"For her?"
"For now."
He crosses the room and kneels in front of me. Something in his face. Guilt, maybe. Or the weight of loyalty when it's aimed at a monster.
"She's going to sell me, isn't she?" I whisper.
His jaw flexes. "Egor's men are already in the city."
Everything inside me collapses. My throat burns. I grab his sleeve. "Please, Jeffrey. You've known me since I was a kid. You said you'd never let her hurt me."
He looks at me for a long moment. Then leans in, voice barely a whisper.
"That's still true."
The world goes still. "What?"
He glances at the door. Reaches into his jacket. Pulls out a small black handgun and slides it under the blanket beside me.
"Jeffrey..."
Finger to his lips. "Don't talk. Don't cry. Don't make a sound." His eyes are steady, softer than I remember. "You remember how to shoot?"
I nod. My hands tremble as I feel the cool metal under my palm.
"Keep it close. Anyone comes in that's not me, you shoot first. Don't think. Don't wait."
For a second, I forget how to breathe.
Nikolai.
A sob hits my throat before I can stop it. Jeffrey gives me the smallest, saddest smile.
"He's coming for you, kid. Don't make it harder for him."
I bite my lip until I taste blood. The look on Nikolai's face the last time I saw him. The cold, steady rage. The way he stared at me like he was making a promise with his eyes that his mouth couldn't safely say.
I've never seen that kind of love. Not from anyone.
The kind that burns and breaks and saves all at once.
Jeffrey adjusts his jacket. "I'll be close. Stay low. Keep quiet."
Before I can thank him, he's gone.
The lock clicks. Silence rushes back.
I sit gripping the gun, fingers slick with sweat. The weight feels wrong and right. I want to believe. I want to believe he's coming.
But the world has taught me better than that.
Still. I can't stop hoping.
I imagine him out there, tearing through whatever hell Gayle built, and I know. I know he's coming.
I feel it in my bones.
Then the first gunshot tears through the silence.
