Yale
It’s Xavier’s sixth kick of the bar that finally breaks my patience.
“X, will you fucking give it up?”
He ignores me, continuing to slam the sole of his boot into the metal. He’s been doing it for two weeks, and it hasn’t budged, but he’s convinced it’s coming loose.
As the banging continues, I focus on Zayden. He’s still seated, head back, eyes closed. Sweat drips down his temple. “Z, you doing okay?”
He hums quietly, his nod slow. “Thought … thought I saw Silence.”
I grit my teeth together, not bothering to tell him that he did, because it’ll only worry him. He’s been drifting in and out of consciousness for days, his wounds clearly infected. He mumbles our names in his sleep, but he mainly asks for Silence.
“We’ll get back to her,” I say, but Zayden doesn’t respond.
A door slams, and for a moment I think Xavier’s actually got out, until I realize the sound came from down the hall.
I stand quickly, my gaze snapping to Xavier’s, and even though I wish she were anywhere else, I want to see Silence again.
I want to kiss her, make sure she’s okay, that she’s surviving.
Instead, Ryker appears with an older man.
“Who the fuck’s this?” Xavier asks, but he’s ignored. Ryker goes directly to Zayden’s cell and unlocks it, letting the older man in. “No. No.” Xavier grips the bars. “Don’t you fucking touch him.”
The man kneels in front of Zayden, placing a bag beside him. Ryker watches quietly, almost irritated.
“Ryker,” I say, and he looks at me. “Is he a doctor?” He doesn’t respond, and I don’t want to ask again, but this guy’s ego requires something—to be loved. He wants to think controlling people like this works in his favor, so I’ll talk softly, and I’ll fucking thank him if I have to.
The doctor sighs. “This isn’t good. He’s burning up, and there’s a good chance the infection is spreading. He probably needs IV antibiotics.”
“No,” Ryker says. “Nothing he can use as a weapon.”
The doctor gestures at Zayden. “He’s unconscious.”
“But he won’t be if you treat him,” Ryker says sardonically. “Just inject him with something.”
As the doctor does as he’s told, Ryker’s phone rings. He goes into the hall to answer it, and while Xavier tries to talk the doctor into helping us, I move to the other side of my cell and listen to Ryker.
“—not fucking good enough, is it?” he hisses. “She’s one woman. Find her and fucking deal with her.”
My heart lifts.
Envy.
She’ll be tearing the city apart looking for us.
Ryker returns, and the doctor stands. “I’ve given him something to start with, and I’ll leave you with more. He’ll need an injection every twelve hours if you want him to live, so I’ve given you enough for the next five days.”
“You know the way out.”
The doctor nods, hands a paper bag to Ryker, and doesn’t give Xavier and I a second glance before leaving.
Ryker stares at Zayden, disgust twisting his features. He approaches our brother’s cell, his fingers tightening on the paper bag.
Then, he dips his hand into it and takes out a vial.
Drops it.
And stands on it.
“Ryker!” I shout.
He drops another.
And another.
“Fucking stop!” Xavier yells.
“You fucker! If he dies, she’ll never fucking forgive you! You know that, right?”
Ryker runs his tongue across his teeth and regards me with empty eyes. “I only need him alive long enough for him to tell Silence the truth.” He steps close to me. “Then she won’t care if he dies.”
I count the passing seconds by the distant dripping of a pipe. Sitting on the floor, my head back against the wall, I flick stones. Xavier has given up on fighting the loose bar and is resting his forehead against the cell, eyes closed.
“What do you think he meant?” I ask. “About Zayden telling Silence the truth?”
Xavier shrugs. “He’s fucked in the head. He probably doesn’t even know what he means at this point.”
I sit forward. “Something doesn’t add up, though. He might be a fucking weirdo, but he’s smart, and he sounded sure about what he knew.”
“Zayden won’t have done anything to Silence that’ll warrant her hating him. And if he had, don’t you think he’d have told us?”
That’s true, but what else could Ryker mean? Unless Xavier’s right and he’s just deep in a delusion, but that makes me worry for Silence even more.
The distant door opens again, and Xavier groans. “Speak of the fucking devil.”
Ryker appears, looking much more put together than he did earlier. He’s holding a pair of handcuffs, his thumb running over the pristine metal as he faces me. “Turn around. Hands between the bars.”
I glance at Xavier. My brother says, “Or, new plan—you go fuck yourself.”
Ryker ignores him. “Yale, I want to talk to you alone, that’s all. His commentary is more than a little grating. Arms through the bars, and I’ll take you upstairs.”
Standing, I stare at the handcuffs. “Only if I can see Silence.”
“She’s sleeping.”
“I just want to check she’s okay. Promise me that, and I’ll come without argument.”
He sighs. “Fine.”
Xavier’s jaw is tight, and I don’t know if this is even close to smart, but I turn and do as Ryker asks. He snaps the cuffs on, and unlocks my cell. For the first time in weeks, I step outside of it.
He leads me upstairs. I don’t remember the layout of the property, because I was unconscious when I was brought here. His men attacked me on the roof, and next thing I knew I was in this hell hole.
The top of the stairs opens into a kitchen, and I immediately look for a weapon—not that I can do much with my hands behind my back. It doesn’t matter, though, because the counters are clear of anything useful.
The house is enormous, and instantly recognizable. We looked at the same place when we were scoping out potential safe houses, but this one’s size worked against us.
“This is the old prisoner place, right?” I ask. “It belonged to some French family before that?”
Ryker keeps stride with me. “Yes. You’ve been here before?”
“Just the once. We almost bought it. Does it still have the greenhouse?”
He glances at me. “Yes.”
“Fucking weird addition.”
“Not when you know why it’s there.”
He leads me upstairs and down a hallway. After opening a door, he ushers me inside. It’s a large bedroom, dark and quiet.
“I’m going to uncuff you, and I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Silence. This house is equipped with a security—”
“The twelve-hour code, I know. I won’t try anything.”
He pauses. “You agreed far too quickly.”
“I have no idea where the woman I love is. I’m not gonna kill the man who holds the key to her.”
A few seconds pass, and he takes off the handcuffs. “Go into the en suite.”
I do as I’m told, and the bright lights of the bathroom make me squint. Catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I can’t even believe it’s me. My beard is overgrown, my hair a mess, face filthy.
“Shower. Clean clothes are here.” He gestures at a small table, and then he sits on the closed toilet. “You’ve got ten minutes, Yale. Then my kindness runs out.”
“You’re gonna watch?”
“Get over yourself.”
Silently, I strip. I discard my clothes, and stepping under the warm spray is fucking heaven.
Cranking the heat up, I let the water beat against my skin, dirt and blood disappearing down the drain.
For a minute, I just stand there, running over my options.
I can’t kill Ryker, not without that code or knowing where Silence is, so I’ll just have to play along for now.
I’ll do whatever needs to be done, even if it is nursing Ryker’s ego.
At the end of the day, it’s Zayden and Xavier he wants.
If anyone here can rationalize with him, it’s Silence or me.
I scrub shampoo into my hair three times and foam up a sponge, rubbing my skin until it burns. Then I switch off the shower and step out.
“You didn’t have a hand in killing my brother,” Ryker finally says, lifting his attention from his phone.
“And that’s why I’m out and they’re not?”
“That’s why I have more patience for you. It also helps that you’re smarter and don’t run your mouth like Xavier.”
“Well, brains and brawn were split between us. Xavier didn’t get much of either.”
It burns my throat, talking shit about my brother, but if it helps get on Ryker’s good side, I’ll do it. I pull on underwear and sweats, grateful to have clean clothes against my skin.
Ryker watches me. “A year ago, you were offered a job by a global tech company called Nemesis.” I blanch, speechless that he even knows that.
“They offered you a lot of money, and the chance to open a branch in the US, where you’d be the head of one of the largest underground cyber organizations in the world. You turned it down. Why?”
I pull on a dark T-shirt, still trying to grab at words. “How … how do you know that?”
He leans forward, resting his forearms on his thighs.
“When I found out my brother had died, I had nothing. Not a penny to my name. I worked hard, got to know the right people, and I discovered that the best currency to have in the world of the super-rich wasn’t money.
It was secrets.” I search his face, trying to analyze his tone.
He isn’t bragging. He’s simply stating what he believes to be true.
“People will do anything to keep a secret. It’s what makes the most powerful men crumble.
A billionaire hires kids for his yacht for the weekend.
An heiress kills her maid in a drunken argument.
You find these things out about people, then they work for you. ”
That fills in the gaps of what I knew about him. It made no sense that he gained power as quickly as he did, but it’s clear now that he’s worked meticulously to get to this level.
“Why didn’t you take the job, Yale?”
I fold my arms. “Because I work with my brothers.”
“No, you work for them,” he corrects. “You follow Zayden’s every command. You’re not as strong as Xavier. What do you do?”
I huff a laugh. “Do you really think we’ve gone our whole lives doing what we do without someone trying exactly what you are? You can’t drive a wedge between us.”
“Is what I’ve said untrue?”