ARIA
I stepped out of Kael's penthouse with my heart cracking in too many places to count. The echo of that door shutting behind me felt like the final word in a conversation I didn't agree to end. My chest burned, not just from hurt, but from a rage that was bubbling beneath the surface—rage at him. At his recklessness. At the way he treated violence like it was language and blood like it was punctuation.
Shoji's face flashed in my head—battered, bruised, and barely conscious. Kael hadn't hesitated back in Kyoto. Just like he didn't hesitate now. He'd knocked Shoji out cold in front of me. Didn't even flinch when I screamed. Didn't stop. And tonight… Mia. I hadn't seen her die, but I imagined the panic in her eyes minutes before she fled. And now she was gone. A life, no matter how twisted, was gone.
