Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
PARIS
A familiar and unwelcome voice crawls into my dreams. Gabriel’s voice. I roll over, my hand reaching for Knox’s warmth, for the solid reassurance of his body next to mine, but my fingers find only cooling sheets.
I’m alone.
The voice comes again, clearer now, no longer confined to the realm of nightmares but present in my bedroom. Real. Here.
“Look at you, still clinging to these ridiculous silk sheets. Some things never change.”
My eyes snap open. The room comes into focus, harsh morning light spilling through the gap in my curtains. And there he is—Gabriel, my brother—leaning against my dresser in a suit like he belongs here, like this is still his world and I’m just living in it.
He’s really alive.
His face is the same. Handsome in that cold, calculated way that makes people want to impress him, and the same green eyes as me. Eyes that always looked at me like I was a problem to be solved, not a sister to be loved.
“Gabriel.” I grab the blanket, hoisting it up to my chin, suddenly aware I’m wearing nothing but underwear and Knox’s t-shirt. “What the fuck?”
He smiles, the expression never reaching his eyes. “That’s how you greet your only living relative? I expected at least a hug.”
Movement draws my attention to the door.
Two men flank it—strangers in tactical gear, weapons holstered but visible.
One has short dark hair and a camera hanging around his neck.
The other is broad-shouldered with a neck like a tree trunk, his face fixed in a permanent scowl beneath close-cropped hair, making me clutch the sheets harder.
No sign of Knox. No sign of struggle. No blood. Just these intruders and the ghost of my brother.
Did he leave? Walk out while I slept? After everything we shared last night—after I gave him everything—he disappeared?
Or did they hurt him? Take him? Kill him?
“Where’s—” If Knox got away, I don’t want to give him up. If these men have him, showing I care would only make things worse.
“Why so sad, little sister?” Gabriel steps away from the dresser, closer to the bed. “Not happy to see your brother?”
I shrink against the headboard, as if those few extra inches might protect me.
If Knox had gone for a supply run, he would have told me. Left a note. Something. There’s no reason to leave the safety of the penthouse unless…
Unless he was leaving for good.
Or… Did I imagine him?
Was I that lonely?
“Come on, sis. We haven’t talked in forever.” He perches on my bed, too close, invading my space like he always has. “I missed you.”
“Fuck you.” I scoot back. “How did you get in here?”
“Father gave me keys to your apartment years ago.” He shrugs. “Never thought they’d be useful, but here we are.”
“Why—I’d like you to go.” I glare at the two men standing guard. “Now.”
He tilts his head as if thinking about it.
“I don’t think so. You see, Mike and Alex here were searching the area for watches of all things,” he shoots them a withering look.
The smaller one with the camera shifts uncomfortably while the human mountain remains impassive.
“Then they spotted a brunette girl on the street with fucking glitter on her face, just strolling by zombies. They thought they were imagining things. But I, I thought, surely it couldn’t be my dear sister. Had to see for myself.”
Ice spreads through my chest. Knox’s words from last night echo in my head: “Your brother is hunting us. Capturing people for his experiments.”
“They must have seen wrong,” I say.
“Did you?” Gabriel faces his two bodyguards. “Alex?”
The man with the camera, Alex, nods. “It was her. She was… walking right past those deadheads like they couldn’t see her.”
Gabriel’s fingers dig into my mattress. “And then you lost her.”
“We tried following, but—” Alex’s voice falters under Gabriel’s stare.
“But what? A girl wearing glitter was too difficult to track? In the apocalypse?” He turns to me with those cold eyes. The last time he looked at me like that, I was fourteen and he’d caught me trying to leave the penthouse against Dad’s orders. “Strange coincidence, isn’t it?”
I had become so used to being invisible to the dead that I forgot I was still visible to the living. I messed up. “Blind zombies.”
Mike snorts from his position by the door.
“Always the comedian. But we both know it’s not that. It’s genetics. It’s Father’s work.” Gabriel reaches out to brush my cheek. “Right?”
I recoil from his touch, my skin crawling where his fingers grazed. “Don’t touch me.”
“Paris, Paris.” He stands, straightening his suit jacket. “Father’s greatest success, living under my nose this entire time. I’ve been looking for you for so long.”
Bullshit. Pure bullshit.
I scan the room for weapons, for escape routes, for any sign that Knox was real. “You didn’t even know I was alive until these idiots saw me.”
“Perhaps not actively searching, but I always wondered if father’s treatments might have had… interesting effects on you. Given recent developments.”
Did he know all along what the treatments would do? What they’d make me?
“What do you want, Gabriel?”
“What every brother wants.” He spreads his hands. “To make sure his sister is safe. To bring her home.”
“So you can play mad scientist like Dad?”
“Father wasn’t mad, just ahead of his time. His work saved you, after all.”
“Right. Before it killed millions of others.”
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Oops.” I shrug. “Just a tiny apocalypse. No biggie.”
“Enough with the attitude.” He turns to his men. “Take her.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I say.
Gabriel sighs like I’m a petulant child. “Paris, don’t make this difficult.”
I inch back further on the bed. “Difficult? You abandoned me for a year, and now you want to play happy family? Fuck off.”
Alex and Mike exchange glances. The human mountain steps forward, and any warmth he didn’t have to begin with disappears.
“You have two choices.” Gabriel brushes invisible lint from his sleeve. “Come willingly, or my associates will assist you.”
Fuck it.
I lunge across the bed, sheets tangling around my legs as I scramble toward freedom.
So close. Three steps. Two—
I’m yanked backward, my chin smacking the hardwood floor as Mike’s meaty fingers clamp around my ankle like a vise. The impact rattles my teeth, copper filling my mouth where I’ve bitten my tongue.
“Going somewhere?” He drags me toward him, my shirt riding up as I scramble for purchase on the smooth floor.
“Get the fuck off me!” I kick with my free leg, heel connecting with his forearm. No effect. Might as well have kicked a brick wall.
Gabriel’s expensive shoes appear in my line of vision. “I told you not to make this difficult.”
I spit blood onto his polished leather. “Fuck you.”
“Charming as always.” He steps back, wiping his shoe against the rug. “Alex, help Mike get her up.”
Camera Boy crosses the room, zip ties dangling from his fingers like plastic shackles. My heartbeat hammers in my ears as I thrash against Mike’s grip.
“Hold her still.” Alex kneels beside me.
“Easier said than done.” Mike’s fingers dig deeper into my ankle, sending sharp pain up my leg. “She’s like a fucking cat in a bathtub.”
I try to twist free, but Alex grabs my wrists, wrestling them together despite my struggles.
The zip tie cuts into my flesh as he cinches it. I cry out. Too tight. My fingertips already tingle from the restricted circulation.
“That hurts, you sadistic fuck!” I scream.
Gabriel sighs dramatically from his spectator position. “Paris, you’re making a scene.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Should I be more ladylike while being kidnapped by my psychopath brother?”
Mike hauls me upward like I weigh nothing, flipping me over his rock-hard shoulder. The world tilts and spins, blood rushing to my head.
“Put me down, you fucking gorilla!” I pound my bound fists against his back, accomplishing nothing except bruising my own hands.
“Stop squirming,” Mike’s massive palm clamps down on the backs of my thighs to steady me.
His fingers creep higher than necessary, thick digits sinking into the sensitive flesh where my ass meets my thighs. The unwelcome touch sends revulsion crawling up my spine.
“Move your hand before I bite your fucking ear off,” I hiss.
“Try it.” His hand slides even higher, thumb brushing the edge of my underwear.
I squirm. “Stop!”
“Mike.” Gabriel’s voice carries a warning. “Professional behavior only.”
“Just securing the package, sir.” His hand stays in place, firmly gripping my legs, but no longer actively violating me.
“If you think I’m going anywhere with you—”
Gabriel cuts me off. “You already are, dear sister. The question is whether you arrive with dignity or… not.”
Knox.
I hope you’re okay.