Chapter 23 · Rain

"Say his name again." Nico's hand closed around my wrist on the fourth step, rain sliding off his jaw. "Go on. I want to hear it twice."

"Let go of me." I yanked back and the water came off my sleeve in a sheet. "You want to talk about Marco now? On the stairs? In the rain?"

"I want to talk about why you froze when you saw his ring." His voice dropped, that flat thing he does before someone in his family stops breathing. "You knew that ring, Eli."

"I've seen a lot of rings." Lie. Bad one. My mouth was already moving before my brain caught up, and Nico's eyes did that narrow thing that means he clocked it.

"Same crest. Same finish. You didn't blink at the tattoo on his neck, you blinked at the ring." He stepped up, closing the gap until his coat was soaking mine through. "That's not a stranger's ring. That's a family ring. My family's ring."

"Maybe I just don't want to stand in the rain getting interrogated like I signed something wrong."

"You did sign something wrong.