Eris
It’s been three days since the body disappeared without a trace.
Three days of silence that feels engineered.
Three days of pretending things are normal, even though Daniel keeps testing the waters.
We eat breakfast as if we’ve been in this routine for a decade. Fluffy eggs and thick bacon and toast that’s perfectly crispy. The coffee is exactly the way I prefer it, and I have yet to get bored with being locked in this fortress with my HimLock guys.
Jace steals bites off my plate like he doesn’t have the same food minus the hot sauce. And then he fusses about the spice level. This morning, he discovered I can do more pullups than him, and I laughed until I cried when he asked me to do it again naked.
Kieran always, always touches me every time he’s near. My wrist, my shoulder, the small of my back… It feels like he’s checking if I’m still solid, but I suspect it’s just his way of acknowledging my presence without breaking his concentration.
Silas soaks it all in. He pulls me into his lap while I pretend-argue with Jace, and he lets me go with whispered commands of distracting Kieran. I think they’re happy to see Silas relaxing. He still doesn’t talk as much as the other two, but his actions are loud.
From the outside, it looks calm.
Domestic.
Safe.
Inside, I’m filled with exposed voltage, waiting to put my hand flat on a chest and stop a heart.
Because Daniel is still out there.
He keeps slipping into the security feeds like a bad habit the system can’t quite break. Sometimes it’s a blurry shot, and it’s never centered… But it’s always just enough to remind me he exists.
A shadow in the hallway of my apartment building.
His side profile reflected in a storefront window near my usual stops and shops.
He was being careful until recently.
I almost found myself hopeful the new behavior would stick…
Then we saw him outside the loft.
He comes only once, and he doesn’t go near the door. But he stands outside for twenty minutes with his hands in his pockets, like he’s supposed to be in the warehouse district. Like he’s just casually waiting for a bus or a friend.
The footage makes my teeth ache.
Right now, though?
The wall of monitors is alive with views of my apartment and Daniel.
From the hallway camera, we watch him kick the door in as if he’s part of a SWAT team.
He moves through my apartment, from screen to screen in front of me… And I can’t quite figure out what he’s looking for. Maybe a sign that I’ve been back? Or something he’s left in his many returns?
Whatever he’s searching for isn’t there anymore.
He stops in the center of the living room, lets his shoulders drop, and screams so aggressively that his entire body shakes. Kieran unmutes the sound and immediately regrets it, turning the volume down as fast as he can while rubbing at his ear.
But Daniel has no words today.
Just sounds.
Raw. Animalistic.
Completely fucking unhinged.
He throws a lamp hard enough to not only shatter the ceramic but put a big fucking hole in the wall too.
That’s the start of his rampage. It carries him through to the kitchen where he punches through a cabinet door, splintering the wood and ripping skin from his knuckles.
And if that wasn’t enough for me to witness…
he also overturns all the furniture from the coffee table to my mattress.
Daniel paces between bouts of his tantrum. There’s some head slapping and shaking, and these angry gasping breaths that look like he’s trying not to dry-land drown.
He doesn’t cry, although that would be easier to watch than him tearing apart something I worked hard to pay for.
I walk away when he turns to my dresser and starts snatching drawers out. I’ve seen all I need to see.
He’s spiraling.
Losing control.
I thought this moment would make things better, easier… But somehow this makes it worse.
More personal than it was a few days ago.
I understand his frustration, though. That’s the part I don’t enjoy admitting.
I vanished from his world without his permission. And when I reappeared, in someone else’s arms, unreachable and thriving, he didn’t handle it well.
In three someone else’s arms.
My point is… I’m taking up space he can’t touch anymore. He can’t control me, not that he ever did, nor can he rewrite any of our run-ins to make himself out to be the victim.
And it’s driving him insane.
But too much insanity is unpredictable.
I glance at the tablet propped in front of me on the kitchen counter. Kieran’s setup is flawless, auto-flagging movement in layered feeds from my apartment and the street-facing cameras outside the building.
It pings again, and I hit the button on the side to quiet it.
False alarm.
It’s just the man from the fourth floor walking his dog.
Daniel hasn’t left the building yet.
Still, my fingers twitch as if they’re itching for something more solid to latch onto… A throat, perhaps?
I’m ready for resolution.
I want him to show up again.
Roo and I have talked our plans to death, and each one feels a little off. But at this point, I’m just done waiting. Done hiding behind glass and cameras and the careful concern in three different pairs of eyes.
I want him dead.
Today.
And if the guys don’t find him first, if their patience stretches one hour too long, I’m going hunting.
I close the tablet and stand slowly, as if any sudden movement might fracture the control I’m holding onto by my fingernails.
My gun is still in the kitchen drawer, boots by the garage door.
My pulse is steady, and… Roo is calling.
I swear she has a sixth sense for when I’m about to do something reckless on my own. It’s her way of inviting herself along so I don’t get into more trouble than necessary.
“Hello, my beautiful Russian soulmate. What can I do you for?”
She scoffs at my overzealous greeting. “Daniel isn’t going to stop until someone makes him.”
“I know.” I frown at the phone. “What are you thinking?”
“Ivan called,” she whispers conspiratorially. “There’s a ship leaving in the morning.”
“You don’t say,” I sing, a grin stretching across my lips.
Kieran spins in the computer chair at the wall of monitors to give me a questioning glance.
“Open the door,” Roo deadpans. “Before I fry their security system to see my bestie.”