate holding a compass. I couldn’t tell which way was north. I couldn’t tell what was right. I only knew that I couldn’t kill her sister, and just knowing one plan was impossible made the other look more doable. “One more day, Aaron.”

He frowned. “Ian, I’m not going to let my sister die.”

“I know. Just ask her for one more day.”

Aaron hesitated. He stared at me. And finally he sighed. “I’ll ask her. But if you haven’t broken the binding by this time tomorrow, I’ll do it myself.”

“It won’t come to that,” I insisted. But I couldn’t tell if he believed me.

Hell, I couldn’t tell if I believed myself.

Fifteen

Kori

I shadow-walked into my bedroom and didn’t even have to stretch to reach the light switch, possibly the only advantage to living in very cramped quarters. I had Kenley’s ruined sandals off before I even reached the door and I pulled her blouse over my head as I left the room.

The bathroom was two steps to the right of my room, but the door was closed and a line of light glowed beneath it, so I tossed the shirt through my sister’s open bedroom doorway and ducked into my room for a T-shirt, then stomped through the living room as I pulled it over my head. In the kitchen, I opened the cabinet over the microwave and stared at a half-empty bottle of cheap vodka.

Another drink wouldn’t fix anything. But it couldn’t hurt, either, and I’d thrown up everything I drank at Ian’s.

I was trying to decide whether to bother with a glass or gulp straight from the bottle when the bathroom door creaked open and Vanessa stepped into the living room, wearing her own robe this time.

She’d brought a robe.

“It’s getting crowded around here.” I set the bottle down and reached for a clean glass from the dish drainer.

“Sorry.” Vanessa shrugged and sat on the arm of the couch. “I didn’t think one extra toothbrush would make that much difference.”

I pulled an ice tray from the freezer and dropped it on the counter to break up the cubes. Kenley always overfilled it, so they never came out easily. “I don’t know if you’ve heard,” I said, dropping the first cube into my glass, “but Kenley is off-limits. Untouchable.” At least until Tower decided whether or not to kill me.

“I did hear that.” She crossed the room and sank onto a bar stool across the counter from me, as if I didn’t scare her. But that couldn’t be right.

“Being a girl doesn’t exempt you from that.” I dropped in another cube, then poured an inch of vodka into the glass. Then I poured another inch.

“No, it doesn’t. What exempts me is the fact that she wants me here.”

I stared into Van’s eyes, trying to see the truth, to believe that what I wanted for my sister was even possible in the syndicate. Trying to believe in human connection that wasn’t based on a lie or born in pain. Could a new relationship possibly take root in Jake’s world without being choked by the bitter weeds he’d planted?

What if Vanessa was one of those weeds? I knew nothing about her, and Kenley couldn’t know much more. What if he’d sent her to get close to Kenley and earn her trust—maybe even her affection—so that after he’d killed me, he’d still have someone to threaten in order to control her.

“What are your intentions with my sister?” I said, twisting my glass on the counter when I couldn’t read anything definite in her eyes. I thought she’d laugh. I wouldn’t have taken that question seriously in her position. But her eye contact remained steady and she answered without so much as a smile.

“I intend to love her for as long as she’ll let me. Then a little longer than that.”

I blinked. Then I frowned. “You love her? You don’t even know her.”

“Love is supposed to last forever, Kori. Not take forever. But if it makes you feel any better, Kenley and I had been together almost a month before Jake locked you up.”