As I followed Julian out, I looked at the vase near the window.

Fresh yellow roses.

My favorite.

Just before the door closed, Anna threw them into the trash.

She wore a victor’s smile.

I saw a woman walking toward her death.

She thought she could bargain with a predator and win.

We returned to the Whitmore house.

All day, there was no word from the kidnappers.

Julian paced.

“I can’t keep waiting. I’ll go to Veyra and bring her home myself.”

Before Hayes could answer, Vivian joined the performance.

“Don’t be reckless. It isn’t like here. It’s dangerous. What if you can’t find her? What if something happens to you?”

“I won’t leave her there alone. Alive or dead, I’m bringing her back.”

I almost laughed.

Mother and son, perfectly rehearsed.

Hayes sat in a corner, cigarette in hand. The ashtray was full.

He watched them with an unreadable expression.

He crushed out the cigarette and began to speak.

His phone rang first.

Whatever he heard made him stand abruptly.

“Blackwood went to Veyra himself?”

I had been curled on a small sofa, tired of the show.

Now I sat up.

Lucian knew I was dead.

Knew the woman in the video wasn’t me.

Why had he gone?

“Lucian went there?” Julian hurried over. He looked more nervous than concerned. “He hates my wife. He must be planning to hurt her.”

I didn’t even bother rolling my eyes.

I went straight to Lucian.

He was stepping out of a helicopter in a black field jacket.

I had never seen this side of him.

Wild.

Efficient.

As though the wilderness had always been in his blood.

This was Veyra’s largest compound, controlled by local armed groups.

Even government troops hesitated to enter.

He had come alone.

No Miles.

No Knox.

The lunatic had come by himself.

Wind drove grit through my spirit.

Armed men surrounded him.

A short, heavyset man with a tuft of dyed red hair limped forward.

He lowered his sunglasses, recognized Lucian, and laughed in surprise.

“Well. Mr. Blackwood. You really came alone. That woman must be something.”

Lucian threw him a bag.

Gold bars.

Several documents.

“Where is she?”

The red-haired man inspected the contents and tossed the bag to a subordinate.

“At the White Horse Hotel. I’m busy, unfortunately. Someone will show you.”

At his signal, the men opened a path.

A man in a hotel uniform approached and led Lucian toward the building behind them.

I lingered just long enough to hear a subordinate speak.

“Blade. That’s Fairhaven’s Devil? Your leg. Wasn’t he the one who—”

“Shut your fucking mouth.”

Blade slapped him.

He stared after Lucian with hatred.

And a fear he couldn’t quite hide.

He caught another man by the collar and gave him a low instruction.

Lucian had gone too far for me to hear it.

I followed him inside.

The hotel was another world.

A glittering lobby. Beautiful, scantily dressed women whispering into the ears of men from all over the world.

The attendant took us down to the third basement level.

Above us, luxury and indulgence.

Here, hell.

Damp rot filled the air.

Beyond the narrow corridor stood rows of metal cages.

Young women huddled inside in barely enough clothing to cover themselves.

Some cried.

Others lay motionless, numb as corpses.

Men in camouflage dragged several out and struck them, cursing as though they were disobedient animals.

I closed my eyes.

At the end of the corridor, the attendant stopped before a guarded wooden door.

He explained in Veyran and showed a written authorization from Blade.

The guard looked Lucian over with open hostility, then unlocked it.

A woman sat curled on a filthy bed, her back to us.

She didn’t react.

The guard took a whip from his waist.

“Get up, bitch. Someone paid for you.”

Scabbed lash marks crossed her back.

She had suffered plenty already.

This blow never landed.

Lucian caught the whip midair and kicked the guard away.

“Out.”

His eyes were knives.

Slowly, the woman turned.

My face looked back at me.

She resembled me even more closely than in the video.

The beauty mark was identical.

Then I saw her left arm.

Missing.

Gauze covered the stump roughly. Dark blood had dried through it.

The wound was recent.

Rage and pity struck together.

To make the story convincing, Julian had actually had her arm cut off.

“Lucian…”

She said his name.

Even her voice sounded like mine.

Before I understood, she rose and threw herself into his arms.

He stiffened.

“You came. I was so frightened. I thought I’d die here.”

What was she saying?

She lifted a tear-streaked face toward him.

“I’m sorry. All these years, I treated you like an enemy. I thought you wouldn’t care what happened to me.”

Now I understood.

She wasn’t simply a victim.

She was working with Julian.

Pretending to be me.

“She isn’t me!” I shouted. “You know I’m dead. Don’t believe her.”

Lucian studied her.

He slowly raised a hand and touched the red mark beside her eye.

“Stella.”

“No.”

Tears ran down my face.

His voice roughened.

“I missed you.”

I closed my eyes.

I couldn’t stop anything.

I could only watch him take her away.

I followed them onto the helicopter.

When we finally returned to Fairhaven, the helicopter carrying us landed at Rosehaven’s helipad.

Medical staff were waiting.

They cleaned her wounds and redressed the missing arm.

Lucian stood on the terrace, watching.

His eyes never left her.

I stood beside him.

Looking at him hurt.