Page 280 of His To Erase

But I see it.

Steven steps forward, and Frank’s lips part, like he’s about to say something but Steven doesn’t let him.

“I said, let her go.”

He aims his gun, standing dead center in the room, blood still streaking down his face, breathing like he’s holding every last ounce of violence inside and waiting for a reason to let it out.

And I can’t stop staring at him. My body’s still humming from the sight of him. From the way he moved. From the way he looked at me like I was his and nothing else mattered.

I should be afraid—Frank’s arm is still locked around my throat, and Steven’s here with blood on his face and a gun in his hand.

But I’m not. I know he won’t shoot. Not if there’s even a chance I could get caught in the crossfire.

God help me—I’m soaked by just the way he walked in and made murder look like devotion.

Frank wipes blood from his lip with the back of his hand, smiling through it like a villain who thinks he still has the upper hand.

“Touching,” he says. “Really. You always did fall for the wrong things. First it was Lauren, now Ani? But at least you’re consistent.”

Steven doesn’t flinch, but I do. My head snaps toward Frank. “What did you just say?”

His voice drips with smugness, like I’m just now catching up to the joke he’s been laughing at for weeks. “He didn’t tell you?”

Steven’s jaw ticks and Frank moves us forward, even with the gun still trained on him. “Let me give you a little history lesson, sweetheart. The man you’re looking at? He’s not your savior. He’s been watching you since before you ever met. Isn’t that right?”

Steven shifts, his stance tightening as he keeps the gun trained on Frank without so much as a blink. The tension in his arm doesn’t waver. Not even a tremor. And I don’t know why he hasn’t pulled the trigger yet. I can see it in Steven’s jaw—how close he is to ending it. How much he wants to. But something’s holding him back.

“He used to work for me,” Frank says, almost fondly. “Until he got soft. Broke rank, and took something that didn’t belong to him, making a call that wasn’t his to make and thought he could disappear without consequence, so I found the one thing I knew would bring him back.”

Steven looks at me—and for the briefest second, everything inside him shifts. If I’m reading him right, it’s like he’s pleading for something I don’t understand. And then it’s gone.

“She meant everything to him, you know. He would’ve died for her. Hell, he did.” He laughs. “He loved something that belonged to me. She always belonged to me.”

“That’s not true,” Steven growls.

“No?” Frank asks, leaning in so his mouth brushes my ear. “Why do you think you caught his eye so fast, doll? Why do you think he was always there, always watching? He didn’t fall for you, Ani. He used you. I made sure of it.”

My breath catches as I look at Steven and for the first time… I’m not sure what I see.

“Is that true?” I whisper.

He doesn’t move, but he doesn’t look away either. His jaw ticks once, but before he can speak, the hallway door creaks open, and then she walks in. A tall, blonde woman. My pulse stops and my brain feels like it just tripped over itself trying to catch up. My vision tunnels, and I think I might pass out.

My brain trips over itself trying to make sense of what I’m seeing, like it’s buffering reality in slow, broken chunks.

No. It can’t be.

Frank smiles wider. “There she is, the woman of the hour.”

Steven keeps his gun trained on Frank like it’s an extension of his will. But one of the men flanking him lifts his weapon and points it straight at her.

My stomach drops and the whole room freezes in that single, suspended heartbeat.

“Lauren,”Steven says, like the name burns on his tongue.

“Wait—What do you mean Lauren?” My voice cracks mid-word. I swallow, but my throat stays dry. “Don’t you mean… Sloane?”

Her name barely makes it out, before my eyes start to blur, but I blink the unshed tears away.