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The ring hit seventy-one hours, fifty-eight minutes, and the garage lights exploded.
Nora ducked on instinct.
Glass rained over the hood of Caden's black car. His hand closed around the back of her neck and shoved her down behind the engine block hard enough to knock the air out of her.
"Stay down."
"Get your hand off me."
"Not the time."
A metal chain whipped across the garage where her head had been.
It hit concrete with a crack that made her teeth hurt.
Nora stared at it.
The chain wasn't hanging from anything. It had come out of the dark corner near the elevator, black links slithering over the floor like somebody had taught steel how to hunt.
"Oh, good," she whispered. "So that’s normal now."
Caden had one hand braced on the car beside her. The other was pressed flat against the floor. Thin orange lines glowed beneath his palm, cutting through the oil stains and old tire marks.
His face had gone very still.
That was worse than when he'd grabbed her in the garage five minutes ago.
At least then she'd seen panic.
Now he looked like a man doing math while a building burned around him.
"How many?" she asked.
"Three. Maybe four."
"People?"
He looked at her.
"That wasn't a no."
The chain snapped forward again.
Caden caught it around his forearm.
Nora heard skin burn.
The black metal flashed orange where it touched him, then jerked back like it had yanked its hand from a stove. It vanished into the shadows.
A woman's voice floated through the garage speakers.
"You always did love making a public mess, Caden."
Nora's stomach dropped.
Caden's jaw tightened. "Selene."
"Hi, darling."
The voice was smooth. Pretty, even. The kind of voice that probably said awful things without ever raising itself.
Nora pushed herself up on one elbow. "She can hear us?"
"She can hear everything in this garage."
"Great security system. Very billionaire of you."
"Nora."
His tone said shut up.
Her tone said absolutely not.
"What? Your ex-fiancée has murder chains in your parking garage, and I’m supposed to be impressed you know her name?"
The speaker clicked softly.
Selene laughed.
"She's got a mouth. I can see why you rushed the contract."
Nora's fingers curled. The ring bit into her skin again, hot and mean.
The countdown glowed across its dark surface.
71:56:12.
Caden saw her looking.
"Don't touch it," he said.
"I wasn't touching it. It's attached to my damn hand."
"Don't feed it."
"Feed it what?"
His eyes flicked toward the speaker.
Anger. Fear. Heat. Whatever answer he wanted to give, he wasn't giving it here.
Selene's voice slid through the garage. "I told him this would happen if he put the Cross ring on you. He never listens when he thinks he can fix something with a signature and a locked door."
"You sent people after me?" Nora called.
"I sent a retrieval team after an unstable asset. Don't make it sound personal."
Nora laughed once. It came out shaky. "You don't get to call me an asset."
"Then stop acting like one. Take the ring off. Come upstairs. We can talk without Caden gripping your throat every time his plan falls apart."
Caden's head turned slowly toward Nora.
"You do not go upstairs."
"That's your big argument?"
"Yes."
"Wow. Convincing."
A shape moved near the elevator.
Not a person. Not exactly.
It wore a long black coat, but its face was hidden behind a silver mask. Another stood behind it. Then another.
Each one held a length of black chain wrapped around one gloved hand.
Nora's pulse started banging against her throat.
The first masked figure tilted its head.
"Nora Vale," it said.
The voice sounded wrong. Flat. Like a recorded message playing through a broken phone.
"By order of the Ash Council, you are to be removed from Cross custody."
Nora glanced at Caden. "Cross custody? Seriously?"
"I told you the Council doesn't care about manners."
"You also forgot to mention I'm apparently a dog being transferred between shelters."
Caden rose from behind the car.
He didn't look at the masked figures. He looked at Nora.
"When I say run, you run to the stairwell. Level three. Red door. Don't stop for anyone."
"And you?"
"I'll be behind you."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the one you get."
The first chain came fast.
Caden shoved Nora sideways.
She hit the concrete shoulder-first, pain flashing down her arm. The chain wrapped around Caden's chest and dragged him backward across the floor.
"Caden!"
He dug his heels in. Fire burst under his shoes.
Not like hers.
His was sharp. Controlled. White at the center, orange around the edges. It cut a line across the garage floor, and the masked figure holding the chain jerked forward with a broken grunt.
Caden yanked once.
The person flew through the air and slammed into a parked SUV.
Nora blinked.
Okay.
So her fake husband could throw grown adults around with haunted chain magic.
That seemed like information she should've had before signing anything.
The other two came at him together.
"Run!" Caden barked.
Nora pushed herself up and ran for the stairwell.
She made it six steps.
A chain curled around her ankle.
It jerked.
Her feet went out from under her. Her chin cracked against the concrete, and for one ugly second all she saw was gray floor and sparks.
The chain dragged her backward.
She clawed at the ground. Her nails broke. Her palms scraped raw.
"Let go of me!"
The silver-masked figure stood over her now.
Up close, Nora could see empty darkness through the eyeholes.
No eyes.
Just smoke.
The chain wound around her other ankle, then her wrists. Cold metal bit into her skin. It pinned her flat on the floor, arms stretched over her head.
The ring burned hotter.
71:54:03.
"Nora!"
Caden's voice cut across the garage.
She turned her head.
He was on one knee ten feet away, one hand locked around a chain, blood running down his wrist. Two masked figures had him trapped from both sides.
One of them drove a black blade into his shoulder.
Nora sucked in a breath.
Caden didn't make a sound.
He looked at her instead.
Not the men around him. Not the knife in his body.
Her.
"Don't fight the chains," he said.
"They've got me tied to a floor, Caden. I feel like fighting them is a pretty reasonable choice."
"Nora. Listen to me."
The ring was getting hotter.
Her heartbeat got louder.
The concrete beneath her cheek warmed.
The masked figure above her lifted its chain.
"Subject heat is rising," it said.
"Yeah," Nora snapped. "I noticed."
The thing crouched beside her.
Its gloved fingers reached for her ring.
Nora screamed.
Fire tore out of her hand.
It wasn't a little spark this time.
It blasted across the garage floor in a rolling orange wave. Car alarms screamed. Tires popped. The lights overhead burst one after another.
The masked figure flew backward into a concrete pillar.
Its coat caught fire.
It didn't scream.
That made it worse.
Flames raced up the chains pinning Nora down.
She smelled burning rubber. Gasoline. Her own hair singeing near her temple.
And underneath all of it, something else.
Something deep.
A low sound came through the floor.
Not a noise exactly.
More like the garage itself had taken a breath.
The ring's numbers flickered.
71:53:11.
Then 71:53:10.
Then the whole display went black.
Nora stopped breathing.
The orange fire spread under the concrete, slipping through cracks, pouring toward the far wall. The garage shook hard enough to rattle the cars.
A car door popped open by itself.
Somewhere above them, people started screaming.
"Caden," Nora said.
He had gotten free.
She didn't see how. One second he was trapped. The next, the men around him were down, their chains glowing red and melted into the floor.
He crossed the space between them through the fire.
His shirt was soaked dark at the shoulder. Blood ran down his arm. He dropped to his knees beside her anyway.
"Look at me."
"The floor is moving."
"Look at me, Nora."
She did.
His face was dirty with smoke. A cut bled above his eyebrow. His eyes had gone almost black.
He reached for the chains around her wrists.
"This will hurt."
"Everything hurts. Pick one."
He gave her the smallest, strangest look. Like he almost smiled and hated himself for it.
Then he wrapped his hand around the black metal.
White fire crawled over his fingers.
The chain cracked.
Nora cried out when it broke free, not because the metal cut her, but because the fire inside her surged hard enough to arch her back off the concrete.
Caden caught her shoulder with one hand.
His other hand came down flat over the center of her chest.
Right above her heart.
Nora froze.
His palm was hot through her shirt. Not burning. Just there. Firm. Steady.
"Breathe with me," he said.
"I am breathing."
"No. You're choking it down. Stop."
Another crack split through the garage floor.
Orange light poured from it.
Caden leaned closer, his face inches from hers.
"In," he said.
Nora stared at him.
"Caden—"
"In. Now."
She dragged in a breath.
His hand pressed a little harder against her chest.
"Again."
The fire around them jumped high enough to lick the ceiling.
His voice didn't.
"Stay with me."
Nora wanted to shove him away.
Wanted to demand why he knew exactly where to touch her, exactly how to talk to the thing under her skin like it was a wild animal about to bite.
But the panic in his eyes wasn't fake.
That was the problem.
She breathed in.
He breathed in with her.
She let it out.
The fire pulled back an inch.
Then another.
The low thing under the garage gave a long, angry groan.
Caden's thumb moved once against her sternum.
"That's it," he said, low enough that the words felt private even with burning cars around them. "Don't give it your fear. Don't give it your rage. Give it me."
Nora's throat tightened.
That was a stupid thing to say.
A dangerous thing.
She should not trust him because he looked wrecked while asking for it.
She should not trust the man who knew her mother wore this ring and had waited until she was trapped to tell her.
But his hand stayed over her heart.
His blood dripped onto the concrete beside her hair.
And he was still there.
So Nora grabbed the front of his shirt with both hands.
The chains fell away.
The fire collapsed into her so fast it knocked the breath from her lungs.
Everything went dark for half a second.
When her vision cleared, the garage was smoking. Sprinklers hissed overhead. The masked people were gone.
Caden was still kneeling over her.
His hand was still on her chest.
Neither of them moved.
Then a heel clicked against the concrete.
Slow. Deliberate.
Caden looked up first.
His body went rigid.
A woman stood at the entrance to the garage, just beyond the smoke.
She wore a cream-colored suit that somehow didn't have a spot on it. Dark hair pinned back. Red lipstick. No mask. No weapon that Nora could see.
Selene Ward looked like she belonged at a board meeting, not inside a wrecked garage full of melted chains.
Her gaze went straight to Caden's hand on Nora's chest.
"Well," Selene said. "That looks intimate."
Caden got to his feet. He pulled Nora up behind him in one smooth motion.
"You have ten seconds to leave."
Selene checked an invisible watch. "You always say that like it means something."
Nora's knees felt weak, but she stepped around Caden enough to see her clearly.
"You sent those things after me."
"I sent collectors. There's a difference."
"One stabbed him."
Selene's eyes slid to Caden's bleeding shoulder. "And yet he's standing. He'll live. He usually does."
Caden's voice went flat. "Why are you here?"
"Because your little emergency marriage is getting sloppy." Selene looked at Nora's ring. "You didn't tell her what he did, did you?"
Nora turned toward Caden.
He didn't look at her.
Of course he didn't.
"Tell me what?" she asked.
Selene smiled, but there was no warmth in it.
"Ask him why the seal is failing now. Ask him who was on duty the night your mother's house burned."
Caden took one step forward.
The concrete under Selene's heels glowed orange.
"Don't."
Selene didn't flinch.
"See? There he is. The man you married. Not the one in the magazines."
Nora's ring pulsed.
The numbers came back.
71:47:29.
Selene reached into the inside pocket of her jacket.
Caden moved fast.
So did Nora.
She caught his wrist before he could get to Selene.
His skin was hot under her fingers.
"Wait."
He looked down at her hand on him.
Then up at her face.
"Nora."
"If she has something, I want to see it."
"She's lying."
Selene pulled out a photograph.
Old. Bent at one corner. The kind printed on glossy paper before everyone kept their lives on a phone.
"Maybe," Selene said. "But photos are rude that way. They don't care who hates them."
She walked closer.
Caden's muscles tightened under Nora's grip.
Selene held the picture out to Nora, not him.
Nora took it.
Her fingers were still shaking.
For a second, all she saw was fire.
A house swallowed in orange, flames blowing out of the front doorway. Smoke climbing into the night. A firefighter truck parked crooked at the curb.
Then she saw the boy standing across the street.
He couldn't have been more than seventeen.
Black hair. Ash-streaked face. One hand held tight at his side like he'd burned it.
Young Caden Cross was staring at her mother's burning front door.
And in the bottom corner of the photo, written in faded blue ink, was a date Nora knew by heart.
The night her mother died.