Zeke’s POV
“Tell me the truth, Lena. Every part of it.”
She didn’t answer right away.
Her arms were wrapped around herself, her breath uneven. She wasn’t just scared. She was broken.
And I didn’t know if it was because of the past… or because of me.
I wanted to trust her. But trust had gotten my family killed.
She said she didn’t know what her father had planned. That she had only gone to Ravenshade Manor to investigate their business.
But I wasn’t stupid.
I had spent years hunting down the man responsible for the fire. And now, the girl I had been searching for—the girl I had been falling for—was his daughter.
I should have locked her away. I should have hated her. But I didn’t. Because when she looked at me, I didn’t see a liar.
I saw something raw. Something that told me she had been running from this truth just as much as I had.
And when I looked at her now, I knew—Lena wasn’t my enemy.
But her father was.
I stepped forward, my fingers curling under her chin, tilting her face up to mine.
“Help me find him,” I said.
She swallowed, her pulse fluttering against my touch. “Zeke—”
“Help me take him down,” I pressed, my voice dark, low.
She hesitated.
I watched her closely, saw the battle waging in her stormy eyes.
She wanted to deny me. But she couldn’t. Because I saw it—the same darkness that lived in me.
Revenge.
Lena exhaled shakily, her hands tightening at her sides.
She had been running from this moment for years. From her past. From him.
But I wasn’t letting her run anymore.
Finally, she met my gaze.
“Okay.” Her voice was quiet but steady.
I felt something shift in my chest. A final, irrevocable choice. She wasn’t just helping me. She was in this with me.
Lena took a deep breath, her eyes sharp and unyielding.
“But when we find him, Zeke… I want to be the one to pull the trigger.”