“No.” My voice is harsh enough to make her flinch.
I might feel bad if I were all there, but I really can’t find it in me to give a fuck about anyoneotherthan Alina. I’ve been running on fumes for the last five years—now, I’m running on empty.
“It wasn’t an offer.”
Those words don’t come from Scarlett—they come from Max, who’s made his appearance in the doorway.
He’s disheveled. His hair is sticking out in every direction. His eyes are bloodshot. His biceps look marginally smaller.
I might take pleasure in his pain if I cared.
“Scarlett.” Max doesn’t have to say anything else. Scarlett squeezes my leg, stands, and leaves. I watch her hurry by him in the doorway and register that there’s no tension between them whatsoever.
“If I’d known all it took to get you back was Scarlett, I would’ve brought her in here a week ago.”
At another time, I might have a witty comeback of some sort, but I don’t have the brainpower to spare right now. My gaze lowers to my hands, and I examine them distantly. They’re dry. Cracked. My knuckles are bloody—I’m not sure from what. The car crash, probably. One of my fingers is in a splint.
I hear Max’s footsteps taking him closer to me, feel the bed dip under his weight. I’m not sure whatelseI would expect, but the feeling of his hands lifting me out of a pile of blankets and pulling me onto his lap still comes as a surprise. He wraps his arms around me and buries his head in my neck, inhaling deeply against my skin, as if he needs all five senses to confirm that I’m really here.
“Flame,” he whispers. “I’m—”
“Don’t.” My tone is flat and harsh. I didn’t pull myself out of a comfortable fog for him; I did it for my sister, and I have some serious negotiating to do if I want to assure her safety.
“I’m not letting you talk to Cain.” His voice rings with finality.
I’d laugh if I had the effort to spare. “Then he’s going to burst in here and drag me to a cell in the annex soon. And it won’t be that cushy one I first met him in.”
“Tell me what you know.” Again, Max says the words like I’ll bend to his command.
“No.”
“Ember. You’re playingwith—”
“Fire? If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that I was always meant to be burned.”
He argues with me, but I stonewall him. He threatens to punish me or perform his own sort of interrogation, but I don’t bend. I don’t want to talk to Maximus. I don’t even want to be in the same room as him.
I have no real appetite to speak to Cain, either, but it doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice on that front. I’ll do what it takes for Alina—like always.
I think that’s something I understand about Cain. We both have a single weakness, and that weakness is being used against us. In my case, he’s the one using Alina against me… but this gives us some form of common ground.
Eventually, Max relents, but he doesn’t take me to Cain. Instead, he calls Cain here. He sits on the couch in silence, posture tense, silently seething as we await Cain’s arrival.
When the man in question enters, I’m showered, dressed, and sitting at the table. Cain, on the other hand, looks like he hasn’t had a shower in a month, has a bloodshot gaze to match Max’s, and looks on the verge of going completely insane. There’s mania stamped on his normally-blank expression.
He doesn’t waste any time. “What do you know?”he hisses.
“Probably enough to save her.” I don’t make any promises I can’t keep—there’s a chance I’m wrong. It’s slim, but it exists.
“Probably.” He releases a crazed laugh. “Probably?I could skinyou alive—”
“Go ahead.” My voice sounds as exhausted as I hear. “Or, we can skip the fucking posturing. You have the power to hurt someone I care for; I have the power to save someone you care for. I’m here to negotiate. If you want to waste time on threats, be my guest, but every second you delay is another second Azalea is going to be hurt.” I pause. “Badly.”
Cain’s Adam apple bobs as he swallows. My God, he really does care for this poor girl. Maybe he even loves her.
“What do you want?” his tone retains its typical flatness, but there’s also something resigned to it.
“Three things. Number one, you never hurt or threaten to hurt Alina.”
