Page 86 of The Blackmail

“We will,” he promises.

The room lightens again. Not fixed, not safe, but less oppressive.

She rinses her empty mug and sets it in the sink. “I need a nap.”

I arch a brow. “Want company?”

“Nice try,” she says. “You’re both in timeout until tonight. I need my brain on straight.”

“I’m offended,” I mutter.

“You’ll live,” she shoots back.

Silas steps in and cups her cheek, thumb brushing her skin. “We’ll pick you up at eight.”

“Together,” I add.

“Scandalous,” she says.

She leans into his hand for a second, then rises on her toes and presses a quick kiss to my jaw. It feels like being chosen even though I know she’s choosing both of us.

“I’m terrified,” she admits.

“Good,” Silas says, voice soft but sure. “That means it matters.”

I rest my hand at the small of her back, steady. “Terrified and relieved,” she adds quietly.

The words land in my chest with a weight that feels right.

“Us too,” I tell her.

For the first time since last night, it doesn't feel like we’re standing at the edge of a cliff waiting to fall.

It feels like we might actually be building something instead.

Chapter Twenty-Four

TALON

I wakeup with my jaw tight, my throat dry, and a bruise forming on my ego the size of Florida.

It takes me a solid ten seconds to remember why I feel like I lost a fight.

Penelope.

Silas.

Gideon.

The way they walked her out like they were her personal bodyguards and I was the idiot kid who couldn’t be trusted not to break a lamp.

And underneath all that?

My mom.

Her voice from last night is still stuck in my head like gum on my shoe.

“She knows too much. We buried that once.”