I turned away from the sound, taking the long way home. Six hours. Just six more hours and—
The impact knocked the coffee from my hand, sending it splashing across the sidewalk. I’d walked straight into what felt like a wall, too lost in thoughts of midnight to watch where I was going. Looking up, my stomach dropped to the ground.
The granite-skinned enforcer stood like a statue carved from a nightmare, his crystalline features catching the last light like broken glass. Behind him loomed his partner, the one wreathed in perpetual shadow, darkness coiling around him like smoke.
“Look who tried his luck at being a cat burglar.” The words scraped out like gravel over steel. “The Madam’s been looking forward to seeing you again.”
Granite took one thundering step closer. “Breaking into her private vault. Trying to destroy valuable property.” His granite fingers flexed. “She doesn’t take kindly to theft, you know.”
I backed up, my hearthammering against my ribs. Smokey hadn’t spoken yet, but darkness writhed around him like living ink, reaching toward me with smoky tendrils.
“That contract is mine,” I said, proud that my voice didn’t shake. “I have a right to take it.”
“No,” Granite took another step forward. Behind him, streetlights began flickering to life, their witch-light casting strange shadows across the hard lines of his frame. “Everything in the Madams club belongs to her. Including you, whether you like it or not.”
Ice shot through my veins. They’d been watching for me to resurface, waiting to catch me alone. This would not go well for me.
“The thing is,” he continued, closing the distance between us, “the Madam doesn’t like it when people try to steal from her. Especially not after she’s been so generous.”
“That bitchfucking sold me.” The word slipped out before I could stop it.
His smile was like watching stone crack. “Wrong choice of words.”
The first blow caught me in the ribs, right where he’d left bruises the last time I saw him. I stumbled backward, trying to remember how to breathe. Smokey circled around, cutting off my escape route. The street had emptied, everyone else sensing the violence about to unfold.
“She gave you a jobwhen no one else would touch you,” Granite spat. “Fed you, clothed you, put a roof over your head. You were her favorite.”
“She sold videos of me without my consent,” I gasped, tasting copper as I spat blood onto the concrete. “Filmed me without my knowledge. Made money off my body without giving me a single fucking cent.”
The kick to my stomach lifted me off the ground. I rolled, trying to get my feet under me, but darkness wrapped around my ankle like a vise. The shadow enforcer dragged me back, his touch burning cold through my jeans.
Panic clawed up my throat. I reached for my glamour, letting it build until it spilled out of me in waves. “Stop,” I commanded, putting everything I had into the word. “Let me go.”
The shadow’s grip loosened for just a moment—long enough for me to wrench free and scramble to my feet. I ran.
Their footsteps thundered behind me as I darted down the nearest alley. A gunshot cracked through the air, brick dust exploding beside my head.What the fuck? They’re trying to kill me!
The cemetery gates loomed ahead, iron bars casting long shadows in the dying light. I vaulted over the low stone wall instead, my dress shoes slipping on frost-covered grass. Another shot rang out, closer this time. My heart threatened to burst from my chest as I weaved between headstones.
A massive marble tombof some long-dead wealthy family rose before me like salvation. I crashed behind it just as another bullet chipped the corner, sending white dust showering over my shoulders. My lungs burned with each desperate breath, the taste of blood sharp on my tongue.
“Come out, come out, pretty boy,” Granite’s voice echoed across the graves. “You’re just making this worse for yourself.”
Footsteps crunched on frozen grass. I pressed myself harder against the cold stone, trying to make myself smaller. The shadow enforcer’s darkness was seeping across the ground like fog, searching.
“The Madam might have let you live, before,” the voice was closer now. “But after trying to steal from her? Breaking into her personal vault? She’d want me to make an example of you.”
I was going to die here. Die hiding behind a stranger’s tomb, and no one would ever know what really happened to me. They’d toss my body in an open grave and cover me with a little dirt. No one would be the wiser. Would Kronos wonder why I didn’t show up? He’d think I’d ghosted him for good. It’d be in the literal sense and he wouldn’t even get the irony.
Heavy boots crossed the grass with deliberate slowness, passing right by my hiding spot. A familiar hand dropped onto my head, and I jumped back with my hands over my head, expecting a crushing blowing that never came.
“Stay down,” Kronos’s voice was deadly soft. “I’ll handle this.”
“Run,” I hissed, grabbing for his sleeve. “Kronos, they have guns—”
His laugh was dark, primal—nothing like the playful sounds I remembered. The air around him vibrated with barely contained power. When he stepped out from behind the tomb, he prowled toward the sound of the enforcers with no fear.
“Gentlemen.” His accent was thicker, rougher. “I believe you’re hunting something that belongs to me.”
