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For three seconds, nobody breathed. Then Covey pulled the trigger.

Ken’s leg buckled. He hit the floor with a scream that rattled the walls. Blood welled through his dark pants — fast, dark, spreading. His hands clamped over his thigh and pressed.

Snowy shrieked. “You fucking asshole!”

“Shut the FUCK up!” Covey swung the pistol at Snowy and Kana. His hair had come undone, brown strands plastered across his forehead with sweat. His eyes were bloodshot—not from drugs, but from something feral tearing its way out. The mask was gone. The TV host was gone. “This is ALL your fault! My quota is ruined because you wouldn’t work with me! Your fucking boy-toy driver took you from my show! FUCK you!”

Alex’s blood turned to ice. “Driver?”

Covey spat in his direction, pistol still aimed at the girls. “Don’t think I’m stupid. I know you sent Connor to spy on me.”

“Where is he?” Alex’s voice dropped to something he didn’t recognize as his own.

“Like I’d tell you.” Covey’s aim steadied between Snowy’s eyes. “You’ll be dead before you see him. He won’t be far beh—”

A shot rang. Covey pitched forward, his gun arm swinging wide. Alex was on him in a heartbeat, grabbing his wrist, cracking the pistol free with the butt of his own gun, and slamming the barrel across Covey’s jaw. Covey hit the floor hard.

Ken lay on his side, pistol still smoking in his outstretched hand, his other hand pressing his thigh. Blood everywhere. Snowy was already running to him.

“Kana!” Hal shoved Ashley towards her. “Go! Now!”

Kana grabbed Ashley by the arm and dragged her screaming into the hallway. The house had erupted, music still thumping through the walls, but now layered with screams, stampeding feet, breaking glass.

Alex was two steps towards the door when his ankle caught. He hit the tile face-first. Covey—blood-smeared, grinning through broken teeth—had him by the leg. Alex kicked him in the mouth. Lunged on top of him. Hit him once. Twice. Three times. Each crack louder than the last.

“Where the fuck is he?” Alex dragged Covey up by the collar. “Where did you take Connor?”

Covey laughed. Blood bubbled between his teeth. “It won’t change anything. When I’m done with you, I’ll finish him off at the farm—”

Alex slammed the back of his skull into the floor. Pulled him up. His fists were shaking. “STOP LAUGHING, YOU PSYCHO!”

He could have kept going. He wanted to. But somewhere above the ringing in his ears—

“Augs!” Hal’s voice. Desperate. Ken sagged against him, barely upright, Snowy clutching the chrome case with dead eyes. “The farm! He said the farm! Let’s GO!”

Alex dropped Covey’s collar. The man’s head lolled against the floor, still smiling. Alex spat on him and ran.

The foyer was a stampede. Keeping his eyes on Hal’s back, Alex shoved through the panicked crowd. They hit the entrance hall, and Alex saw her—Kana, near the front door, hand bleeding, reaching for someone who wasn’t there anymore.

Ashley was gone. Swallowed by the crowd. Just like that.

“Sunny!” Kana screamed at the open door. “WAIT!”

Alex caught her before she fell. She fought him, clawing at his arms, thrashing towards the door. “We have to get her! We have to—”

“Kana.” He said her real name. The one she’d given him first. She went still.

He turned her around. Her face was destroyed. Mascara ran in black rivers, eyes swollen, mouth trembling. He held her shoulders.

“That’s not her anymore.” His voice almost broke. “The Durden—it changed her. That’s not the Sunny you knew.”

The sound that came out of Kana was small enough to fit in his palm. Her body gave out against his chest. He held her there, one hand cradling the back of her head.

“I’m so sorry,” he murmured into her hair.

Sirens. Blue and red light flooded through the glass entrance. Officers pushed through the front door. The crowd screamed and scattered.

Ken shoved Hal away and stumbled towards the police.