And suddenly, studying her expression—the first raw, unfiltered look I could remember seeing from Julia Tower—I understood what Kori hadn’t been free to tell me. Julia was a Reader. She’d heard—and no doubt reported—every lie she’d heard me tell. But now that I knew what she was, she’d lost her advantage. The key to fooling a Reader is to tell two lies at once, and make one of them obvious. That way the Reader doesn’t know there’s a bigger untruth buried beneath the surface lie. I’d learned that, if nothing else, from growing up with Steven.

“The truth is that he started to hate her, because Jonah couldn’t break her and Jake couldn’t do it himself. That’s in his vows, you know.” Julia’s eyes sparkled with bitter amusement. “The only thing he promised his wife—that he would never touch another woman. Not ever. So when you came along, he saw a possibility involving you both. For Kori, the impossible task. Recruit the man who cannot be recruited. The immovable object.”

My blood burned in my veins like liquid fire. “He set her up to fail.”

Julia nodded. “And to hate every single debasing, humiliating moment of it.”

“And me?”

Her smile grew smaller, tighter. “For you, the irresistible force. Korinne, our own shattered doll, pretty, yet fierce. Delicate, yet dangerous. The damaged woman who cannot be fixed—Kryptonite to any man with a hero complex.”

“He played us.” The truth of it echoed inside me, ringing over and over, resonating in every bone in my body.

She nodded again. “He did. And he watched you both struggle and flail for two days, butting heads and bruising egos for his entertainment, knowing that in the end, you would sign with him for the same reason you came out of hiding—to protect those you care about. My brother is cruel and smart, and he is without mercy. Which is why I can tell you without a doubt in my mind that if you don’t sign whatever contract he offers you, he will cut poor Vanessa in places that should never feel pain. And if that fails to motivate you, he will move on to your brother, and your brother’s fiancée, and—”

Before she could finish threatening everyone I’d ever met, Julia’s phone started ringing and she frowned, then reached into a slim purse and pulled out her cell. Her frown deepened when she glanced at the display, then she pressed a button and held the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

She listened in silence for several seconds while a voice I didn’t recognize said words I couldn’t understand. Then Julia’s brows rose in sudden interest. “Yes, I’ll show him. We’re on the way.”

She ended the call, then started pressing more buttons on her phone. “You’re a very lucky man, Mr. Holt. As it turns out, Jake won’t have to target what remains of your family after all,” she said, and a cold ball of dread formed in my stomach, growing with every second of silence from Julia Tower. But I wasn’t going to beg for information.

Finally she looked up and her usual smug smile was absent. She looked almost somber. Instead of offering me an explanation, Julia simply handed me her phone.

I took it, dread churning in my stomach. But when I glanced at the screen, my rage swallowed all other emotions like the ocean swallows a single raindrop. Kori stared out at me from the display on Julia Tower’s phone. She was shouting, but I couldn’t hear her, because there was no sound. But I could see her gesturing in fury, her mouth open wide with each enraged shout. Behind her were a toilet, a curtainless shower stall, and a rollout mattress on a raised concrete block.

“That’s a live feed. From Jake’s basement,” Julia said. And as badly as I wanted to believe this was old footage, even on the tiny black-and-white screen I could see that Kori was wearing what she’d put on that morning, including the double holster, though the guns—and no doubt the knives—were gone.

“Let her out.” I could hear the rage roiling in my voice.

“That’s beyond my authority. The only way for you to help Kori is to sign the contract.”

I pulled the phone out of reach when she tried to take it. “Can you honestly tell me that if I sign, he’ll let Kori out?”

Julia watched me closely for a second, like she was sizing me up. Trying to decide whether or not to gift me with the truth. Or maybe to curse me with it. “No,” she said at last. “We both know Korinne will never set foot outside that cell again. There’s nothing I can do about that.”

“Get her out, or I won’t sign.”

“Sign, or she’ll suffer before she dies,” Julia countered. “And if you do it quickly, I might be able to arrange a visit with her.”

“That’s not good enough.” I dropped the phone on the leather between us and grabbed her by the throat, pinning her to the opposite door, letting my fury echo in my growl. “Get. Her. Out.”

Something hard pressed into my stomach and I looked down to find her holding a gun, the barrel digging into my navel.

“You’re not going to shoot me. Your brother needs me.”

“And you’re not going kill me, because you need me,” she insisted hoarsely, using the fingers of her empty hand to pry at mine, trying to free her neck.

“You just said there’s nothing you can do for Kori.”

“There isn’t—as long as Jake’s in charge.”

I blinked in surprise. Then I frowned. Then I frowned harder and loosened my grip on her neck. It almost sounded like… “Are you asking me to kill your brother?”