Chapter 25 · The Choice

"Take your hand off him, Eve, or I put a bullet through his chest."

Silas stood three steps behind her, gun pressed to the base of Kai's skull.

Eve didn't move. Her fingers were locked around Kai's wrist, hard enough to bruise. His pulse beat under her thumb, fast and hot. Hers answered from somewhere under her ribs, each beat rougher than the last.

The Grand Exchange had gone silent around them.

Hundreds of Syndicate witnesses filled the glass balconies. Cameras hovered above the platform. Every lens pointed at Eve's hand on the so-called Shell—the gutter boy her family had ordered her to capture.

And at the black lines burning up both their arms.

"You want the whole city watching?" Kai asked.

His voice was low, but the microphones caught it.

Eve's grip tightened. "You already made sure they were watching."

"I didn't bring a gun."

"No. You brought the truth." Her breath hitched. She covered it by stepping closer. "That was worse."

Kai looked down at her. His jaw was tight, a thin cut running across his lower lip.