Thoughts of Stan Tremy consume me as L and I walk up the metal staircase to our apartment in silence that lingers even when we open the door to Bentley’s excited footsteps, his nails cking against the hardwood. With a pat to his head, L passes me before he heads toward the kitchen, and I haven’t moved an inch.


    I watch as L focuses on his phone, his thumbs rapidly tapping the screen. I know he’s most likely texting Conor to solidify details of the n we started with him on the drive home. When he seems satisfied, he pockets the device and then busies himself in the kitchen, grabbing a ss of ice water before he turns to watch me, until the silence must linger too long even for him. There’s a fleeting look of worry in his eyes when he saunters closer.


    “You okay there, duchess?” he asks.


    I nod. His eyes skim over me as he offers me the water. I take a long sip and pass the ss back.


    <span id="pg_314" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 314. ">“I’m scared,” I finally admit.


    L’s shoulders fall, not in disappointment, but in worry. I can see it in the way his brow creases. He takes my wrist and leads me toward the couch, setting the ss down on the gold coffee table as he gently pulls me down next to him.


    “Scared of what?” he asks.


    “Lots of stuff,” I say with a shrug as I evade his gaze. “I knew Stan better than anyone else who’s been targeted so far. It’s bing more real, you know? Like …<i>everything</i>.”


    When I look up, he watches me as though he knows this is about more than just Stan or the changes in my family that no one can stop. It’s about us, too. And I wonder if it scares him as much as it frightens me. It seems like he’s spent so long trying to ensure he had no one else to care about but his brothers and his business. So how do I fit into that? It’s not like we had much of a choice to be together—we were a product of circumstances. So what happens if those circumstances are taken away?


    A deep inhtion fills L’s chest and he leans a little closer. “You know what I like most about you?”


    I shake my head.


    “You’re brave.” L squeezes my hand when I drop my gaze. “You’re afraid you’ll lose someone? You dive headfirst into a crazy n to marry a broody asshat you hate just to save them. You’re afraid of my crazy boss? You give him drugged muffins and make him fall at your feet, wanting to be your friend. You’re afraid of the dark elevator? You sit in it for an hour so your dog won’t be alone.” L sweeps a lock of hair back from my shoulder with a faint smile. “You’re the bravest person I know, Lark. And I love that about you.”


    <span id="pg_315" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 315. ">I swallow a breath that catches in my throat.


    He loves that about me? Does he love other things about me too? Maybe there are things I love about him. Like the way he puts the needs of others first. Or the way he looks at me when Iugh. I love his teasing smirk. His touch. His kiss. The way his body fits mine like it was made to. Maybe I love a lot of things about L Kane.


    I look away, but he tightens his grip on my hand and I’m sure he can see the sudden shine in my eyes. “You’re wrong,” I whisper. L’s lips part on a sharp inhtion as though he’s about to protest when I say, “I don’t think I hated you. I think I might kinda like you, actually. Just a little bit.”


    Surprise is a momentary burst of light in his eyes and then L’s teasing smile takes over. “Yeah, I kinda gathered as much thisst little while. Not sure what gave me that impression. Might have been the remote control situation.” L draws me into his embrace. His heart drums beneath my ear and I sink into his warmth. “Bravery has nothing to do with not feeling fear, and everything to do with facing it. You know that better than anyone. We’ll figure it out together, yeah?”


    I nod against his chest and L runs his hand up and down my back, a motion he probably doesn’t think much about. But I do. Soon it’s the<i>only</i>thing I think about. His fingers running down the ridges of my spine. The way they slow at the waistband of my leggings and then return up my back. An ache builds with every pass of his hand, a need that slowly coils deep in my core, a need for more than just a reassuring touch.


    I pull away and meet L’s eyes. His hand stalls on my back. He looks right into me, the<i>real</i>me. There’s need and fear and<span id="pg_316" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 316. ">desire and longing staring back at me. Maybe he does love more than just my bravery. I think that’s what I see when I drift closer, when our breath mingles, when he frames my face in his hands.


    “My feckin’ catastrophe,” he says as his thumb coasts across my cheek. “You fucking destroyed me. And now I can’t imagine being anything but the man that I am with you.”


    “L Kane,” I whisper. “You’d better kiss me and prove it.”


    Onest breath. One look. And then he presses his lips to mine.


    It starts sweet. A gentle sweep of our lips. A sigh. A stroke of my fingers across the short stubble on his jaw. And then the kiss deepens. The need for more seeps into every caress of his tongue across mine. I press my lips harder to his. I break away just long enough to pull his shirt off and then I take more from every moment that passes. A suck on his lip bes a nip. The graze of my fingertips bes a long scratch of my nails down his chest. A sigh bes a moan.


    In a sh of movement, I’m on my back on the couch with L’s weight bearing down on me.


    “You sore, duchess?” L says between kisses and bites to my neck. One of his hands trails down my body until it slides beneath the waistband of my leggings. I nod my head as he circles my clit with a light touch. “Good.” I let out a soft, incredulousugh that turns to a gasp as he bites my nipple through my shirt. “Do you want me to stop?” he asks when he raises his lustful gaze to me.


    “Fuck no,” I whisper. He dips a finger into my soaked pussy, pumping it in slow strokes.


    “Then I’ll make it better.”


    <span id="pg_317" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 317. ">L pulls his touch away and reaches for the water ss, fishing a cylindrical ice cube from the liquid. With it gripped in his hand, he tugs my leggings down as I pull my shirt off. His smile is wicked as he centers himself between my legs and lets the cold drops hit my breasts. My breath hitches as the water slides across my skin. He brings the ice down to my nipple and circles it until it’s a firm peak, and then he soothes it with the heat of his mouth as he teases the other. It’s a wave of sensation. Cold then warm. Warm then cold. And all the while I’m increasingly desperate for more of him.


    “L,” I breathe. I run my touch down the ink that covers his arm until I grip his bicep. “Please.”


    He pulls away just enough to stare down at me, his eyes dark and serious. “Tell me who I am.”


    A crease flickers between my brows as I try to work out what he means. “L Kane,” I say, smoothing my hand up the tense muscles in his arm. My reply doesn’t seem to satisfy him. “My husband.” The relief in his eyes is instantaneous. He nods once. Iy my hand to the side of his face. “You’re my husband.”


    “And you’re my wife. Don’t forget it when I’m fucking you like a whore.” He holds my gaze as he moves down my body and slips the ice into his mouth. And then he descends between my legs. He keeps the ice beneath his tongue as he sucks on my clit, swirling his caress over the sensitive nerves. The mix of cold and warm has me squirming. Desperate. My breathes in pants. L pulls the ice from between his lips and rolls it over my clit as he thrusts his tongue into my pussy. I shudder as I near release, then he switches, rolling the ice over my pussy, his tongue over my bud<span id="pg_318" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 318. ">of nerves. When the sensation bes overwhelming and I buck from the couch, he pushes my stomach down with a t hand and holds me there. There’s no getting away. And I don’t want to. He drives up the pleasure until I’m ready to unravel.


    And then with a motion so sudden I barely have time to process it, he flips me over. He enters me with one swift stroke that has me gasping. I’d been so consumed by pleasure I didn’t even realize he’d undone his belt or lowered his jeans and briefs, and now his cock is buried as deep as he can go, his hips pressed against my ass, his body shuddering behind me. He thrusts into me again to the sound of my shameless moan. And then he picks up a rhythm, one that starts with long, slow strokes. He runs the ice up my spine as he grips my hip with his other hand.


    “So fucking perfect,” L says as he gives my ass a gentle p. When I cry out with need he does it again and then soothes my skin with a gentle caress. He separates my ass cheeks and groans. “That fucking perfect ass. That tight little hole.” The ice slides down my ass crack and I swear under my breath as he runs it across the pleated rim. “You’re<i>mine</i>, duchess. Every curse. Every moan. Every scream.<i>Mine</i>. My wife. Understand?”


    I nod. “Yes.”


    “And I’m yours.”


    “Yes,” I whisper.


    There’s a droplet of warmth as he spits on my ass. L runs the ice through it and around the rim of the hole, never breaking the cadence of his thrusts. When it’s coated in a mix of water and saliva, he gently pushes his finger inside.


    “Oh my<i>God</i>,” I hiss as the new but familiar sensation adds to the fullness of his length in my pussy.


    <span id="pg_319" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 319. ">“<i>Husband</i>,” he corrects as he buries his cock to the hilt and leans over me toy a quick bite on my shoulder. He passes me the ice cube before he straightens behind me. He pushes a second finger into my ass and I tremble beneath him. “Use that ice ande on my cock, duchess. And I want to hear you fall apart with my name on your lips.”


    I guide what remains of the ice to my clit and shudder with the burst of sensation. And then L picks up his rhythm, the thrusts harder, the pace faster, his fingers pumping in their own tempo. I chant his name. I lose my mind. My thoughts unspool until I’m only sensation. All I can feel is the way he stretches me. The way his cock passes over the flesh that clenches around him. The cold caress on my clit. The strain of my throat as I call out his name. And then it starts, the burst of pleasure that erupts in my core. My muscles tense. My back bows. My heart roars in my ears and dampens the sound of L’s moan as he releases inside me. I press my eyes closed and stars flood my vision and I unravel, trembling, covered in a thin film of sweat. And when I think it might never end, the orgasm starts to subside and leaves me little more than a boneless, breathless mess.


    L takes a long moment to let us bothe down, time that he takes to run his free hand across my back in a gentle caress. But when I shiver, he starts to pull out of me, first his fingers, then his cock. It’s a slow motion, as though he’s still savoring every sensation. And when his cock is free, he separates my ass cheeks to admire the mess of his cum with a low growl.


    “I think you should just not shower before we go tonight,” he says as he slides a finger across my entrance to gather the cum. He pushes it into my ass and I whimper with the slow glide of his finger.


    <span id="pg_320" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 320. ">“I think that Conor would probably appreciate if I don’t smell like sex in the cramped van.”


    More cum is pushed into the tight hole and I try to suppress the growing desire already building in my core. “I couldn’t care less what Conor thinks.” With one more stroke of his finger, L’s touch then disappears. “But you’re probably right. And I need everyone on their game tonight, especially if you insist on being there.”


    L shifts off the couch and gives me a dark look before he heads to the kitchen to wash his hands.


    “And I do insist on being there, by the way,” I say, and L shakes his head, the resignation weighing on his shoulders as he stands at the sink. “So if you’re hoping you were going to fuck me into submission, it didn’t work.”


    Lughs and turns to face me as he dries his hands. “I had no illusions about that, duchess.” He walks toward me where I sit on the couch, my legs gathered beneath me, my body still shimmering with a glow of sweat. He doesn’t stop until he’s right in front of me, and then he leans down to press a kiss to my forehead. “You’re stubborn,” he says as he pulls away. “It’s one of the things I love about you. Now let’s get moving. We only have a couple of hours.”


    With a worried smile, L leaves me for the kitchen to start dinner while I gather my things and have a shower. When Ie out, dinner is ready, and we talk about Stan, and his vault, and everything we have to do next. And within another hour, we’re heading to Conor’s garage, where we leave the Charger and exchange it for his van, the three of us silent as we drive into the night.


    <span id="pg_321" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 321. ">We roll to a stop within sight of the medical examiner’s office, an austere redbrick building. There are only four cars in the parking lot, a benefit of thete hour. L throws the van into park and we both turn around in our seats to watch as Conor typesmands on hisptop in the back of the vehicle.


    “I’ll wait to trigger the fire rm when you’re ready at the emergency door on the north side of the building. The standard response time of the fire department is only five minutes and twenty seconds,” Conor says without taking his eyes from his work. “I’ll disable the automatic emergency call from the rm, but any more than ten minutes will start raising questions from security, so you’ll need to work fast. You remember where you’re going?”


    “Cooler two, east side of the building.”


    “Perfect.”


    “You’re sure this is going to work?” I ask, hoping that I don’t sound too eager to bow out of this clearly insane n to break into the medical examiner’s office.


    “It’s the best shot we’ve got. Stan’s home vault is top-of-the-line, nearly as good as Leander’s. If we want to get into his records fast, we’re going to need a bit of Stan toe with us.” Conor gives me a sympathetic cringe. “Otherwise, it could take me weeks to hack into it, if someone else doesn’t get in first.”


    “Right …”


    “Try to have fun, kids. You know what they say—couples who y together, stay together,” he says with a wink. Conor passes L a pair of earpieces before he returns to hisptop. “I’m ready when you are.”


    <span id="pg_322" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 322. ">L and I exchange a determined nce. As much as I try to appear confident, my stomach still twists ufortably. L can see right through me. His expression is grim as he positions his earpiece, a deep crease notched between his brows. “You sure about this, duchess? It’s not going to be pretty. I can do it myself.”


    “Not in ten minutes you can’t,” I reply. My tone is more even than I expect it to be considering I’m positive all my internal organs are now lodged in my throat. “If we want to get to the bottom of this before it happens again, this will be our best shot. Besides, it’s my family issue. I want to be involved in fixing it. I don’t want to just sit back while other people do it for me.”


    A long sigh empties L’s chest as his focus drops to the device that rests on his palm. “I respect that, Lark. I really do. But things like this can go sideways. You need to be careful.”


    I can see it in L, all the things he refuses to say but is desperate to. So I lean forward and rest my palm against the warmth of his stubbled cheek and press a lingering kiss to his lips. He captures my quiet sigh offort at his familiar taste. Before I pull away, I press my forehead to his and whisper, “I promise I’ll follow your lead. Just once though. Don’t get used to it.”


    L nts another kiss on my forehead. “All right, duchess. Let’s go.”


    With a determined nod to Conor, L exits the vehicle after me, and we stride through the dark toward the far side of the medical examiner’s office. When we get to the corner of the building, L pulls me behind him and peers around the wall. He turns around and gives me a final, assessing look, ast opportunity<span id="pg_323" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 323. ">to ditch the n and run back to the van. A lift of my brows is all I need to give in reply.


    “We’re ready,” L says.


    “Got it,” Conor replies, his voice clear though our earpieces. “There are only four people in the building right now, so stay where you’re at until I give you the green light, just in case they head out the back.”


    My heart surges as Conor counts us down.


    <i>Three.</i>


    <i>Two.</i>Content rights belong to N?velDrama.Org.


    <i>One.</i>


    The fire rm startles me, even though I expected it. But L remains focused and confident in front of me, seemingly at ease with the warning that res from the building. His gloved hand hovers next to a gun holstered at his side. I can picture the ease with which he’d wield his weapon, the grace and precision of his muscr body, the unerring focus in his eyes.


    “Have you ever killed anyone with a pencil?” I blurt out.


    L gives me a brief, suspicious nce over his shoulder before he refocuses on the emergency door. “No. Why would I kill someone with a pencil?”


    “Because you could,” I reply with a shrug. “What about slicing someone’s jugr with a card?”


    “What kind of card?”


    “A ying card. A tarot card would be badass though. Have you ever killed anyone with a tarot card?”


    “No.”


    I let out a disappointed sigh.


    <span id="pg_324" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 324. ">“What is it?”


    “I was going to say you look a bit Keanu-y right now, but I take it back.”


    “Christ Jesus.” L’s eyes narrow into a petnt re. “I killed a guy with a Himyan saltmp once. Has Keanu done that?”


    I shrug.


    “<i>No</i>, Keanu has not done that, because he is a bloody<i>actor</i>, ya feckin’ catastrophe.”


    My grin ignites as Conor’sugh travels through the earpiece. “Time to go, kids. You’ll have to duke it outter because thest person has just exited the building. The north door should be open.”


    The levity I just felt evaporates as we stride toward the door. The ten-minute countdown begins.


    L leads us through the wide, arterial corridors. We pass offices andboratory rooms. shing red lights pulse above us and the noise is almost deafening. We take two turns to the left and reach a hallway of silver doors. I can tell by the chill that cuts through everyyer of my clothing that we’ve made it to the coolers. L stops before the door of cooler two and watches my reaction as his thumb stalls over a blue button.


    “Let’s do it,” I say before he can ask.


    He presses the button and the door slides open. We’re hit by a rush of icy air.


    We enter the room where a series of fans hum above us and swirl our fogged breath in currents and eddies. The scent of industrial cleaning solutions can’t mask the human decay that lingers like a malevolent memory. Mobile stainless steel autopsy carts line<span id="pg_325" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 325. ">two of the walls, and though there are at least twenty tables, only five contain body bags. The fire rm still res around us with an urgency that propels L forward toward the carts where he starts checking the name tags on the bags.


    “You have eight minutes,” Conor says through the line.


    L has already pulled a cart forward. Before he opens the body bag, he turns to me, concern written across his expression as he scans my face. “Ready?”


    “Ready.”


    He unzips the bag to reveal the corpse of Stan Tremy.


    I’ve seen bodies before, of course, but always so soon after death that they look like they could be sleeping. I’ve never seen someone I’ve known well who’s been dead for a few hours. Stan’s skin is chilled and bloodless, his face ck, as if he’s a wax figure that’s an imperfect replica of the person I once knew. There’s a long gash across his throat, the edges of the wound congealed and dry like a slice of uncooked meat left too long on the counter. I know I should be moving faster and getting to work, but I can’t help but stall for a moment as I try to reconcile what I see now with the formidable man I once knew.


    But even with the seconds ticking along and the rm ring, L doesn’t rush me. He carefully sets a small case on Stan’s chest and passes me a pair of bone-cutting forceps.


    “Index and thumb, when you’re ready,” he says as he pulls out a reseble stic bag andys it between us. “Then we’ll do the other … thing …”


    I take Stan’s left hand and get to work with the forceps. I fit their sharp edges at the second knuckle of his index finger where it should be easier to separate along the joint. Even with the brand-new<span id="pg_326" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 326. ">forceps, it takes a lot of pressure and a bit of repositioning to make headway, but before too long it snaps free and I deposit the severed digit into the bag with the finger L has just removed from Stan’s right hand.


    “You’re doing good,” L says, and I meet his eyes across the body. It’s not just a deration of my ability but an observation that despite knowing this dead man lying between us, I’m not hampered by familiarity.


    “Yeah,” I say, shing him a smile as I saw at Stan’s thumb with my forceps. “This is kinda therapeutic, actually.”


    L’s brow furrows as he snaps the right thumb free, his eyes not leaving mine.


    “Stan was helpful to me and my family, for sure. After what happened to my dad, Stan was the one tasked with teaching me some ‘life skills,’ at least until Damian took over. The difference between a hammer strike and an elbow strike, for example.” I grit my teeth, squeezing the two handles of the forceps together until the joint finally sumbs to the pressure with a crack. “So even though I’m grateful he taught me a few useful tricks, he wasn’t what you’d call the most empathetic instructor. And it’s not like his presence was due to things going right with life, you know?”


    “Yeah. Makes sense,” L says as he holds the stic bag open so I can drop the severed thumb inside. Once sealed, he ces it in the interior pocket of his jacket. “Regardless, I’m proud of you, yeah?”


    “You’re my husband, sweetie. You’re kind of supposed to say that.”


    An adorable blush creeps into L’s cheeks before he clears his throat and gruffly asks Conor for a time check.


    <span id="pg_327" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 327. ">“Three minutes.”


    “Shite.” L takes out the next set of tools andys them on Stan’s chest. There’s a syringe filled with some kind of solution and a stic jar of formalin. A scalpel. A pair of scissors. A set of dainty tongs. And something that looks disturbingly like a little ice cream scoop. “You ready?”


    Bile churns in my stomach. “Probably not.”


    “Me neither.”


    We move closer to Stan’s face and L passes me the tongs. “Conor, are you one hundred percent sure his security system has the iris scanner?”


    “One hundred and<i>ten</i>percent sure. Enjoy.”


    “Fucksakes.” L looks about as green as I feel when he pinches Stan’sshes between two fingers and pulls his top eyelid upward. “Hold this with the tongs.”


    I do as he asks and slide the instrument into ce to hold the eyelid back from the prize beneath. L saturates the surface of Stan’s eye with the liquid in the syringe before he takes up the scalpel with a deep, unsteady breath.


    “I take back what I said earlier about leaving Sloane out of this,” I say. “We should have gotten her to do it. This is fucking disgusting.”


    “You’re not the one who has to dig it out of his face,” L says as he leans over Stan’s head with the scalpel. He starts slicing along the upper ridge of bone to cut the thin muscle that adheres to the eyeball. Just one nce at his progress and I have to turn away to gag. “Feckin’ hell, don’t you start.”


    “I can’t help it.”


    “You’re going to make me sick.”


    <span id="pg_328" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 328. ">“Please go faster.”


    “Yes, go faster,” Conor says, “because someone’s just jumped on the dy and called dispatch for the fire department.”


    “<i>Shit</i>,” I hiss into my sleeve.


    L taps me on the wrist. “Switch lids.”


    As soon as I grab the bottom eyelid a surge of blood pools across the gtinous white surface and I wretch. With a shaking hand, I manage to pinch the skin with my tongs before my stomach flips and I gag.


    “Keep it together, Lark,” L barks, his voice as much a plea as it is amand.


    “<i>How?</i>”


    “Think about Keanu.”


    “<i>No</i>, don’t you dare ruin him for me with the power of eyeballs.”


    “Feckin’ hell, okay.<i>Shite.</i>” A little wretches from L, and I bury my sweaty forehead into the crook of my elbow. “How the fuck does Sloane do this?”


    “Just imagine it’s a marble,” Conor chimes. “Or one of those Trolli Glotzer marshmallow gummy eyeball candies. Have you seen those? Gabs loves those things. They’re filled with red sour liquid shit.”


    I gag again as L releases a string of expletives, some of which might be in Irish, though I can barely make out his words over the ring rm and the heartbeats roaring in my ears. “Don’t bring up<i>food</i>, ya feckin’ gobshite. Bloody hell.”


    “Yeah, fuck off, Conor. Leave my man alone.”


    “The spoon thingy, Lark. Pass me the spoon.”


    I heave. L gags. Conor cackles.


    <span id="pg_329" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 329. ">I manage to pull myself together long enough to grab the mini scoop and shove it into L’s hand. “Get that thing out, for the love of God.”


    “This sounds like a window into your sex life—”


    “<i>Shut up</i>,” L hisses. “Hand me the scissors, duchess.”


    I pass him the scissors and a momentter, there’s a victorious sound of triumph. I find the jar of formalin and hold my breath as L drops the severed eye into the liquid. I don’t even have the lid screwed tightly shut before L has the bloodied tools packed away, hushed expletives still spilling from his lips.


    The earpiece crackles with Conor’sugh. “I was kidding, by the way. We don’t need the eye.”


    “<i>Fuck you, Conor</i>,” we snap in unison as I pocket the eyeball. L zips up the body bag, wheeling Stan’s cart back into position along the wall.


    “No, really, we do need the eye. But we also need you out. Fire trucks are a minute or two away.”


    We take off running, retracing our path through the building and into the cold November night. As we sprint toward the van, we hear the wail of sirens in the distance. I can barely catch my breath, but the adrenaline exploding through my veins gives me a sense of power. I feel invincible. I don’t know if L feels this way after every job he does, this addictive rush, but I feel fucking amazing.


    So amazing that I almost forget why we’re really here.


    L smiles as though he can divine my conflicting thoughts from my wide-eyed, manic gaze as he passes the bag of fingers to Conor. I do the same with the jar, and Conor ces both items in a small cooler.


    <span id="pg_330" role="doc-pagebreak" ariabel=" Page 330. ">“We should have everything we need to ess Stan’s records. But if something happens and it doesn’t work, this could take weeks. The clock is ticking. If the killer stays on their schedule, they’re due to kill again in forty days. It might not be enough time.”


    I nod and L reaches across the center console to give my hand a squeeze. There’s muted hope in the way he watches me. I can tell he wants to believe these pieces of Stan will unlock the mystery of the hunter that haunts us, but it’s as though he’s unwilling to put much stock in what feels like little more than witchcraft.


    “Whoever is doing this, we’ll find them,” he says. He raises my hand to brush his lips to my knuckles. It’s as much a reassurance to himself as it is a promise to me. “And once we do, I’m going to show them what hell on earth looks like.”