By the time I hit the garage floor, I was breathless, shaking, and furious. Angry, yes—but scared too. Every muscle was taut, my lungs dragging in air that felt too thick. No one moved toward me. No one stopped me moving and I was right there with them now, in their space, no longer the fragile person upstairs. My body screamed in protest, but I stood tall, defiant, waiting for someone to say something—anything.
No one did.
Instead, they exchanged looks, and finally, Rio sighed. “I was fighting, but it was a cage fight, and this is just me coming home and getting Enzo to stitch me up.”
He wasn’t telling the whole truth. That much was obvious from the way wouldn’t quite meet my eyes. But I could live with it—ifthis was just about fists and bruises and pride, and not anything involving assassins, rogue AI, or Kessler’s long shadow creeping back into my life. If this pain written across Rio’s face came from something clean—even something brutal—I could breathe.
But I wasn’t sure.
And that uncertainty was a splinter I couldn’t dig out.
“Kitchen,” Enzo ordered, and Rio jerked, and then strode to the small kitchen, sitting at the table. Robbie and Enzo exchanged yet another unspokenthing, and Robbie went back through the door, which led to a room full of filing cabinets and a bed. Okay then.
I followed and took another seat at the table, across from Rio. I watched as Enzo tugged a heavy-duty first aid kit from the top of the fridge—one of those army-style green metal boxes, with rusted corners and dented sides. He cracked it open, rummaged through the supplies as if he knew exactly what he needed.
He pulled out antiseptic wipes, gauze, surgical tape, and a pack of butterfly stitches. No words. No soft hands. He grabbed Rio’s chin, tilted his head toward the overhead light, and inspected the cut over his eye with a huff.
“This is gonna sting,” he muttered, and then scrubbed the wound clean with one of the wipes. Rio didn’t flinch, but I did. The skin split wider under Enzo’s thumb.
After he was satisfied, Enzo tore open the packet and applied two butterfly stitches with clinical efficiency, pressing them across the gash.
“You get punched in the same place every time, or do you ask for it?” Enzo said dryly.
Rio didn’t answer. Just stared straight ahead, his knuckles white against the table.
“Did you win?” I asked, to fill the silence.
“Yes,” Rio said. That was it—one word. But Rio closed his eyes for a moment. “Knocked him out,” Rio added. “He had a seizure. Doc was there. We owe Doc a favor.”
“A what now?” Enzo snapped the question, horror in his tone.
“Don’t ask,” Rio muttered.
“Fuck!” Enzo cursed. “Since when is Doc making deals?”
“I was fucking desperate,” Rio whispered. His hands were clenched in his lap, shoulders drawn in on themselves, heavy with guilt—or maybe regret.
Enzo sighed heavily. “We’ll deal with whatever that asshole wants when it happens.” Then he grasped Rio’s shoulder. “Go home, Rio. Take some meds, okay?”
They bumped fists, then Enzo disappeared into the back room where Robbie was, the door clicking softly shut behind him. The moment it closed, the room felt heavier—quieter somehow. Rio sat in silence, hunched, eyes on nothing. I wonder howmany times Rio had needed to be fixed? It had to be a lot because Enzo dealt with it as if he were used to it.
I didn’t know what to do with myself. Everything in me still buzzed from adrenaline and fear, but it had nowhere to go. I shifted in my seat. Then, for some reason—maybe because I couldn’t stand the silence—I spoke.
“You know, I’ve trained in a few styles. Nothing flashy, just stuff that works. I have to be clever. Use my size to my advantage.” Rio didn’t react, so I pressed on. “I know grappling. Dirty boxing. Pressure points. That kind of thing. I don’t win with strength—I win by making people overreach. By making them think I’m weaker than I am.”
He finally glanced at me. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. So what do you do?”
He deadpanned, “I punch people.”
I blinked.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
I stared at him for a beat, then let out a breath that might’ve been a laugh. “Well. I guess it works.”
