Gael rubs a hand down his face. “Isla tried to downplay it at first. Didn’t want to stress him out.”
Kai’s laugh is sharp and humorless. “She didn’t want to stress me out.”
Andres's jaw flexes. “Where is she now?”
“In the apartment,” Kai says. “With Adriana. Doors locked.”
He paces once, like he can’t hold still because his body wants motion, action, something. Then he stops and looks right at us.
“I need help,” he says and the room goes quiet.
Kai doesn’t ask for help. Kai takes care of things before help is even a thought. So if he’s here, eyes blazing, that means this has crossed the line into something even he knows he shouldn’t do alone.
“What do you need?” Andres asks immediately.
I don’t even hesitate. “Name it.”
Gael’s gaze flicks to me, then Andres, and I see it there too.
Kai’s shoulders lift on a breath. “I’m not letting him think he can threaten her and walk away,” he says. “I’m not letting him think he can still reach her.”
His hand tightens around his phone.
“I’m gonna get rid of Steve.”
Andres doesn’t flinch, but I feel the subtle change in his posture, the way he becomes a wall with a heartbeat.
“Okay,” Andres says carefully. “Define get rid.”
Kai’s mouth twitches, not quite a smile.
Gael steps in like a translator. “Kai means… take the problem off the board.”
I swallow hard.
“Are we talking about getting police involved? Or making a call to 811?” I offer up, because I don’t know what the fuck else to say at this point.
My mind goes places it shouldn’t because I know Kai. I’ve seen the obsession up close. I’ve heard the way he talks about Isla like she’s oxygen. Like the world can burn as long as she’s safe. And suddenly I’m aware of my own pulse, loud in my ears.
I force myself to breathe.
Kai plants his feet. “He’s been escalating. Through friends. Through burner numbers. He sent this tonight because he wanted her scared.”
He looks at Andres. “And he got what he wanted.”
Andres's expression hardens. “No. He wanted her alone.”
Kai’s nostrils flare.
“He won’t get that again,” Andres says, calm but lethal.
I glance between them. This is the part where guys like us, with too much loyalty and too much anger, can turn into headlines. The part where “protecting her” becomes “ruining everything.”
I clear my throat. “Whose car are we taking?” I say, trying to keep it light because the alternative is letting the room tilt into something darker. “Because this could get tricky.”
Kai’s eyes flash, like he appreciates the practicality.
Gael exhales a short laugh, more relief than humor.
