CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO #2
I didn’t want to stop them. I didn’t want to run.
Because he sold her. He fucking sold her like she was nothing.
Like she was meat. Like she didn’t matter.
And maybe that made me monstrous, but I didn’t care.
He deserved everything that was coming to him.
And somehow, they were allowed to do it.
To beat him. To threaten him. To hold a gun to his head.
But when I burned someone, when I lost control, it was a problem.
We needed to keep a low profile. Stay quiet.
Stay safe. I guess they forgot about that in the heat of the moment.
Still. Seemed unfair. Although I couldn’t lie.
There was something disturbingly satisfying about seeing them like this.
Together. Moving in sync. One rage. One purpose.
With an unspoken rhythm and shared fury. And gods help me, but I felt good.
“Please!” the man shrieked. “I can’t undo what I did—I’m sorry!”
Will stepped forward. Not fast. Not gentle. Just... inevitable. His boots squelched through the mess on the floor. He crouched down, slow and cold, eyes like broken glass.
“Don’t apologize to us. Apologize to her.”
The man turned toward me.
“I’m sorry—Miss—I’m so sorry, please—”
“Miss?” I said. “I thought it was bitch.”
The fire inside me curled tight, but didn’t rise. It stayed where it was, quiet, pulsing beneath my skin, almost amused. Like it knew I didn’t need it right then. The boys had it covered.
“Miss, I am so sorry,” the man begged. “I beg your pardon. Please. Forgive me.”
I stared at him. Bloodshot eyes. Face split and smeared with paint and snot. He looked like a ruined thing. And all I felt was disgust.
“No,” I said. “I don’t forgive you.”
I turned toward the door, legs stiff, body aching. My heart felt like a stone dragging behind me. Will followed me. His steps were always steady. Always there.
“We’re done here,” he said.
The door creaked open. Cold air slipped in. But I looked back once, just once. Aran was still standing over the man. The knife was in his hand now. His gaze locked on the bleeding mess below him, like he was doing the math.
What it would cost to let it go. What it would cost if he didn’t.
I turned to Will the moment the door closed.
”That was,” I started. “I’ve never seen you so…” My voice trailed, unsure how to name what I’d just witnessed. Dangerous? Commanding? Intriguing?
He looked away, like maybe he regretted letting me see it. That part of him. Whatever part that was.
“I couldn’t let him say those things about you.” His voice cracked like it cost him something to admit it. How he’d stepped in like I was some damsel in distress. “I just—fuck—I’m sorry. I—”
“No.” I stepped closer. “Don’t be sorry. You’ve seen me do far worse.”
That, and… I kind of liked having someone fight for me. A knight in shining armor, riding in on a white horse to defend my honor. I didn’t mind it at all. The boys knew I could’ve handled it. That I didn’t need saving. But they stepped in anyway.
He blinked, then let out a soft breath of laughter. “You know what? You’re right.”
“It was kind of…” I tilted my head, mouth tugging into something like a smile. “Chivalrous, actually.”
I batted my lashes at him, half teasing, half terrified of what I felt. Aran was still inside, probably torturing a man, and I was out there flirting. It didn’t make sense. None of it did. But maybe that was the point. Nothing had made sense for a long time. Nothing, except for Will.
Even in all the blood and smoke, he still felt like something solid. Like something real. And maybe, just maybe, I liked the way rage looked on him. That sharp edge beneath the quiet. That instinct to protect. It had always been there, buried beneath his gentleness.
I glanced at his face, and noticed a thin cut along his cheekbone.
I don’t know how I hadn’t seen it before, maybe I’d been too caught up in everything else.
My hand moved without thinking. I reached up, fingers brushing the line of his jaw as I gently cupped his face.
And he didn’t recoil, he leaned into my touch.
Not startled, just... aware. My palm pressed lightly over the cut, and I closed my eyes.
The glow stirred beneath my skin, faint, steady. I let it out slowly. Not rushed. Not afraid. Just... letting the light do what it wanted to. It shimmered between us, warm and soft, and in seconds the cut sealed, his skin once again soft and smooth beneath my fingertips.
“You’re getting good at that,” he said.
I met his gaze. “It’s easy when it’s you.”
Something shifted in his expression, something unspoken and dangerous. His eyes locked on mine, and for one dizzying second I thought he might kiss me.
“I lost it in there.” His voice was low, rough. “That’s not who I am. I don’t want you to see me like that.”
“And what if I liked it?”
The cold night faded around us, until it felt like there was nothing left in the world but him.
“You shouldn’t say things like that.” he breathed.
I smirked. “Why not?”
He stepped closer. Just enough for the air to shift, for my pulse to stutter.
“Because I might do something stupid.”
I tilted my face up. “Like what?”
His eyes flicked down to my mouth, and warmth rushed through me, spreading from my chest to my fingertips. His hand hovered near mine, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off his skin.
Then the door behind us creaked open, and the moment shattered.
“Am I interrupting something?”
Aran stalked forward, the door slamming shut behind him. His knuckles were split and bleeding, blood trailing down his fingers. His voice was calm, but his eyes hadn’t cooled at all.
“What did you do with him?” I asked, forcing my voice steady.
He shrugged. “Left him breathing.”
“You didn’t kill him?”
I wasn’t sure what I expected, or what I wanted. But the disappointment must’ve shown, because Aran’s brow lifted.
“Did you want me to?”
I didn’t answer. I wasn’t sure I knew.
“No. I—I don’t know.”
Aran tilted his head, studying me. “That’s a side of you I never thought I’d see. Also never heard you curse before.”
“I’m... not okay.” The words fell out of me, like they’d been waiting in my chest, swelling and splintering until they couldn’t be held in any longer.
He let out a breath, half a laugh. “Yeah, no shit.”
It was possibly the most obvious thing I’d ever said, but it felt good to admit it. To say it out loud. The disappointment I felt, the small, twisted urge to go back in there and finish what the boys started… Yeah. I clearly wasn’t okay.
We started walking back to the hotel. Will and I walked ahead, side by side, our steps slow against stone. The streets were quiet in the evening, with only a few figures moving beneath the soft golden haze of lanterns. Alevé felt gentler at night, slower, quieter.
I shot him a look, but my lips twitched. “You know, it was kind of nice watching you two fight someone else for once. Instead of each other.”
Will huffed a small laugh, but Aran didn’t say a word. He just kept walking, gaze focused somewhere far ahead.
“Yeah, haven’t done that in a while,” Will said.
“My heroes.” I drawled. ”Oh what would I have done without you two?”
“Probably ended up scorching the building.”
I slowed a little. “Okay,” I said, glancing over my shoulder. “When are you gonna tell us what’s wrong? You’re unusually quiet.”
Aran looked at me. “Aside from us nearly killing that guy?”
“Aside from that.” I said.
He didn’t answer right away.
“There’s something you’re not telling us,” I pushed. “I can feel it. Don’t lie to me.”
Aran finally exhaled through his nose, his jaw shifting. “Fine, but you won’t like it.”
“I already don’t,” I muttered.
Will slowed too, glancing between us. “Come on, what is it? Did he say something else?”
Aran shrugged, then rubbed at his temple. “Sort of.”
I slowed my steps, eyes narrowing. “What? What did he say?”
“Hey, come on. If you don’t tell us, we’ll have to interrogate it out of you.” Will said, bumping Aran’s shoulder lightly.
He didn’t laugh. Just exhaled and rubbed his jaw with one hand. “The word theatre… it seemed off. So I kept asking. What kind of theatre buys girls? It shouldn’t be that hard to hire people. Especially not in a city like this. There had to be more to it.”
Will furrowed his brow. “And?”
“It’s not a theatre,” Aran said, his voice low, almost lost to the wind. “Not really.”
My stomach dropped. Something in the way he said it told me everything I needed to know. I shouldn’t have asked, but I couldn’t help myself.
“Then what is it?”
He didn’t look away. Just held my gaze with that quiet apology that always came before the worst kind of truths.
“It’s a front,” he said. “For a brothel.”