“You tried to gas my room,” I say.
He shrugs, as if we’re discussing weather. “I didn’t want her screaming. Screams bring attention.”
“Good,” I say softly. “Attention is what you’re getting.”
One of the suited men shifts, hand tightening on his weapon.
Fyr tilts his head. “You’re making this a scene, Lonari.”
“I’m making it public,” I correct.
His eyes narrow a fraction. “We’re family.”
I let my mouth curve into something cold. “Family doesn’t poison family.”
Fyr’s smile thins. “Family does what it has to.”
I take another step forward, and the room seems to tighten around me. The suited men hesitate—because it’s one thing to kill a human in a quiet room, and another thing to point a gun at me when my name still carries weight.
“Jordan is under my protection,” I say, voice steady. “Kel knows that.”
“Kel is Godfather,” Fyr replies smoothly. “Kel decides.”
“Kel is afraid,” I say, and the words land like a slap. “And you’re his errand boy.”
Fyr’s jaw flexes, a brief crack in the mask.
“Careful,” he murmurs. “You don’t want to insult Kel.”
“I’m not insulting him,” I say. “I’m stating a fact.”
Footsteps sound in the hallway outside—more, approaching fast. Voices. Renn’s voice among them. Security responding to the power flickers, to the ventilation anomaly, to the alarms the building quietly sent out when someone forced a door without authorization.
Fyr hears it too.
His eyes flick toward the hall, then back to me.
“You’re really going to do this?” he asks. “Over a human?”
“Not over a human,” I say, and my voice drops, dangerous. “Over the truth.”
Jordan steps out of the bathroom then—because of course she does—standing behind me, hair tousled, eyes sharp, wearing my shirt like a flag.
Fyr’s gaze locks onto her.
His smile returns, bright and predatory. “There she is.”
Jordan lifts her chin. “Hi. You smell like failure.”
Fyr’s eyes narrow. “Cute.”
“I know,” she says sweetly. “I try.”
The hallway door bursts open and Renn storms in with three enforcers, weapons raised.
“What the hell—” Renn starts, then stops when he sees Fyr and the two men.
His eyes flick to me. “Boss?”
