Chapter 12 · Midnight Takes a Bite

"You want me to choose?" I shoved Crowe's phone back across the table. "You want me to pick which one of them dies?"

Crowe didn't blink. She was sitting across from me in the back corner of some all-night diner she'd dragged me to, two blocks from the safehouse. Kael was still there. Milo was God knows where. And my mother's face was burned into my retinas—alive, behind that black glass, saying don't let Kael touch that contract.

"I'm not asking you to pick," Crowe said. "I'm telling you what happens at midnight. Kael's death mark goes live. Your brother stays breathing. Or—" She tapped one lacquered nail on the screen. "You get Milo back tonight, and Kael's heart stops before the clock strikes twelve. Simple."

"Simple," I repeated. My hands were shaking. I shoved them under the table. "You're insane."

"I'm efficient." She leaned back, arms crossed. "You have four hours. Choose."

I stood up. The vinyl seat squeaked. "I'm not playing your game."

"Then your brother plays it for you." Crowe's smile didn't move. "Sit down, Nora."

I didn't sit. I walked. Straight out the door, into the cold, onto the sidewalk.