CHAPTER 16 #2
"Like a target," I correct her sharply. "Nikolai knows you are here. He is planning a way to get you out. If he takes you, Ivy, if he drags you into a van or a boat... I need to know. Instantaneously."
"This isn't protection!" she screams, tears spilling over. "This is control! You want to know where I am every second so I can't hide from you! So I can't have one moment of privacy!"
"Privacy is dangerous," I say. "Privacy gets you killed."
I run my thumb over the platinum band.
"It monitors your heart," I say softly. "Right now, you’re at 110 beats per minute. You’re scared. Last night... when you came... it hit 140."
Her face goes white. "You’re going to watch my heart rate?"
"I’m going to watch everything."
I stand up, towering over her. She pulls her legs back onto the bed, curling into a ball, trying to hide the shackle.
"You are a monster," she sobs. "I thought... last night... I thought maybe you were human. But you’re not. You’re just a jailer with a lot of money."
"I am whatever I need to be to keep you alive," I say.
I turn to leave. I need to get back to the war room. I need to calibrate the perimeter sensors.
"Silas!"
I stop at the door.
"If I cut it off?" she threatens. "If I find a saw?"
I look back at her.
"It’s made of aerospace-grade titanium alloy coated in platinum. You’d saw through your own bone before you scratched the metal."
She flinches.
"Don't try it, Ivy. Please."
I walk out.
Two hours later, I am back in the conservatory.
I needed to see her. I watched the dot on my phone screen—a pulsing green light labeled WIFE—moving from the bedroom to the kitchen, then to the conservatory.
I stand in the doorway, watching her paint.
She is attacking the canvas.
Yesterday, her strokes were tentative, careful. Today, they are violent. She is using a palette knife, slashing black and gray oil paint onto the white surface.
She hasn't seen me yet. She is lost in the work.
I walk closer, silent on the stone floor.
I look at the painting.
It is the view from the window—the cliffs, the ocean. But the sky isn't blue. It’s a swirling vortex of charcoal and crimson. And in the center, rising from the waves, is a figure.
It’s not a mermaid. It’s not a woman.
It’s a cage.
A birdcage made of bones, floating on the black water. And inside the cage... a heart. A bright, bleeding red heart.
It is disturbing. It is dark.
It is beautiful.
"You’re angry," I say.
Ivy jumps, spinning around. She holds the palette knife like a shank. Her eyes are wild. There is a smear of black paint on her cheek.
"Get out," she snaps.
"I like it," I say, nodding at the canvas.
"You like it?" She laughs, a harsh, brittle sound. "Of course you do. It’s your masterpiece. You built the cage, Silas."
"And you put your heart inside it," I point out.
She freezes. She looks at the painting. The heart inside the bone cage.
"I didn't..." She trails off. "That’s not what it means."
"Isn't it?"
I step closer. I take the palette knife from her hand before she can decide to use it on me. I toss it onto the table.
I grab her waist and pull her against me. She smells of turpentine and fury.
"You can hate the cage, Ivy," I whisper, looking down into her defiant eyes. "You can rattle the bars. You can paint it in blood. But you are safe inside it."
She glares at me. "I’m not safe from you."
"No," I agree. "You’re not."
I brush my thumb over the paint smudge on her cheek.
"I am the only danger allowed in your life."
My phone buzzes in my pocket. A specific, urgent vibration pattern.
Threat Level One.
I stiffen. Ivy feels the change in my body immediately. Her eyes widen.
"What is it?"
I pull out the phone.
A text from Luca. Attached is a photo.
It’s a photo of a man tied to a chair. He has been beaten. His face is swollen, unrecognizable, but the suit he’s wearing... I recognize the suit.
It’s Marcus Ross. Ivy’s father.
Under the photo, a single line of text:
THE DEBT IS NOT CLEARED. I WANT THE ASSET BACK. 24 HOURS.
Nikolai has him.
I look at Ivy. She is watching my face, searching for answers. She sees the darkness descending.
"What happened?" she whispers.
I lock the phone screen.
"Nothing you need to worry about," I say.
"You’re lying. I can tell when you lie. Your left eye twitches."
I grab her face. "Go to your room. Lock the door. Do not come out until I come for you."
"Silas—"
"GO!" I roar.
She flinches, then turns and runs. I watch the platinum band flash on her ankle as she flees.
I wait until she is gone.
Then I look at the photo again.
Nikolai wants a trade. Her father for her.
I look at the painting of the bleeding heart in the cage.
Marcus Ross sold his daughter. He threw her to the wolves. He doesn't deserve to be saved.
But if I let him die... if Nikolai sends pieces of him to the Estate... it will break her.
And I need her whole.
I dial Luca.
"Get the car," I say. "We’re going hunting."
"And the girl, Boss?"
"Activate the perimeter lockdown. Level 5. If a squirrel crosses the lawn, I want it vaporized."
I hang up.
I look at the empty conservatory.
I am going to war. And this time, I’m not just fighting for territory.
I’m fighting for her heart.
And I will burn the world down before I let anyone else touch it.