Page 115 of Tempest’s Torment

"Ask your brother if she was tied to a chair when she died."

I stare at Marcus in a new light, and he goes completely still.

"Ask him what he did to us for two days before that," Lilah continues, and although her voice shakes, she doesn't stop. "Ask him how my sister died."

"I said shut your⁠—"

"Was she tied up?" Marcus' voice cuts straight across Evan's.

Evan turns his head toward him. "This isn't the time."

"I'm asking you."

"And I'm telling you it isn't⁠—"

"Was she?"

There's enough in that one question to tell me this conversation started long before we came through the door, and judging by the way Evan is looking at Lilah, she's spent however long she's been trapped in here making Marcus question everything his brother has told him.

"You know what happened," Evan says.

Marcus holds his gaze. "I know what you told me."

Evan's face changes and his attention shifts completely away from me. Whatever control he's been clinging to is starting to slip as he looks at his brother.

"After everything I've done for you," he says. "After fucking everything, you're going to do this now?"

Marcus looks at Lilah, his gaze moving over the bruises on her face before dropping to her wrists, and when he looks back at Evan, whatever uncertainty was there before seems to have settled into something else.

"Yeah," he says. "After everything."

Evan moves so quickly I almost miss it. His arm swings, aiming the gun toward Marcus as Marcus steps forward, but Marcus catches his arm and knocks it upward.

The shot explodes through the room.

Lilah screams as the bullet goes into the ceiling. Ghost moves toward Evan and Rogue goes for Marcus, but I don't give a fuck about either of them anymore because the gun isn't pointed at her.

For the first time since I walked through that door, there's nothing between me and Lilah. I don’t hesitate. I drop in front of her and reach for the ropes around her wrists, but my hands are shaking so fucking badly I can't get hold of the knot.

"Kai," she says, her voice a little scratchy.

"I've got you." I try again and my fingers slip. Fuck.

"Kai."

"I'm fine."

"Your hands are shaking."

"I know, baby."

I finally get my fingers beneath the rope and pull, trying not to think about how raw the skin underneath it is, how long she's been sitting here with this cutting into her.

"I've got you," I say again, quieter this time. "Just keep talking to me."

"I knew you'd come."

My throat tightens. "Always."