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We’ve argued before, like most couples do, but she’s never looked at me like she is right now. It claws into my heart, muscle and blood torn to pieces as the woman I love slips away from me.

“I only knew years later,” I explain, and it’s true. She had let slip the town she lived in, and it sounded familiar. When I looked into it, I realized it wasn’t too far from where I grew up, and not even that far from the Agency. I figured that was why it sounded so familiar, but it wasn’t.

I killed Silence’s father.

Someone called the hit on him, and it was sent to me completely by chance. I did a messy job, clearly not even checking he was dead, but I’d heard someone come home and ran. That person was Silence.

“We can talk about it at home,” I say. “We can fix this, but we have to go, now.”

I pull Silence toward the helicopter, but she wrenches her hand free.

“No. You can’t fix this.”

She walks away, and it feels like my heart goes with her. I go after her.

“Silence!”

My wife turns, and she shoves me, such rage in her expression that I don’t even know how to respond.

“She’ll hate you. Forever.”

“I’m sorry⁠—”

“Get away from me. Stay away from me.”

Silence walks away, her hair still blowing in the wind. The heat across my skin ramps up, and I lose breath. I barely register Charlie’s hand on my shoulder.

“Go. I’ll get her.”

I meet my friend’s eye. “She needs me.”

“You need a doctor. I’ll bring her home, Z.”

Time moves with the beat of my heart. I’m helped into the helicopter. Xavier is asking me questions. Yale is staring after Silence.

Charlie goes after her, and she’s yelling at him.

She’s furious. Broken.

Because of me.

“What the fuck is happening?” Xavier demands. “Why isn’t she coming with us? Z?” I watch my wife, her shaking her head and gesturing toward us, her finger cutting through the air as she jabs it in our direction.

Like we’re the enemy.

“Because we don’t deserve her,” I say, and though my words are lost to the noise, Xavier must recognize my pain, because he sits back, lips parted.

The helicopter lifts into the air, and the woman I love becomes distant in so many ways I thought she never would.

Chapter 42

Xavier

The moment the helicopter lands at the Agency, I’m out of it. I stride over to the doors where Envy is waiting. “Where’s Charlie?”

She folds her arms. “He isn’t answering.”

Yale is helping Zayden up the steps. The adrenaline is wearing off, and he’s pale again. Or maybe his heart is broken.