Chapter 9 · Hostage Breathing

"We're going to her apartment."

Kael said it flat, no room for argument. Sienna was already halfway to the car door.

"That's exactly what they want," she shot back. "Walk into her place, trigger whatever trap they left—"

"Then we don't walk in." He pulled the door open before she could. "We watch from across the street. We call it in if we see movement."

"Call who? The council guard?" She laughed, bitter. "Asher runs half of them."

"Then we go alone."

She stopped. Turned. "You're insane."

"And you're stalling." Kael leaned against the car roof, eyes locked on hers. "You grabbed my arm back there. Told me no more cages. Now you want to sit here and wait for someone to call and tell us they found her body?"

Sienna's jaw tightened. He saw the flicker—guilt, fear, something raw she tried to bury under that judge mask.

"I want procedure," she said. "I want a plan that doesn't get us killed."

"I want her alive first." He got in the driver's seat. "You coming or not?"

She stared at him for three seconds. Then she got in.

The drive took eleven minutes.