Rhydian POV
"We need those files," Detective Chen says the moment we finish our story. "Your father's backup files. If they prove Thorne Vex has been laundering money, we can hold him on serious charges."
Thessaly sits wrapped in a hospital blanket, neck bandaged where Thorne's knife cut her. She looks exhausted, terrified, and somehow still brave.
"My father has a safe," she says quietly. "In his home office. Behind a painting of a lighthouse. That's where he keeps backup drives."
"Can you get us access?" Chen asks.
"My parents hate me," Thessaly reminds her. "They won't let me in the house."
"Actually..." Her father speaks up from his hospital bed. We all turn. Andrew Crane looks like hell—bruised, bandaged, but alive. "Actually, Thessaly, I need to talk to you."
Thessaly stiffens. "Dad—"
"Alone," he adds, looking at me pointedly.
I start to refuse. After everything Thorne did, I don't trust anyone near her. But Thessaly touches my arm.
"It's okay," she says softly. "He's my father. He won't hurt me."
I'm not sure that's true. Sometimes parents hurt worst of all. But I step outside with Detective Chen, leaving them alone.
Through the window, I watch them talk. Andrew says something. Thessaly starts crying. He reaches for her hand. She pulls away at first, then lets him take it.
"That your girlfriend?" Chen asks.
"It's complicated."
"I'll bet." She gives me a sharp look. "She's eighteen, Mr. Vex. And you're what, forty?"
"Thirty-eight. And I'm aware of the age difference."
"Are you aware of how it looks? Wealthy older man, vulnerable young girl fresh out of a relationship?" Chen's voice is hard. "Makes me wonder if you're any better than your brother."
Anger flares in my chest. "I would never hurt her."
"Maybe not intentionally. But you dragged her into a war with your family. Got her kidnapped. Nearly killed." Chen crosses her arms. "Sometimes protection looks a lot like possession, Mr. Vex."
Her words hit harder than I want to admit. Because she's right. I did drag Thessaly into this. Used her anger at Jett, her access to files, her father's position. I told myself I was protecting her, but maybe I was just using her like Thorne said.
The door opens. Thessaly emerges, eyes red but somehow lighter.
"My father's giving us access to the safe," she announces. "He said... he said he's sorry. For choosing his job over me. For not protecting me from Jett." Her voice breaks. "He wants to help take down Thorne."
"That's good news," Chen says. "We'll send officers to retrieve the files—"
"No." Thessaly straightens. "I need to do it. I need to be the one who gets them."
"Thessaly, your house is a crime scene now. The spray paint—"
"I know. But those files are my leverage. My proof. I need to see them myself." She looks at me. "Will you come with me?"
How can I say no to those eyes?
An hour later, we stand outside her parents' house. Someone scrubbed away most of the spray paint, but you can still see the ghost of the word: WHORE.
Thessaly stares at it, face unreadable.
"You okay?" I ask.
"No." She walks toward the door. "But I'm doing it anyway."
Inside, the house is exactly what I expected: middle-class, neat, normal. Family photos on the walls. Thessaly as a child, all copper hair and gap-toothed smiles. A lifetime ago, before Jett, before me, before everything went wrong.
"My room's upstairs," she says quietly. "Dad's office is down here."
We find the office easily. The lighthouse painting hangs exactly where she said. Behind it: a wall safe.
"Do you know the combination?" I ask.
"My birthday." She inputs the numbers. The safe clicks open.
Inside: three backup drives and a letter addressed to Thessaly.
She takes the letter with shaking hands, opens it. Reads. And starts crying.
"What does it say?"
"He knew." Her voice breaks. "My father knew about Jett. About the cheating, the abuse, all of it. He saw the bruises I tried to hide. He heard Jett yelling at me on the phone." She looks at me, devastated. "And he did nothing. Because keeping his job was more important than keeping me safe."
I pull her into my arms, letting her sob against my chest. What do you say to that? How do you fix it?
"But he's helping now," I finally say. "That counts for something."
"Does it?" She pulls back, wiping her eyes. "How many times did he choose them over me before he finally chose me?"
I don't have an answer.
We take the drives. In the car, Thessaly stares out the window, silent. I want to comfort her but don't know how.
"Rhydian?" she finally says.
"Why did you really help me? The truth."
The question I've been avoiding. "What do you mean?"
"You could have walked away that first night. Let Jett and me destroy each other. But you didn't." She turns to face me. "Why?"
Because when you chose me, you saw something worth choosing. Because you reminded me what it feels like to want something besides revenge. Because you're brave and brilliant and you make me feel alive.
But I can't say that. Not yet. Not when she's vulnerable and hurting and might only be with me because she has nowhere else to go.
"I saw someone who needed help," I say carefully. "And I had the power to help. That's all."
Her face falls. Just slightly. "Oh. Right. Of course."
Damn it. That was the wrong answer. But it's too late to take it back.
We drive to my penthouse in silence. Inside, Thessaly wanders to the windows, looking out at the city.
"It's almost sunrise," she observes. "I've been awake for twenty-four hours."
"You should sleep."
"I should." But she doesn't move. "Rhydian... what happens now? With Thorne arrested, the files as evidence... does this end?"
"No." I pour myself whiskey I desperately need. "Thorne has lawyers. He'll post bail. And the rest of the Vex family will come after us. This is just beginning."
"So I can never go home. Can never have a normal life." She laughs bitterly. "Great."
"You can stop," I tell her. "Right now. Give the police your statement, hand over the files, and walk away. Go to college. Start over somewhere far from here. I'll make sure you're financially taken care of—"
"You want me to leave?" She turns, hurt in her eyes.
"I want you to be safe!"
"I'm safest with you!"
"Are you?" I set down the glass hard. "Detective Chen thinks I'm using you. Your father thinks I'm corrupting you. Maybe they're right. Maybe the best thing I can do is let you go before I destroy you completely."
Thessaly crosses to me, eyes blazing. "Don't I get a choice in this?"
"You're eighteen—"
"Stop using my age as an excuse!" She's shaking now. "I know I'm young. I know you're older. I know this is complicated and dangerous and probably stupid. But I'm choosing this. I'm choosing YOU. Why can't you accept that?"
Because I'm terrified of hurting you. Because you deserve better than a forty-year-old criminal with a vendetta. Because I'm falling in love with you and that's the most dangerous thing of all.
"Thessaly—"
My phone rings. Unknown number. I answer, putting it on speaker.
"Mr. Vex?" A man's voice, cold and professional. "This is Cassius Vex. Your father."
The room goes silent. My father. The man who exiled me fifteen years ago. Who chose Thorne over me. Who I haven't spoken to since the day he told me I was dead to the family.
"What do you want?" I ask roughly.
"I want to meet. You and the girl. Tomorrow, noon, at the family estate." His voice is commanding, used to being obeyed. "We need to discuss what happens next."
"I'm done taking orders from you."
"Then consider it a request. From a dying man."
My heart stops. "What?"
"Cancer. Stage four. I have three months at most." He coughs, and I hear real pain. "Which means someone needs to take over the family business. Thorne's going to prison. That leaves you."
"I don't want your empire—"
"Too bad. It's yours. Along with all the enemies, all the debts, all the blood." Another painful cough. "Noon tomorrow. Don't be late. And Rhydian? Bring the girl. I want to meet the woman who finally made you feel something again."
He hangs up.
I stare at the phone, mind reeling.
"Your father's dying," Thessaly whispers. "And he wants you to take over."
"I won't do it. I won't become them."
"But if you don't, who will? Jett?" She touches my arm. "Rhydian, you could change things. Fix what's broken. Build something better."
"Or I could become exactly like Thorne." I look at her. "Power corrupts, Thessaly. Always."
"Then don't do it alone." She takes my hand. "Do it with me."
Before I can answer, glass shatters. The penthouse window explodes inward. Someone's shooting at us.
I tackle Thessaly to the ground as bullets tear through my home, destroying everything.
And I realize: someone doesn't want us to make it to that meeting tomorrow.
Someone wants us dead tonight.