Kade Thorne's POV
The gun in Seraphine's hand didn't shake.
That scared me more than anything else tonight—and I'd just killed three men to save her life.
"Sera, put it down," I said carefully. My hands were still bloody. Bodies lay behind us on the highway. "You're not a killer."
"Neither were you." Her violet eyes met mine, cold as winter. "Until tonight."
She had me there.
"Echo is my best friend," Seraphine continued, voice steady. "In my first life, I found her hanging in her apartment. I held her cold body and screamed until my throat bled. I won't let that happen again."
I recognized that look. The same one I saw in the mirror after my mother died—when I decided some people deserved to burn.
"If you kill Cassius, you become him," I tried. "Let me handle—"
"You said you time-traveled too." She stepped closer, gun still pointed at the ground. "When? How far back?"
My jaw tightened. I'd kept this secret for so long. "Four years. I died at thirty-nine. Heart attack in my office, alone, surrounded by money that couldn't save anyone who mattered."
"So you've only lived four extra years. I've lived sixteen." Her laugh was bitter. "I'm the older one here, Kade. Stop treating me like a child."
Fair point.
My phone buzzed. Maven's text made my blood run cold: LIVE STREAM STARTED. CASSIUS HAS ECHO ON CAMERA. 50,000 VIEWERS. HURRY.
Seraphine saw my face change. "What?"
"He's already streaming. We're out of time."
She was in my car before I finished speaking.
I drove like the devil himself chased us. Maybe he did—I'd killed three of Cassius Vex's men tonight. He wouldn't forgive that.
"Tell me everything," Seraphine demanded. "Why did you really come back? What happened in your first timeline?"
I gripped the steering wheel. "In my original life, I failed everyone. My mother died poor and blacklisted. I built Obsidian Records but became the monster I fought against—cold, cruel, using people. Then one day, a washed-up singer performed at a charity event I hosted."
"Me?" she whispered.
"You sang like your heart was breaking. I'd never heard anything so beautiful and sad. Afterward, I found you passed out backstage. You'd been drinking. Your manager—Morgana—was stealing your money. You had nothing." I swallowed hard. "Three weeks later, you died on a bar stage. I wasn't there. I read about it online."
"So you came back to save me?"
"I came back to save everyone I failed." I turned to look at her. "But yes. Especially you. Your voice haunted me for years. In my last moments, dying at my desk, your song played in my head."
Seraphine's eyes glistened. "Which song?"
"'Encore of Ashes.' The one you sang tonight. Except in my timeline, no one knew you wrote it. Celeste Nova performed it at the Grammys. I was in the audience and I thought—that should've been Sera's moment."
"You remembered me," she said softly.
"I couldn't forget you."
My phone rang. Maven's voice exploded through the speaker: "WHERE ARE YOU? He's touching her on camera! Echo's fighting but—"
"Five minutes," I snarled and pushed the car faster.
Seraphine checked the gun's ammunition. She knew how to handle weapons. What had she lived through to learn that?
"When we get there," I said, "follow my lead. Cassius has security—"
"I know. Six guards. Two at the entrance, four inside. One has a scar on his left cheek. Another limps. I watched them operate for years."
Right. Sixteen years versus my four.
"Okay, then you lead," I said. "Tell me the plan."
Her smile was sharp as broken glass. "You go through the front door. Make noise. Draw attention. I go through the back entrance—the service door he doesn't think anyone knows about. While security focuses on you, I get to Echo."
"And Cassius?"
"Leave him to me."
"Sera—"
"He hurt people I loved." Her voice dropped to something dark. "He destroyed Echo. He assaulted dozens of young artists. In my first life, he died peacefully at seventy-two, rich and respected. Not this time."
We pulled up to Cassius's studio. A converted warehouse in the industrial district. Fifty thousand people were watching whatever horror show he was streaming inside.
I grabbed Seraphine's arm before she could leave. "Promise me you won't lose yourself doing this. Revenge is poison. I know."
"I already lost myself sixteen years ago." She pulled free. "Tonight I'm just getting even."
She disappeared into the shadows.
I walked to the front entrance and knocked.
A guard opened the door. "We're closed—"
I punched him in the throat. He went down gasping.
The second guard reached for his radio but I was faster. Twenty years of Krav Maga training—in both timelines—made me efficient.
Both guards unconscious in thirty seconds.
I stepped inside.
The studio was one large room. Cameras everywhere. And in the center, tied to a chair under bright lights—Echo Winters, crying, struggling, while Cassius circled her like a shark.
"—such a pretty voice," he was saying to the camera. "Let's see if she screams as beautifully as she sings—"
"Hello, Cassius," I called out.
He spun around. Four guards materialized from the corners, weapons drawn.
"Kade Thorne." Cassius smiled. "Come to watch the show? I hear you lost a little silver-haired bird tonight. Did she fly away?"
"You took something that belongs to me," I said calmly. "I want her back."
"The girl? She's mine now. I'm teaching her what happens to people who—"
A gunshot cracked through the air.
Cassius screamed and grabbed his leg. Blood poured through his fingers.
Seraphine stepped out from behind the equipment, gun steady. "Hi, Cassius. Remember me? Oh wait—you wouldn't. You hurt so many girls, we all blur together."
The guards rushed toward her.
She shot the ceiling. They froze.
"Anyone moves, I kill him," she announced. Then looked directly at the camera. "Hello, everyone watching. I'm Seraphine Vale. This man—Cassius Vex—is a rapist and a predator. He's hurt dozens of young artists. Tonight, that ends."
"You're insane," Cassius hissed. "You'll go to prison—"
"I don't care." Seraphine moved closer, gun pointed at his head. "Echo, are you hurt?"
"I'm okay," Echo sobbed. "Sera, how did you—"
"Later." Seraphine's hand trembled now. The adrenaline was wearing off. "Kade, get her out of here."
I moved toward Echo, but something felt wrong.
Too easy. This was too easy.
Then I saw it—the red dot on Seraphine's chest. Laser sight. Someone was aiming at her from the rafters above.
"SERA, DOWN!" I screamed.
Everything happened at once.
A gunshot from above. Seraphine dove left. Cassius lunged for her gun. I threw myself between them.
Pain exploded in my shoulder. Hot. Burning.
I'd been shot.
Seraphine's scream cut through the chaos. She fired twice. The sniper fell from the rafters and crashed onto the concrete floor below.
More gunshots. Maven burst through the door with police—how did she get police here so fast?
Everything blurred. Cassius was on the ground, hands behind his head. Guards surrendered. Echo was crying. And Seraphine knelt beside me, pressing her hands against my bleeding shoulder.
"Stay awake," she begged. "Kade, stay with me—"
"Did you get him?" My voice sounded far away.
"Yes. It's over. The police have him. Echo's safe." Tears ran down her face. "Please don't die. Not after you came back for me. Not when I just found you."
"Not planning on it," I managed to smile. "Takes more than one bullet to kill me. I already died once. Didn't like it much."
Sirens wailed outside. Paramedics rushed in.
As they loaded me onto a stretcher, I grabbed Seraphine's hand. "The live stream. Fifty thousand witnesses. He's finished."
"We did it," she whispered.
"No. You did it." I squeezed her fingers. "You saved your friend. You exposed a monster. You changed everything."
They wheeled me toward the ambulance. Seraphine followed, holding my hand.
Then my phone buzzed. Maven picked it up from where it had fallen.
Her face went white.
"Kade," she said slowly. "You need to see this."
"I'm kind of busy bleeding here—"
"NOW." Maven shoved the phone in front of my face.
It was a text from an unknown number. Just three lines:
Congratulations on tonight's performance.But Cassius was just a pawn.The real game starts tomorrow. —M
Seraphine read over my shoulder. Her whole body went rigid.
"M for Morgana," she breathed. "She knew. She knew we'd come after Cassius. She wanted us to."
My vision started going dark. But I forced myself to focus. "Why?"
"Because now we're criminals. We broke into his studio. I shot him on camera. Even if Cassius goes to jail—" Her voice cracked. "We just gave Morgana everything she needs to destroy us."
The ambulance doors slammed shut.
And I realized, as consciousness slipped away, that we hadn't won tonight.
We'd walked right into a trap.