"Feyre?" Rhys answered in a sleepy rough voice, "What's going on? Are you okay?"

"I am. Rhysand, I need to see you. Can you come by tomorrow?"

"What? What are you talking about?" his voice was becoming clearer and sharper as he woke up and registered what she was telling him.

"I need to talk to you, it's important. It's about your investigation."

"I told you I wasn't going to keep working this case anymore."

"I know, but you can't stop now."

"Why? Did something happen today?"

"Well…" she stopped for a second, trying and failing to put into words the thought process that had led her to calling him. "Not exactly, no. But Rhys, I want to help you bring Hybern Inc. down."

For an eternity, only silence answered her, and then Rhysand said in a low voice:

"Feyre, please tell me you're not serious."

She felt all of her determination falter at that. "Yes, I am serious. I thought a lot tonight about everything and I figured I could be of great help to you. And I thought that if you stopped working then…"

"Feyre we can't talk about this over the phone," he cut her off. "Actually, there's no need to talk about it at all, you're not getting involved in my investigation. I'm seeing my handler in two days days and I'll be out of my cover a few days later. You need to just forget about me and get on with your life."

"Get on with my life?! How the hell am I supposed to do that when I witnessed a..."

He stopped her again. "Feyre we can't discuss this over the phone."

"Then where? When?"

He sighed, probably resigning to the fact that she wasn't going to back down, and said "Can you meet me at the Grand Central Cinema tomorrow?"

"I guess so, yes. Tam is working all day. But what if he's having me followed again?"

"Meet me in room 2 during the 4:30 movie. Take a seat as far up as you can, on the right. Okay?"

"Okay." She was about to hang up when she heard him add: "Feyre, just so we're clear, this does not mean I accept your help. Because I don't. We'll talk more tomorrow."

She agreed, but she couldn't stop the smile forming on her face. She would have plenty of time the next day to explain to him how she could be useful, and then he'd accept and she would have an actual purpose to her days.

She barely took a look at what the movie in room 2 was about before buying her ticket on the right upper aisle, and going into the room. She took her seat and watched absentmindedly as the commercials ended and the movie started, apparently a romantic comedy. She kept looking around the room searching for Rhysand, but couldn't seem to find him.

Ten minutes into the movie, she felt a warm breath against her ear and started as Rhysand's voice resonated.

"Follow me."

She turned to her right, but he was already walking towards the emergency exit at the end of the aisle.

They climbed down two flights of stairs and found themselves in a dark corner of the mall's parking lot. Rhys stopped and leaned against the nearest wall, he crossed his arms over his chest before looking at her. Feyre felt her cheeks burn under his stare and looked away, twisting her fingers nervously. They stayed silent for a while, the only sound coming from the distant cars coming in and out, and the low hum of the vents.

"What happened yesterday, Feyre?" Rhysand said, breaking the silence between them. His voice was low, and he almost sounded concerned. She looked back at him and met his deep blue eyes.

"Nothing special happened, really. I just… I tried to have a normal evening, I tried to ignore what had happened. But I can't. I can't just go back to a normal life, it's impossible."

"I understand that, but that doesn't explain why you called me at 1 in the morning to tell me you suddenly wanted to help me bring down a drug network."

"Sorry about the late-night call."

"That's okay. But you're not answering me."

She knew that. And maybe she didn't really want to answer because it didn't make much sense in her mind either. But she still started talking.

"In the few days that passed since I learned you were a cop, I felt so nervous. I kept thinking about the implications, and reliving all of our encounters, and overthinking everything I ever told you. I was really stressed out."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not done."

"Oh."

"I was really stressed out, but yesterday, when you left and told me I was free to forget all of this, I realized something. Those few stressful days were also the days when I felt better about myself. Knowing that you were actively doing something against them. Knowing that even if Sandy had died, there were people trying to get justice for her. There's nothing I can do to help Sandy now, but maybe there's something I can do to help you."

She stopped talking and found him motionless in front of her, studying her.

"Feyre, I understand how you feel, And your need to act against something awful that you witnessed. But I can't let you be involved in this."

"Why not? I can be useful to you, I'm close to Tamlin and I can access some information you could never get your hands on."

"I'm not doubting your usefulness, I just don't think you realize how dangerous this operation is."

"I do realize it! I was there when Hart killed an innocent woman in cold blood, I'm not a fool."

He uncrossed his arms and advanced towards her. "No Feyre, you don't realize how this would be dangerous for you. You saw some horrible things, I'm not denying that, but so far you haven't done anything wrong in their eyes. Nothing will happen to you because you're Tamlin's girlfriend. If you get caught spying on Hybern, that won't matter. Tamlin's family is only one of Hybern's suppliers. They won't care about hurting you if they realize you are a threat. You'll be in real, life-threatening danger."

"So what? You're in danger everyday you do this and you've been undercover for two years!"

"I'm a cop, this is my job! This is what I trained for. You're a normal citizen, and my job is to protect you, not to put you in danger."

Now Feyre was the one crossing her arms, trying to stop the fury she felt from showing. She felt tears of anger rising in her eyes and clenched her jaw for a moment, giving time for the tears to stop and allow space for cold determination.

"I know that, and I understand it. But I can handle the risk. I… Rhys, what happened to Sandy was terrible. And I'm not talking about how I felt, I'm talking about her. She had a life, a family, she had a son. Maybe she wasn't the best person in the world but she didn't deserve what happened to her. Hart killed her and moved on with his life without a second thought. He was ready to make her disappear and leave her family in the dark forever. If this is what goes on around Hybern, then I can't let it happen without doing something about it. There isn't much I can do on my own, but I could help you."

Silence fell again between them, and Feyre steeled herself for another refusal, another tirade about how it was too dangerous for her. But then -

"What about Tamlin?"

"I… What about him?"

"Are you ready to lie to him on a daily basis about what you do? Are you ready to risk him going to jail because of you?"

"You said your investigation wasn't about Tam. You said he wasn't directly at risk."

"He's not the subject of my investigation, no. My main goal is to bring down Hybern. But Tamlin and his family still work with him, and I gathered a lot of evidence on Hybern's associates in two years, so if the D.A. wants to prosecute them at some point, Tamlin will be at risk. Are you ready to live with this?"

Feyre thought about her boyfriend. She thought about how he'd taken care of her, and how amazing their life together was sometimes. She thought of his kisses on her body and his dashing smile. And then she thought about the account books in his office. She thought about how chill he had been the day after Sandy's murder, as if a woman hadn't died in their living room hours before. She thought about his anger at her discovering his illegal activities, and his arrogance about the fact that he wouldn't go to jail.

She loved the man she'd met all those months ago, but maybe that man wasn't real. Not entirely, anyway.

"I don't want to send him to jail. But it's not my fault if he's involved in this. I want to help you."

Rhysand looked at her for a long while, as if assessing her determination. Then a small grin started to form on his face, and he said:

"Alright."