twenty-seven.

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Everything around me was on fire. I had no idea which one to put out first, so naturally, I did what I did best: avoid.

One, two, three, up.

Each of the fires distracted me from the whole reason I am even in this situation, which was to exonerate my father. The flames circled around me, trapping me while I decided my next move. Alec was the most destructive fire. The way he acted at the hospital set off all kinds of alarm bells in my head. The burning urge to kill Kai was an ever lingering flare after what he did.

One, two, three, down.

Then, there was Bridget. This girl ignited a fire in me that burned from head to toe. Her flame altered my thoughts and restored the missing heat in my body. The warmth she gave disturbed and confused me despite all the work I put into preventing this from happening.

One, two, three, up.

I set the barbell on the rack to sit up. Sweat dripped down my face and chest as I finished my workout. Bridget insisted on running errands and going about her day alone for the first time since the kidnapping. She wanted to prove to herself that she could do it. I wasn't comfortable with it, but it was her decision to make, not mine.

The sound of another body in the gym made me turn around. In walked Kora as if she didn't know I was nearly as angry at her as I was at Kai.

"What are you doing here?" I snapped. She proceeded to sit down across from me on the bench with a leg on either side as she leaned against the barbell.

"I take it you're still mad at me." She sighed.

"Of course I am, Kora!" I roared. "He beat the shit out of her! He made her watch as someone shot me...or fake shot me. She thinks she doesn't deserve to live because of him! I don't care what you think I feel about her. It doesn't matter. You and Kai physically hurt someone that had done nothing wrong."

"He didn't... Kai wasn't the one who beat her like that. Two of the guys that work for him split up the night shifts. It was one of them. Kai said ahead of time to not her seriously hurt her. He did it anyway. Neither of us were there to stop him." She explained as though that made it any less despicable.

"Well, then, all is forgiven. You only let her get beaten by leaving her with him. So much fucking better." I scoffed.

"Aiden, I'm sorry. I didn't want Kai to do this." She said.

"You could have warned me. If I had known, I would have protected her. She doesn't deserve this." I said for the millionth time.

"And you say you don't have feelings for her." She laughed.

"Fuck you, Kora." I growled and walked away. 

"Kai isn't finished." She followed behind me. "He's going ambush you into more training because he knows you lost focus."

"And I have you to thank for that." I dismissed and continued out of the gym towards my car.

She grabbed my shoulder to stop me, "Aiden, please, wait. I am so, so sorry about Bridget. I didn't want that happen, but you know Kai. I'm sorry for telling him you fell off track. The mission has always been our priority, and I wanted nothing more than for you to succeed at that."

I ignored her, shrugging her off as I shut the car door. Irritation turned to panic when I saw my forgotten phone sitting on the passenger seat.  My stomach dropped to my shoes as the screen showed two missed calls from Bridget in last five minutes. I immediately called her back while I drove home, but there was no answer. I didn't worry too much since I was only a few minutes from home.

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