Chapter 36 Everything was wrong with the world. Raziel was still in the hospital, unconscious, and I was back at step one. "It's their fault I have to start over," I whispered to the dark ceiling, tears of pure rage and frustration finally spilling over. Miyori was there in an instant, her arms around me, holding me together. "I know, baby girl. I know. But you're here. You're fighting it. That's what matters." Priest stood in the doorway, a shadow against the light from the hall. He had rushed back from Miami when he heard what happened. His silence was more terrifying than any outburst. It was the only thing that made me feel safe. "Raziel should have handled the Vescovi problem permanently after the car incident," he said, his voice a low gravel that promised violence. "There are only three types of women in this life, Maya. The ones who build you up, the ones who try to tear you down, and the ones you put in the ground if they can't have you. Alessia is the third." I agreed. Alessia needed to be put down. She was evil. I could still hear her laughing in my head, giggling as she uncapped a syringe and slid it into my arm. It happened two blocks from Miyori's house. A van pulled up next to me as I waited at a red light on my bike. It was too fast to react. The doors slid open and three men jumped out, snatching me off the seat and pulling me into the dark interior. They injected me. Again. And again. They laughed as I shook. "I told you I'd ruin you," Alessia said before the high hit. It was a blur after that. She was wearing white. All white. White jeans. White top. An angel of death dressed for brunch. I shook the memory away, trying to focus on what Priest and my sister were talking about. Miyori looked tired. She had watched me like a hawk since that night. I was drinking coffee, trying to ignore the way my nerves were shrieking, when my phone buzzed with an unknown number. "Maya." It was Raffaele Mercier's voice, warm and grave. "We found them. I'm sending you the address." My heart sped up. The text came through a second later. An address. I showed it to Priest. His face didn't change. He just nodded, went to his closet, and came back with two pistols. "Let's go." Miyori's eyes went wide. "What? No. Maya, you're not in any state-" "She needs to see this end," Priest said, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Don't baby her." The ride was silent. We pulled up to a different warehouse. Raffaele was already there, standing beside a black car, his expression grim. He gave me a slow, somber nod. Inside, under a single hanging bulb, were Alessia , her mother and her father, Enzio. They were on their knees, chained to a pipe, gagged. Their eyes were wide with a terror that felt like a balm on my raw nerves. Two of Raffaele's men stood silently in the shadows. They nodded at Priest and melted away, leaving us alone. Alessia saw me and started to struggle, her muffled screams pathetic. Priest handed me a gun. "Finish it, Maya." I walked up to her. The weight of the gun felt foreign and wrong. "You took my sobriety," I said, my voice surprisingly steady. "You tried to take my man. You don't get to do that. You don't get to want him. Because when I was nothing-strung out and half-dead-he saved me. He didn't even know me, and he saved me. That makes him mine." I looked at Miyori. She never knew the whole story. No one did. "I'm sorry." She frowned. "For what, Maya?" I cleared my throat, the truth a jagged stone I had to finally spit out. "When our parents left," I began, the words feeling like shards of glass in my throat, "the neighbor. Mr. Henderson. He was so helpful to you. Brought us groceries. Picked me up from school." I took a shaky breath, forcing myself to meet her confused eyes. "He was the one who started me on the pills. Told me they'd make the ache go away. Make me forget they left us. He gave them to me... for free... at first." I left the part about what happened when they stopped being free out. "Then one day, I woke up in a room with three other girls. I found out he got us hooked, then planned to sell us to men who wanted... disposable girls." I turned back to Alessia and took another step forward. My voice didn't shake. "Then he walked in," I said, my eyes locked on Alessia's. "Raziel. He wasn't there for us. He was there for a gun deal. But he saw us. He saw what they were doing. And he killed everybody in that room. He called it disgusting." I could still see the cold fury on his face, the way he'd looked at us not as trash, but as something worth saving. "He took us to the hospital himself. Paid for everything. I knew, the moment I saw him, fresh out of rehab and broken, that I was meant to be his. It was fate." I raised the gun, my hand trembling. I pointed it at Alessia's forehead. She squeezed her eyes shut, sobbing against her gag. I wanted to pull the trigger. I wanted to erase her from the world for what she'd taken from me. But I couldn't. My finger trembled on the trigger. A sob ripped from my chest. I lowered the gun, my whole body shaking with the effort of not ending her life. "I can't," I whispered, defeated. "I'm not a killer." From the deep shadows near the door, a figure emerged. Caine. I hadn't even heard him arrive. He walked toward us, his expression unreadable. He didn't look at me or his father. He just looked at the three people on their knees. He stopped beside me. Without a word, he took the gun from my limp hand, his fingers brushing mine. They were cold. He didn't hesitate. Pop. Pop. Pop Three clean, precise shots. Alessia and Enzio crumpled to the concrete, the sounds echoing in the vast, empty space. Caine handed the gun back to Priest. "You don't have to be the monster," he said to me, his voice quiet. "When you're surrounded by so many." Then he turned and walked back into the shadows. Priest looked satisfied. Miyori looked shaken, staring at the bodies in stunned silence. Raffaele just sighed, a world of weariness in the sound. I wiped my face, my breath shuddering. "I just want Raziel to wake up," I whispered, feeling like the world was on pause until he did. Five-year-old Annie, who can understand animals, saved Landon Hawthorne, a wealthy businessman, from suicide. Now she's his whole world and he's her legal cheat-code against every villain fate throws ...