Chapter 13 · The Executioner's Silence

"So that's the plan? You just wait until I'm twenty-one and then slide the knife in?"

Lorne didn't look at him. She couldn't. The black ledger shook in her hands, the ink on the page looking like dried blood. Behind them, the vault door had slammed shut. It sounded like a coffin lid.

Cade didn't answer. He stood three feet away, a sharp silhouette against the dim gold light of the treasury. The silence stretched. Thick. Suffocating. He didn't deny it.

"Say something, damn it!" Lorne whipped around, her voice cracking and echoing off the cold stone. "Tell me it's a lie. Tell me Serra forged it. Tell me you're not actually my fucking butcher!"

Cade shifted. He didn't move toward her—he withdrew. Like he was already bracing for the blow.

"Lorne..."

"Don't 'Lorne' me." She stepped into his space, slamming the ledger shut with a heavy thud. She jabbed a finger into his chest, right over his heart. "Was every single thing a lie? The way you looked at me? Pulling me out of that fire? Was that just you making sure your target didn't die before the calendar hit the date?"

Cade grabbed her wrist.