I nodded, but she shook her head, like that wasn’t enough. “Fucking promise me, Ian.”

“What’s going on?” Kenley demanded, but Kori didn’t even glance at her.

“I swear, I won’t let anything happen to her,” I said, but Kenley’s scowl didn’t soften.

Kori watched me for a second, then went up on her toes and kissed me. “Thank you.” Then she reached back and flipped the switch to kill the light, and as soon as she was gone, I realized that I could feel her absence, even though I couldn’t see it.

Twenty-Five

Kori

I stepped out of my bedroom and into Jake’s darkroom in an instant, my heartbeat measuring the seconds, burning through them faster than should have been possible. I had minutes to get out of the darkroom, down the stairs, and into Jake’s office, and if I wasn’t there when his timer went off, I might never see either the light of day or true darkness again.

I flipped the light switch up and pressed the button beneath the monitor mounted flush with the wall next to the door. Static buzzed on the screen for several seconds, while impatience buzzed beneath my skin. Then a familiar face appeared in its place, his broken nose and black eyes rendered in full color from the closed-circuit camera in the security room.

David. Shit. He’d been demoted to hall monitor because I’d taken him down twice in twenty-four hours.

“Kori Daniels, what an unpleasant surprise.”

“Let me out. Jake’s expecting me.”

David leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest, and I realized that—at least from my vantage point—the security room was empty behind him. His supervisor was gone—cigarette? Bathroom?—and it was just the two of us, for the time being. “Apologize for rebreaking my nose with a fucking sucker punch, and I’ll let you out.”

“Sucker punch my ass.” I crossed my arms over my shirt. “You fight like a twelve-year-old girl with menstrual cramps.”

“Bitch!” he growled, leaning closer to the camera. “You know Jake won’t let them set my nose? He wants me to see it every day as a reminder of my arrogance. Or some shit like that.” His eyes narrowed in fury. “If I ever get another shot at you, I’m going to break every bone in your face. Then there’ll be no jobs left for you, except as a freak in the haunted house on Halloween.”

“Don’t listen to the rest of them, David. Your threats are sounding more credible every day. Someday I might even tremble.” I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed Jake’s number. “Hey, it’s Kori,” I said, when he answered. “I’m in the darkroom.”

On the monitor, David scowled and pressed a button, and the darkroom door swung open into the hall.

“Be there in just a sec,” I said, then hung up without waiting for a response from Jake. I had a minute and a half. I shoved the door open, and David’s shout chased me halfway down the hall.

“You’ll never see me coming, Daniels!”

Maybe not. But his angry bellow seemed to suggest that I’d hear him coming from a mile away.

I raced down the curved staircase, across the foyer, and into Jake’s office with thirty seconds to spare, and his timer started beeping before I’d even caught my breath.

“Slow start this morning?” he said from behind his desk, one brow raised in amusement over my huffing and puffing.

“Nah. Traffic was a bitch, though.”

“Well, you seem to have regained some of your former spunk.” Julia crossed one leg over the other from her perch on the credenza to the left of Jake’s desk. “It almost sounds like recruiting agrees with you, Kori.” I spared one moment to visualize exactly how far through her face I’d like to shove my fist, then I dismissed her in favor of her brother, almost proud that I’d resisted rising to her bait.

“Tell me about the park,” Jake said, and Julia scowled. She hated being ignored by anyone, and by her brother most of all.

I shrugged and dropped into a chair in front of his desk. “There’s a swing set, and a slide, and on Thursdays, if you bring two dollars, you can get a cherry-pineapple snow cone from a clown with a red nose.”

“Korinne…” Jake’s angry voice was all the warning I’d get, but if I didn’t at least try to push his buttons, he’d suspect something was up.

“Oh, fine. Cam and Olivia showed up with guns and tried to take Ian to the east side.”

Jake’s brows shot up again. “Cameron was there?”

“Yeah. Is it true you let Cavazos buy his contract?” I’d never heard of anyone else getting out of a contract with Tower early.

Jake folded his hands on his desk, and suddenly I felt like a kid called before the principal. “Korinne, it doesn’t benefit you to remind me of the part you played in letting Cavazos into my home. In fact, it makes me want to lock you up again until I manage to forget just how badly behaved you’ve been.”

My jaw clenched, and I fought to unlock it. “I’m more use to you here. On the outside.”

Julia huffed and leaned forward, gripping the edge of the credenza on either side of her knees. “That remains to be seen.”

“Well, it’s not like I can compete with all that useful sitting around you do,” I snapped, relishing the glower she aimed my way.

“I was well compensated for the loss of Mr. Caballero,” Jake said, as if neither of us had spoken. “But please understand that no one will pay for you like Cavazos paid for him. Your Skill is common, your strength and range mediocre. You are worth more to me for your influence over your sister than as a Traveler, and you’ve never been worth less to me as a bodyguard.” He leaned forward, eyeing me closely. “And to elaborate on the recent decline of your value, reports from the guards who protect your sister tell me she’s had frequent company recently—a certain pretty former prostitute who seems quite taken with Kenley. You know what that means, don’t you, Korinne?”