Chapter 7 7

"Silver's set falls apart without a bassist. You're the only option I've got."

"Then the set is doomed, because I have zero talent left in these fingers."

"Lies. We're second on a four-band lineup. Selene's on drums already  she said yes in about four seconds. All you'd need to do is show up and play what your hands already know."

"My hands haven't held a bass since high school. I need practice, Nyra. Real practice."

"You don't. That brain of yours doesn't forget anything, even if  it's actually kind of annoying. Selene and I will handle rehearsals. You just walk in that night and let muscle memory do the rest."

I gave in before I'd even decided to, pulling my phone out and locking the date into my calendar like that made it official. "Okay. Fine. One condition  I need to survive this job first. There's a real chance I'll be running on zero sleep for weeks."

"Those trust-fund clowns don't deserve you working yourself into the ground."

"Agreed. Not even a little."

She was already at the machine, tamping grounds like she'd been waiting for the excuse. "Sit. I'm making this one full-strength with no decaf mercy today."

"Marry me."

While she worked, I made the mistake of checking my new work phone. A hundred-plus unread emails stared back, plus a string of texts from Lyra growing steadily more unhinged about a meeting with someone named Killian that, according to her, should've happened yesterday.

Great. Let me just invent time travel before my first coffee kicks in.

Nyra slid a to-go cup across the counter  easily twenty ounces of pure adrenaline in liquid form  and I gave her a mock salute on my way out the door.

Somewhere out there was an inbox to conquer and a company I was supposed to help run. As for Jeremy Silverhowl  I'd already decided how this would go. Polished. Efficient. Untouchable. I'd do the job well enough to impress him, collect my paycheck, and think about him exactly zero times outside office hours.

I wasn't intimidated by him.

I just needed to keep repeating that until it was true.

JEREMY  POV

I told my driver to let me out three miles early and covered the rest on foot. Something had been crawling under my skin since I left the office last night, restless in a way I didn't have patience for. It had nothing to do with the new hire. I didn't lose focus over a human. That wasn't in my nature.

But the energy needed somewhere to go, and better the sidewalk absorbed it than my staff did.

My earpiece buzzed before I even reached for my phone. I already knew who it was.

"Yeah."

Aria never softened her approach, even when I answered like that. Older than me by five years, and the only person left who actually understood the wreckage we'd both crawled out of.

"I spoke to Mom."

My molars ground together on instinct. It wasn't hatred that did that to me  I wished it were that simple. Some stubborn, primal piece of me still wanted to shield her, no matter how much of my life she'd wrecked.

"So what."

"Uncle Jess's dying."

"And that matters to me because?" I wasn't going to pretend I cared if the entire Idris bloodline vanished overnight. My mother was the only tangle in that equation, and she was tangled enough for a lifetime.

"I think it changes things for her. She wants access to her grandchildren again."

My grip on the phone went white-knuckled. "You're actually considering that?"

"...I already have."

I wanted to put my fist through the nearest storefront window. It took me a full three seconds to understand why she was really calling.

"You're checking with me first."

I was alpha. She was my sister. That had never once stopped her from making her own decisions before now.

"Not checking. Just  telling you before you hear it somewhere else."

Meaning this was happening whether I approved or not.

"You trust her near your own kids? August is next in line if I go down. You think Idris lets a kid like that grow up untouched?"

"She did not kill Dad, Jeremy!" Her voice splintered on his name, and every bit of my anger folded instantly. I could be merciless with nearly everyone in my orbit. Never her.

"You know I can't believe that," I said, gentler now, stopping mid-stride hard enough that pedestrians cursed and rerouted around me.

"Why would anyone go after a five-year-old? If they wanted blood, they'd have come for you  and you're standing right here. They already think they've won. Jess stole every major client we had. Silverhowl Investments barely takes outside capital anymore. We stopped being a threat to them months ago."

I'm still the threat. Every one of them knows it.

"You've never once sat down with her, Jeremy. She's grieving Dad and grieving us in the same breath. I know, in my bones, she wasn't involved."

"Neither of us has clean judgment where she's concerned."

"I do. I trust mine completely."

Aria had spent her whole life trying to glue two warring families back together with nothing but hope and stubbornness.

"Do what you're going to do. Just don't drag me into it." I started walking again, faster now.

"Fair enough. Ethan's got his karate tournament tomorrow night, if you're free."

Just his name loosened something behind my ribs. "Yeah? Still can't believe you two put him in a room full of humans."

"He's thriving. Burns off the energy, and it forces him to practice control early. Better now than later."