Page 125 of Mystic's Sunrise

I waited, let him squirm in his own sweat. Jacob always fidgeted when he was nervous, his tell, and he didn’t even try to hide it. Especially now, after going silent on me for days without a single update.

I leaned against my car, arms crossed tight beneath my chest, one stiletto heel tapping against the pavement with a rhythm that said I was done waiting. He shuffled forward, guilt practically leaking from his pores like bad cologne.

“You fucked up,” I said coolly, my voice more observation than accusation, but just enough edge to make him flinch like I’d slapped him. “You didn’t tell me about that bitch.”

Already twitching. Already folding.

“I didn’t think it was important,” he mumbled, eyes not quite meeting mine.

I straightened slowly, let the silence thicken between us before I spoke again. “You didn’t think Kain suddenly staying locked away in a woman’s room was important?”

He opened his mouth to answer, then shut it, the words dying before they reached his lips. Good. Maybe he was finally realizing just how far over his head he’d waded.

“You told me he was just guarding her,” I said, stepping forward without warning, forcing him back until he bumped against the side of my car. “I could’ve done something. I could’ve ended it before it ever started.”

“I didn’t know it started!” he blurted, panicked, hands half-raised like he expected me to hit him. “I swear, I didn’t know they were… together.”

He looked pathetic. His shoulders slumped inward, eyes wide and watery like a kicked mutt begging not to be put down.

“Kain doesn’t just ‘guard’ women, Jacob,” I hissed, every word soaked in venom. “He’s a monster. He doesn’t let anyone in. If he was spending private time with her, she wasn’t just a job.”

He blinked fast, then added, almost too quickly, “They’re not together anymore.”

That pulled me up short. My pulse skipped, then steadied.

“What?” I asked, slowly, carefully.

He swallowed hard. “I heard Devil talking to Chain about it. Said she wouldn’t forgive him for lying about being married.”

Silence stretched between us, sweet, thick, and heavy.

And then my lips curled, slow and dangerous, the kind of smile that meant trouble was coming.

“Well, well,” I murmured.

He winced at my tone, shifting uneasily.

“There’s more,” he added, and my stomach tightened with a mix of anticipation and dread.

“What happened?”

“It’s Zeynep,” he replied.

Of course it was. That name again. The reason Mystic had finally cut the cord on our marriage. The reason I’d gone from threat to afterthought. From wife to nothing.

“Tell me what you know.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes darting around like someone might overhear. “She ran away.”

I stared at him, the words not quite making sense. “What do you mean,ran away?”

“She packed up and disappeared,” he said. “No warning. Just climbed into someone’s car and left.”

I narrowed my eyes. “And you waited until now to tell me this?”

He looked down at the ground, mumbling, “I didn’t think it mattered. I thought since they weren’t together anymore… I thought you’d be happy.”

He really was a terrible spy. Fucking pathetic.