Page 17 of Twisted Violet

Just a breath. Then another.

“Talk to me.”

“Niko.” My voice splinters. “I need you.”

Silence on the other end.

Quiet. Focused. Lethal.

“Where are you?”

“The gate,” I whisper. “Stevie’s house.”

“On my way.”

FIVE

NIKO

The call was unexpected.

Her name lit up my screen.

No text. No warning.

She didn’t say much, just my name, shaky and broken, like she was barely holding herself together, and I didn’t even hesitate.

Hell,I didn’t even ask what happened.

I was in my car, running red lights on the way out of the city, praying I wasn’t too late.

The gates to the estate are wide open when I get there.

So is the driver’s side door of the car.

Vi is on the ground, slumped in the gravel, shaking so hard I can hear her teeth chatter.

There’s blood on her hands, and a few feet away, there’s a body.

Her eyes lock on mine as I step out of the car.

“I think I killed him,” she whispers. Her voice ishoarse, almost childlike. “I didn’t mean to. He was trying to take me, and I… I found the gun and - I killed him, Niko. Oh my God, I killed him.”

I walk past her without a word and kneel quickly to examine the body. Two shots to the chest. Already cold.

I pull out my gun, press it to his forehead, and pull the trigger without blinking.

Bang.

I turn back around to find her staring at his lifeless body.

“Look at me.” I say, searching her face.

She does, flinching like she expects to see judgment in my face.

“I killed him.” I say softly. “Not you.”

She stares at me like I just rewrote the rules of the world.