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“You know why I am here,” I snapped.

Instantly, Silas descended the remaining steps, shoving between us both. I teetered back, my back meeting the railing. Silas and Jace stood chest to chest, the height on the stairs being the only reason he towered over Jace.

“Go home, Noah,” Silas ordered, his arm holding a stiff blockade between me and his uncle.

I stared at him in awe.

Jace didn’t seem shocked. He didn’t react. His eyes were crazy wide, almost gleefully, as his attention quietly shifted to Silas rather than me.

“Oh?” he said, more as a question than anything else.

I swallowed.

Jace never met my gaze again. His eyes were locked into Silas’s. Maybe I was imagining it, but I swore I could feel Silas’s form shaking ever so slightly against me. We were so close my arms were touching the tensed muscles of his bare back. I tried desperately to catch his line of sight from behind his shoulder.

Look at me, I thought. Please.

“My son is right,” Jace echoed. “You should leave, little Hansen.”

He paused, and his grin grew unnaturally wide. “Leave. Before I cut you up into tiny pieces and add you in behind the walls!”

The words instantly sent chills up my spine, and for a moment, I couldn’t even move—couldn’t think fast enough to process the threat that he’d just thrown my way. Jace spiraled at my reaction, maniacal laughter tearing out of him.

Silas didn’t wait for my brain to catch up. He was already on me, swinging his arm back to grab and shove me down the remaining stairs. He used his body to press against Jace, blocking me from touching him. The world tilted as I stumbled and fell down the final stairs to the bottom, Jace’s laugh following me like a promise I knew he’d keep.

I didn’t walk—I ran out of the house.

Chapter seventeen

Final Notice

SILAS

Iknew this confrontation was inevitable. But I hadn’t planned to encounter it today.

What I really hadn’t prepared for was Noah finding the mask, punching me, or actually speaking back to Jace. My nose was still fucking sore.

Today was a day of firsts, apparently. But with Noah being Noah, how could I be surprised?

I had royally fucked up. In so many ways. I couldn’t tell Noah why I attacked David fully. Sure, most of it was because he deserved it. He needed to die, and if he had, I wouldn’t have felt remorse.

But I had betrayed what Noah had asked me to do. And that was something that would be difficult to rectify.

In the midst of it all, I nearly lost my cool and told Noah my true feelings for him.

And now, Jace had seen us… seen the truth. For fuck’s sake, Noah had been wearing my clothes when he confronted him.

If I was still alive by tomorrow, I’d be navigating a huge fucking mess. Noah was pissed at me, and I wasn’t sure if he’d ever forgive me.

It would almost be easier if Jace just brought me to a storage unit now, and got my death over with.

I grabbed my cell phone and texted Noah the first words I could think of.

Don’t tell them.

I knew he’d understand what that meant without me having to spell everything out.

He responded quicker than I expected with a: