Chapter 28 · Blackout Ledger - Chapter 28: Dead or Useful

"Get me to the Hollows." I grabbed Kael's coat before he could turn away. "Right now."

He didn't pull back. Just looked at my hand like it was a gun I didn't know how to hold. "You're all over the grid. Every enforcer in six sectors just got your face."

"I don't care."

"You should." He pried my fingers off, one at a time, slow enough I could've stopped him. I didn't. "They're not coming to talk."

The screens behind us were still cycling. My face. My brother's name. A number that kept climbing. The Ledger had flipped every defense I'd burned my last memory to crack, and now the whole city knew what I looked like and how much I was worth.

I stepped closer. Close enough to feel the heat still rolling off him from the burn I'd pulled him out of. "Then you better move fast."

"Raina—"

"He's eight years old." My voice came out flat. I didn't have anything left to put behind it. "They put his name on a screen. You know what that means."

Kael's jaw tightened. He knew. Everyone knew. A name on the city bounty boards wasn't a warrant.