VESPER POV
I was going to die.
The helicopter tilted sideways and I slammed against the metal floor, still screaming. Wind tore through the open door where I'd been dragged inside. The city spread out below us—tiny lights, tiny cars, tiny people who had no idea I was being kidnapped sixty floors above their heads.
The man holding the rope that had snatched me wore all black. His face was covered by a mask, but his eyes—God, his eyes were the same mercury-gray as Callahan's.
"Let me go!" I kicked at him, wild and desperate.
He laughed. The sound was cold. Familiar in a way that made my skin crawl.
"Hello, sister-in-law," he said. "We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Kieran. Callahan's dead brother. Surprise—I'm not actually dead."
My mind couldn't process it. Dead brother. Alive. Kidnapping me. This was insane.
"What do you want?" I shouted over the helicopter noise.
"What do I want?" Kieran pulled off his mask. The face underneath could have been Callahan's twin—same sharp features, same dangerous beauty. Except his eyes held pure hatred. "I want my brother to suffer the way I suffered. Twenty years ago, he left me to die. Now I'm going to take everything he loves."
"I'm not—we're not—it's just a contract marriage—"
"Liar." He grabbed my face, forcing me to look at him. "I've been watching you both for months. Watching him watch you. Watching you pretend you don't feel it too. That bond. That hunger. You love him. And he loves you. Which makes you perfect."
"You're insane—"
"I'm fair." Kieran released me and pulled out a phone. Started recording. "Callahan, if you're watching this—and I know you are because you have cameras everywhere—here's the deal. You have twenty-four hours to give me everything. Your empire. Your money. Your identity as The Architect. Everything you built on my corpse."
He turned the camera to me. I stared into the lens, trying to be brave. Trying not to show fear.
"If you refuse," Kieran continued, "I'll do to her what you did to me. I'll throw her from a very high place and watch her fall. Just like you watched me fall twenty years ago."
He ended the recording and tossed the phone aside.
"He didn't—" I started. "Whatever you think happened—"
"I don't think. I know." Kieran's voice was ice. "We were thirteen years old. Our parents had just been murdered. The killers came for us next. Callahan pushed me off a bridge to save himself. Left me for dead in the river while he ran."
"That can't be true—"
"I spent ten years in foster care. Ten years being beaten, starved, abused. While my brother built an empire with our parents' money. While he became The Architect. While he played dying billionaire and married beautiful women." His eyes burned into mine. "Did he tell you about me? Did he mention he had a brother?"
I thought back. Five years of marriage. Callahan had never mentioned family. Never talked about his past except in vague terms. "My parents died when I was young." That's all he'd ever said.
"He erased me," Kieran whispered. "Pretended I never existed. Well, now I'm back. And he's going to pay."
The helicopter started descending. We were landing on a building—abandoned warehouse by the look of it. Broken windows. Graffiti.
Two men waited on the roof. Big. Armed. One of them grabbed me the second we touched down.
"Take her to the room," Kieran ordered. "Make sure she's comfortable. We want her alive for the next twenty-four hours. After that..." He shrugged. "We'll see if big brother loves her enough to give up his empire."
They dragged me toward a door. I fought, screaming, kicking. It didn't matter. They were too strong.
"Callahan will kill you for this!" I yelled at Kieran.
He smiled. "I'm counting on it. I want him to come. I want to watch his face when he has to choose—his empire or his wife. His power or his love." He leaned close. "What do you think he'll pick, Vesper?"
I spat in his face.
His smile never wavered. He wiped the spit away slowly. "You've got spirit. I can see why he likes you. Pity you'll be dead soon."
They threw me into a room. Metal door. No windows. One chair bolted to the floor.
The door slammed shut. Locks clicked. I was alone in the darkness.
I sank to the floor, shaking. Twenty-four hours. Callahan had twenty-four hours to trade his entire life for mine.
Would he do it?
I barely knew him. The real him. The monster who killed people. The man who'd manipulated my entire life. The husband who'd been watching me for five years from behind a mask of weakness.
Why would he sacrifice everything for a wife he'd bought with a contract?
My phone was gone. No way to call for help. No way to—
Wait.
I felt my pocket. They'd taken my phone but missed something else. The tiny USB drive I always carried. The one with all my old MIT projects, my economic models, my—
The door opened.
A woman stepped inside. Tall. Silver hair. Elegant. She looked like she belonged at a charity gala, not a kidnapping.
"Hello, Vesper," she said. Her voice was smooth. Cultured. "My name is Celestine Vex. Theron Vex's mother. I believe you're about to meet my son very soon."
My blood froze. Theron Vex. The crime lord Kieran's men had mentioned. The one who wanted me.
"What do you want?"
Celestine smiled. It was worse than Kieran's smile. Colder. More calculated. "I want to make you an offer. A way out of this. A way to survive."
"I'm listening."
"My son Theron has wanted to destroy Callahan for years. Your husband controls this city. My son wants that control. But Callahan is... difficult to kill. He has too many defenses. Too many secrets." She walked closer. "But you, my dear. You're his weakness. His one vulnerability."
"I'm not—"
"Don't lie. I've seen the footage. The way he looked at you when Kieran took you. That wasn't a man losing a contract wife. That was a man losing everything." She pulled out a syringe from her pocket. Clear liquid inside. "This is a tracking device. Microscopic. Injects into your bloodstream. When Callahan comes to rescue you—and he will—we'll follow the signal. Find his headquarters. His networks. Everything."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then Kieran kills you in twenty-four hours. Callahan goes to war. Thousands die. The city burns." She held up the syringe. "Or you take this tiny needle. Let us track him. Help us end The Architect's reign. And in return, I personally guarantee your safety. Your freedom. And ten million dollars."
"You want me to betray my husband."
"I want you to survive." Celestine's eyes were hard. "What has Callahan ever given you except lies? He manipulated your life. Controlled you. Used you. I'm offering you a choice. Real freedom."
The syringe gleamed in the dim light.
Twenty-four hours until Kieran killed me.
Or betray the monster I'd married and live.
"Tick tock, Vesper," Celestine whispered. "What's it going to be?"
My hand reached for the syringe.
Then stopped.
Because through the door, I heard a sound that made my heart stop.
Gunfire. Screaming. Then silence.
The door exploded inward.
Callahan stood in the doorway, covered in blood that wasn't his. His mercury eyes found mine across the room.
"Nobody," he said quietly, "touches my wife."
Behind him, I counted twelve bodies.
He'd killed twelve men in the time it took my heart to beat twice.
Celestine smiled. "Hello, Architect. Right on time."
Then she pressed a button.
The entire building started to collapse.