Contents
Chapter 21
Overview
Keres, Ace, and Romeo hole up in a motel after Boone’s killing, where stress, attraction, and mistrust intensify. Keres confronts trauma and doubts about her methods and Mia’s safety. Ace exposes her bag search and vows retribution after Mia’s return, while Romeo’s levity underscores their uneasy alliance.
Summary
Keres arrives at a musty motel with Ace and Romeo, raw from torturing Jeremiah Boone and aware of their watchful concern. Forced to share a room, she prioritizes a shower to scrub away Boone’s blood and the day’s grime, trying to ignore Romeo’s taunts and Ace’s control.
Under scalding water, Keres replays the interrogation and her choices, doubting whether cutting out Boone’s tongue cost her answers. She weighs Ace and Romeo’s apparent decency against their Moretti ties and worries that Phoenix’s custody of Mia—pregnant and terrified—could break Phoenix. She steels herself, rejecting tears and embracing a warrior’s resolve.
When Keres emerges, Ace admits he searched her backpack, citing her drugging them as justification. Keres bristles at the violation, and their confrontation turns charged; Ace warns that once Mia is safe, he will hunt Keres down for what she did. Keres counters that he can’t outsmart her.
Ace breaks the moment by stepping outside to make a call, leaving Keres staring after him as Romeo enters the shower and starts loudly singing “Stayin’ Alive.” The absurdity diffuses the tension, but the trio’s fragile, necessity-bound alliance remains strained by distrust, guilt, and unspoken attraction.
Who Appears
- KeresProtagonist; struggles with guilt and vulnerability after Boone’s torture; clashes with Ace over privacy and control.
- AceMoretti enforcer; insists on vigilance, admits searching Keres’s bag, threatens future payback, and steps out to make a call.
- RomeoMoretti enforcer; keeps watchful, sardonic tone, teases Keres, and lightens tension by singing in the shower.