MARRY YOUR KILLER
Chapter Twenty-Six: The Morning After
---
The sun was bright when Jay opened her eyes.
She was in Keifer's guest room. The same room she had been sleeping in for weeks. The same bed. The same walls. The same window that looked out at the garden where they had thrown mud at each other.
She was alone.
She sat up. The white dress from yesterday was hanging on the door. Her mother's pearls were on the nightstand. The wedding ring was on her finger—gold, thin, a circle that meant nothing.
She looked at it for a long moment. Then she took it off. She put it on the nightstand beside her mother's pearls.
There was a knock at the door.
She didn't answer. The door opened anyway.
Ci N stood in the doorway. His hair was a mess. His shirt was inside out. He was holding a cup of coffee.
"You're awake," he said.
"I'm awake."
He walked into the room. He sat on the edge of her bed. He handed her the coffee.
"You slept in your wedding dress," he said.
"I fell asleep."
"You fell asleep in your wedding dress. On your wedding night. Alone."
She took a sip of coffee. It was strong. Black. The way Keifer made it.
Ci N looked at her. At the dress she was still wearing. At the ring on the nightstand. At her face, calm, empty, the face she wore when she didn't want anyone to see what she was feeling.
"You didn't—" he started.
"No."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing."
He was quiet for a moment. Then he leaned against her. His head on her shoulder.
"You signed a contract," he said.
"I signed a contract."
"Two years."
"Two years."
He pulled away. He looked at her. His eyes were wet.
"You could—" he started.
"Ci N."
"You could love him. If you wanted to."
She looked at her hands. They were empty. They were always empty.
"I don't want to," she said.
He stared at her. Then he nodded. He stood up. He walked to the door.
"I'll be in the kitchen," he said. "Percy is making breakfast. It's probably going to burn."
He left. The door closed behind him.
Jay sat in the bed, the coffee cold in her hands, the ring on the nightstand, the dress still white on her body.
She didn't love him.
She said it to herself like a prayer. Like a promise. Like a wall she was building brick by brick.
She didn't love him.
---
Keifer was in the kitchen when she came down.
He was standing at the counter, pouring coffee into two mugs. His suit was gone. He was wearing a gray shirt, dark pants, barefoot. He looked the same as he always looked. Calm. Steady. Unreadable.
He looked up when she walked in. His eyes went to her hand. The ring was gone.
He didn't say anything. He handed her the coffee.
She took it. Her fingers brushed his. She didn't pull away. She didn't lean in.
"Good morning," she said.
"Good morning."
They stood in the kitchen, coffee in their hands, the morning light bright through the window. The contract was in his desk drawer. Twenty-three pages. Two years. A promise to leave.
"The ring," he said.
She looked at her hand. The skin was pale where the ring had been.
"I don't need it," she said.
He nodded. He didn't ask for it back.
---
Percy was in the dining room, setting the table. Aries was beside him, their hands full of plates. Yuri was in the corner, his arms crossed, his face cold.
Percy looked up when Jay walked in. His eyes went to her hand.
"You're not wearing the ring," he said.
Jay sat down. "I don't need it."
Percy looked at Keifer. Keifer's face was calm. His hands were steady.
Percy opened his mouth. Aries elbowed him. He closed it.
They ate breakfast in silence.
---
Ci N was quiet for the rest of the day.
He sat in the living room, his phone in his hand, not looking at it. Felix sat beside him, his shoulder against Ci N's, not saying anything.
Percy tried to make him laugh. He tried to make him talk. He tried to make him do anything.
Ci N just sat there.
"She's not going to love him," Ci N said finally.
Percy stopped. "What?"
"The contract. Two years. She's not going to love him."
Percy looked at the study door. It was closed. Jay and Keifer were inside, planning the war, tracking the money, building the case against her uncle. They were good at that. They were good at everything except each other.
"She could," Percy said.
"She won't."
Percy sat beside him. His arm went around Ci N's shoulders.
"She's your sister," Percy said. "She's the strongest person I know. She's survived everything her family threw at her. She survived the attack. She survived the war. She survived—"
"She signed a contract," Ci N said. "She signed a contract to leave him. And she's not going to break it."
Percy looked at the study door. At the closed door. At the silence behind it.
"Maybe she will," he said.
Ci N shook his head. "She won't."
---
The study was quiet.
Jay sat at the desk, the map in front of her, the photographs spread across the wood. Her uncle's face. The warehouse. The money that had been moving for thirty years.
Keifer sat across from her. His laptop was open. His hands were still.
"Your father," he said.
She looked up. "What about him?"
"The photograph. Mica found it. He was there. The day the war started."
Jay looked at the photograph. Her father's face. Young. Smiling. Standing beside her uncle like they were brothers, like they had always been brothers, like nothing had ever come between them.
"He knew," she said. "He knew about the deal. He knew about the betrayal. He knew about my uncle."
Keifer waited.
"He's been lying to me my whole life."
Jay looked at the photograph. At her father's face. At the man who had taught her to be strong. The man who had taught her to trust no one. The man who had been lying to her since before she was born.
"I want to know the truth," she said. "All of it."
Keifer stood up. He walked to her. He stood beside her.
"Then we find it," he said.
She looked at him. His face was calm. His eyes were steady. He was the same as he had always been. A partner. An ally. A man she had signed a contract to leave.
She looked away.
---
The night came.
Jay stood at the window of her room. The garden was dark. The steps where they had sat were empty. The ring was on the nightstand. The pearls were beside it.
There was a knock at the door.
She didn't answer. The door opened anyway.
Keifer stood in the doorway. His face was tired. His eyes were dark. He was holding the contract.
She turned. She looked at the pages in his hand.
"You found it," she said.
"It was in my desk. Where we left it."
He walked into the room. He set the contract on the nightstand beside the ring.
"Two years," he said.
"Two years."
He looked at her. His face was calm. His eyes were not.
"We don't have to—" he started.
"Yes." Her voice was sharp. "We do."
He waited.
She walked to the nightstand. She picked up the contract. She held it in her hands. Twenty-three pages. White paper. Black ink. Her signature at the bottom. His beside hers.
"This is what we agreed," she said. "This is what we signed. Two years. Then we leave."
He looked at her. His face was close. His eyes were dark.
"And if we don't want to leave?" he asked.
She looked at him. The enemy. The stranger. The man she had married.
"We don't get to choose," she said. "We signed a contract."
She put the contract back on the nightstand. She walked to the door. She opened it.
"Goodnight, Keifer," she said.
He walked to the door. He stopped in front of her. His face was close. His eyes were steady.
"Goodnight," he said.
He walked out. The door closed behind him.
Jay stood in her room, the contract on the nightstand, the ring beside it. She didn't love him. She said it to herself like a prayer. Like a promise.
She didn't love him.
---
END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX