Page 80 of Silent Schemes

She snorts, then winces at the pain. “You’re lying.”

I set down the needle, wipe my gloves clean. “I don’t lie. Not to you, remember the oath.”

She looks at me, and her face is carved from marble, but her hands are trembling.

“I should kill you. It would please my father,” she says.

“Not tonight,” I say, soft. “You need me to finish the job.”

We both laugh, dark and hollow.

I run a bandage over the stitches, tape it down. “This will scar.”

“Good,” she says.

I stand back, arms folded. “You have a choice, Sienna. I’m giving it to you now because no one ever gave you one before.”

She sits up, blood crusted on her side. “What’s the deal?”

“Stay here. Help me burn your father’s empire to the ground. Or walk out that door and never come back. I’ll let you go. You have my word.”

She’s quiet for a long time.

Then she stands, bare-chested, bandaged, and walks to the window. Looks out at the city as if she owns it.

“I need to think,” she says.

I nod, collect the mess, trash the gloves.

As she stares at the skyline, I know the answer already.

But I’ll wait for her to say it.

She deserves that much.

She doesn’t answer that night.

She just spends hours standing at the window, the city reflected in her bare skin, bandage a white flag against her ribs.

I watch her watch the world.

She never asks for help, so I give her what she wants: solitude.

I clean the blood from the counter, dump the trash, sterilize the room until it shines.

I sleep in the guest room, for the first time since she’s been here.

In the morning, she’s where I left her, the sky bruised and pink behind her, the city busy pretending nothing ever happens.

I pour coffee, set it on the counter. She doesn’t touch it.

She says, “What about my sister?”

I don’t miss a beat. “Protected. I’ll put two on her, round the clock. No one gets near unless you say so.”

She turns, finally, face unreadable. “You don’t even know her name.”

I set my mug down, hard enough to crack the silence. “I do know her name, and I know she’s the only person in your life who survived. I know you’d burn this city to save her.”