The city outside the hospital felt like another world cars rushing by, neon signs flickering through misty glass. Inside a cramped apartment just blocks from the ICU, Kevin and Matt sat huddled together on his secondhand couch, papers and old takeaway boxes scattered across the coffee table.
They'd been at it for hours cross-checking invoices, piecing together who Richard Holloway had paid off and who might talk if cornered. But Kevin wasn't reading anymore. He was watching Matt the way her hair fell loose around her face, the way her shoulders trembled when she talked about what might happen if her father found out she was helping him.
She trusted him completely now. He could see it in her tired eyes that fragile hope that maybe this fight could heal them both.
Kevin let his hand brush hers. When she didn't pull back, he traced slow circles on her palm, like he was comforting her. Really, he was testing how far she'd let him go.
"Matt," he murmured, his voice soft. "You should sleep. You look dead on your feet."
Matt gave a weak laugh. "I can't. Not yet. There's still so much to"
He cut her off by tipping her chin up with his fingers, forcing her to look at him. Her breath hitched. For a second, she looked terrified but not of him. Of what she wanted him to be.
"You've done enough for tonight," he said. He let his thumb graze her cheek, slow, careful a touch he knew would make her lean in.
And she did. Her eyes fluttered shut, her lips parting like a question he already knew the answer to.
Kevin leaned in and kissed her.
It was gentle at first soft, almost hesitant but when he felt her sigh against his mouth, when he felt her fingers twist in his shirt, he deepened it, letting his teeth scrape her lower lip just enough to make her gasp.
He felt her melt against him the guilt, the exhaustion, the years of fighting her father's cold indifference crumbling as she clung to the warmth Kevin offered her now.
Warmth that wasn't real.
When he pulled back, her eyes were glassy, lips parted. "Kevin…" she whispered. Her voice was so small, so raw, he almost felt something real flicker in his chest.
Almost.
"Stay," she breathed. "Just… stay tonight."
Kevin didn't answer. He lifted her instead his hands firm on her waist as he guided her backward toward his tiny bedroom. She didn't resist. If anything, she reached for him like she'd drown without him.
Clothes fell to the floor, careless and clumsy. The world outside disappeared just shadows on peeling walls and quiet gasps muffled in the crook of his neck. Matt's nails dug into his shoulders. Her whisper in his ear was a confession he'd waited for: I trust you. I need you.
He gave her what she asked for warmth, closeness, a lie she could believe as she wrapped herself around him and let him inside her world completely. She thought it was comfort. Redemption. Maybe even love.
But for Kevin, it was just another crack in the Holloway armor. Another way to make sure she'd never turn on him when the final blow landed.
When it was over, she curled against him, trembling with aftershocks and fragile hope. He held her close enough to keep up the lie, his fingers stroking her hair while his mind spun through everything left to do.
Destroy her father.
Expose every hidden crime.
And when Richard Holloway's empire burned to ash, Kevin would look Matt in the eyes and make sure she knew exactly what it felt like to lose everything too.