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Gabriel inches up beside me, smirking to himself. He sometimes seems so sane, and then it all just vanishes in an instant. Like the sanity is a mask, and sometimes he can’t help but drop it.

Sometimes I consider it to be the reverse—that he’s actually a rational person, but he can’t let anyone get too close to him. So he acts mad, and his antics keep everyone at arms’ distance.

“You got Artemis and Reese out?” I confirm, because it bears asking a second time. Or third. I already know based on Reese’s text.

They had to leave Sterling Falls. It was logic on Reese’s part, although I assume Artemis fought him on it. But as soon as he asked for a path out…

Bobby was ready and waiting. They’re in my speedboat, but I trust the eccentric man to captain it well. He’ll bring them wherever they need to go and return to Sterling Falls. But he has his orders: under no circumstances should he share where Artemis and Reese go.

I promised I’d kill him myself if that secret slipped.

Sterling Falls, though…

The pieces have been moved across the board, our traps set. The only ask from Gabriel and I was for those two. I don’t know if Gabriel wanted Artemis to be safe or to suffer, but it doesn’t matter.

Alive is alive is alive.

“Out,” he confirms. “He carried her away. Poor broken little bird.”

I glance at him. “What did you do?”

“Addiction is a strange thing, don’t you think? It has a hairpin trigger. Anything can set it off… sadness, loneliness, fear. Sometimes people don’t want to feel emotion. Some think they can’t feel without it.” He taps his chin. “Which do you think Artemis is?”

I go still. “What are you saying?”

“Heroin comes from morphine. Did you know that? I found it fascinating. We give morphine to people in hospitals… all it took was a twist on genetic makeup. Well, I don’t know for certain. I’m not a chemist.”

“Gabriel.” I clench my fists and force myself to release them, finger by finger.

“I broke my favorite toy,” he says sadly. “She was fighting it. I just convinced her that everyone had abandoned her except for the drug. I don’t know if that’s how it is for everyone. Some never wake up.”

His gaze hardens, but I ignore it.

He got Artemis addicted to heroin?

How the fuck did I miss it?

I blow out a slow breath, my need for control superseding losing my shit on him. I would if I could—if this was a regular night, I’d beat him black and blue. But tonight is important. Even having this conversation in sight of the railing, and the people below, seems too public.

One wrong expression, and everything could fail.

The Cyclopes look up to Gabriel and me. Whether they follow one of us or both, we cultivated our places in the hierarchy. To see us fighting would only cause a ripple of dissent.

And with dissent comes weakness.

With weakness comes anarchy.

Gabriel bounces on his heels. “It was such a fun experiment. She hid from everyone. You didn’t notice? Can you think back and spot her lies?”

“Shut the fuck up,” I growl.

He hums.

Still bouncing.

Still happy .

“You thrive in this sort of chaos, don’t you?”

He lifts a shoulder. “I grew up in chaos, Kade. Stability gives me hives.”

Almost against my will, I find myself analyzing Artemis’s movements over the last few weeks. Besides the fact that she was avoiding me because I gave her to Gabriel to save Reese…

She burned my house down, which was a bit irrational. Granted, I think she has something going on with Saint. It could’ve been a territorial thing—and that’s why I didn’t push her too hard when I met her at Madness.

Also…

The bathtub.

Obviously .

Saint and Reese weren’t home when I arrived at the condo, and I let myself in. They arrived back sometime between me discovering Artemis in the bathtub with her clothes on and me picking out new clothes from her dresser.

However, I didn’t mention it.

And if I saw any marks on the inside of her elbows, I might’ve brushed it off. I should’ve pushed harder. Peeling off her soaking-wet, freezing clothes wasn’t a sexual act, though. I wasn’t staring at her chest—I wanted her covered.

I heave a sigh.

Keeping tabs on her was a side project, but even I’m man enough to admit that I was distracted. Not only by Saint, although he’s a delicious factor, but by my job. It’s the whole reason I came to Sterling Falls.

Imagine entering the city with one purpose—and a secondary motivation on the side—only to find… Artemis .

What started as a simple exploration of what Sterling Falls had to offer became so much more. An addiction in and of itself.

“They’re better off gone,” I murmur, more to myself than Gabriel.

He nods along anyway.

Movement on the stairs above us draws our attention. I automatically straighten, and so does Gabriel. His spine snaps straight instantly, all signs of mania gone.

The truth is… this wasn’t my idea.

And it wasn’t Gabriel’s.

I elbow him, and we step up to the railing. He makes a motion, and the music abruptly cuts out. Saint has made his way down to Antonio. The crowd around them immediately spots us, and a rushing whisper, like an ocean’s tide, sweeps across them.

Gabriel leans on it, frowning down at them.

I glance back just as Marcus Graves steps into view.