Chapter 20 · Black Mark, Brother

"You're not leaving this room."

Kane's hand locked around my wrist before I got two steps toward the door. The gala lights were still out. The city screamed somewhere above us, sirens layering over sirens, but down here in this stone-walled service hall it was just his breathing and mine.

"My brother's in that basement," I said. "Let go."

"Vale's got forty armed men between you and that basement. You walk in there now, you're handing him exactly what he wants."

"Then what's your plan? Wait until Eli's dead?"

His grip didn't ease. "My plan is keeping you alive long enough to get him out."

"Your plan." I twisted my arm, testing. His fingers stayed put, warm through the thin silk of my sleeve. "You mean the one where you lose control and black out the entire downtown grid?"

His jaw tightened. For a second I thought he'd let go, step back, give me that cold billionaire stare that meant the conversation was over. Instead he pulled me closer, close enough that I had to tilt my head back to keep his eyes.

"You think I don't know what just happened up there?" His voice dropped, rough and low.