She pushed back a long while later, her palm warm against my chest, and gazed down, drinking me in with her eyes. Unabashed, she took her time. I stroked her shoulder blade, the curve of her waist, letting my hand run over the swell of her hip. Her long hair fell like a curtain, sweeping across my shoulder, and I eased off her suit top, revealing a simple black T-shirt beneath. My fingers grazed her stomach, lifting the edge of her shirt; she helped me, pulling it off, and my breath caught. She had nothing on underneath. “I’ve wanted this for so long,” she whispered.

It was such a bold declaration, so like Daiyu—the girl who was used to getting everything she wanted, who always managed to surprise me. The girl who persisted all alone in finding the ugly truths about her own father. Yet there was a vulnerability in the arch of her neck, in the way her eyes softened in the dim light as she searched my face.

I took a leap of faith, she had said to me.

It was my turn to jump.

“Me too,” I said, kissing her fingertips. “I’m yours.”

Her full lips curved into a smile.

For the remainder of tonight at least, our worlds would hold only each other.

EPILOGUE

THREE MONTHS LATER

The news reporter stood in front of the abandoned Jin Corp building, as the cambot panned from the double gold doors upward. The exterior of the building had held, just as Daiyu had said it would, but the interior was almost completely destroyed.

“After three months of investigations, there have been no new leads on the bombing of Jin Corp. The main challenge has been that the hundreds of security cameras revealed no unusual activity the night of the attack, and most cameras stopped functioning after the four explosions destroyed much of the building.” The news reporter was dressed in a gray skirt and light blue shirt, not a hair out of place, despite the humid weather.

Victor’s in there.

Lost in the rubble.

I sat in my large bed, propped against the cold headboard. Spring rain came in sheets, so thick it obscured the city views below. Fingering my Vox restlessly, I forced myself to watch the news update, ignoring the burning behind my eyes.