That's all I need to know.
I'll peel the skin from his bones while he's still breathing. Dismantle everything he's ever built and make him watch it burn. I'll carve through his entire operation with the patience of a monk and the mercy of a starved wildfire.
I don't know where he is yet.
Doesn't matter.
I'll find a way. I always do.
I want him to know I'm coming. Want that knowledge to settle into his bones like a sickness he can't name. I want him waking in the middle of the night, pulse racing, dread pooling in his gut, not understanding why.
Until he does.
And when I finally reach him, when there's nowhere left to runand no one left to hide behind, I'm going to make sure her face is the last thing he sees.
Because she was mine first.
Before him. Before any of this.
Mine.
And no one takes what's mine and keeps breathing.
FIVE
KEIRA
The house is too quiet when it sleeps.
That's when it stands out to me. What it actually is: a mausoleum built for the living.
I sit on the edge of the bed and listen to the silence breathe through the walls. Down the hall, the old clock ticks like it's mocking me. Every single thing in this place has a threat buried under it. The pipes sigh, the vents hum, the floors creak when someone's weight shifts. The staff pretend they're not here, moving through the house like trained spirits.
I used to hate the quiet. Now I'm grateful for it.
It means he isn't home yet.
I don't let myself say his name aloud. Even in my head, it feels like calling something up from hell.
And I'm his wife, technically.
The word doesn't mean much here. It's just a role I play. A title for someone who smiles at dinners, looks polished in photographs, and doesn't speak unless spoken to.
I should go eat something before he gets back. Then I can hide in my room for the rest of the night.
Moving through the motions, I make my way to the kitchen,pausing for a second by Hale's bedroom door so I can hear the soft rhythm of his breathing.
That's the only sound I care about in this house. The only thing that reminds me why I'm still here.
My only reason.
If it were just me, I'd be gone. A plane, a new name, a life small enough to fit inside a fake passport. I've run before. I could do it again. But this time I'd never get far enough—not with the kind of power he has.
He's not the kind of man you escape from.
He's the kind you try to survive.
I pause in the hallway, pulling the window curtain aside to peer down at the courtyard. A pair of guards smoke by the gate, their laughter low and careless. They think this house belongs to the most powerful man in their world.
