"So that's… what happened," Yuri said quietly.
Her voice didn't break, but something in it bent—like glass under pressure.
"Yeah," Anna replied. She didn't look up.
Silence settled between them, thick and heavy. It pressed against my chest, the kind that makes breathing feel like work.
I couldn't stop thinking about Ethan.
The guy had already been dragged through hell—abandonment, violence, a past that clung to him like a shadow that never left. And just when he thought he'd finally found something worth holding onto… hope showed up.
Only to be ripped away.
I clenched my jaw.
Hope is cruel like that. It doesn't kill you outright. It lets you believe first.
I wished—selfishly—that we could bring him back. That somehow, some way, he'd return to us like before. But I knew better. Whatever state he was in now, it wasn't something you just walked away from. And trust?
Trust doesn't grow back once it's burned.
It wasn't his fault. I understood him more than I wanted to admit.
We were alike. Too alike.
I let out a quiet sigh.
The world really is cruel.
A sharp knock shattered the moment.
Knock. Knock.
"Is it done?" Jack's voice cut through the room as he stepped inside. "You, me, and Detective Nam—we have to move."
Yuri frowned. "Move? What do you mean, move?"
"There's a fire," Jack replied. "At Riverbay City Park. Or whatever the hell they're calling it now."
"What the—"
Anna, Yuri, and I spoke at the same time.
At the Scene
The moment I ducked under the yellow tape, the smell hit me.
Burnt wood.
Burnt plastic.
Burnt skin.
It didn't matter how many crime scenes I walked into—that smell never let you pretend this was just another job.
Riverbay City Park was barely recognizable. The grass was blackened, brittle beneath my boots, crunching with every step. Trees lining the path were scorched only on one side, like the fire had leaned into them deliberately.
That told me enough.
Fires don't behave this neatly unless someone tells them how.
Red and blue lights flashed through the smoke hanging low over the river. Officers moved everywhere—some trying to look busy, others trying not to look shaken. This place was supposed to be calm. Families. Joggers. Teenagers killing time.
Now some of them were zipped into body bags.
I stopped near a bench by the riverbank. Its metal frame was warped, paint blistered and peeled away like dead skin. Beneath it, a dark stain soaked into the ground.
Accelerant.
I crouched, careful not to disturb anything.
This wasn't an accident. Someone had wanted fire. Wanted panic.
Paramedics rushed past, wheeling a stretcher toward an ambulance. The victim's face was wrapped in gauze, but the screams still cut through the air—sharp, desperate, impossible to ignore. They echoed in my head, louder than the sirens.
A firefighter told me the blaze had spread fast. Too fast.
Multiple ignition points.
That confirmed it.
"Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing," Jack said beside me.
"Yeah," Yuri replied, staring at the river. Her expression was calm—too calm. "It was set."
The river flowed on, dark and indifferent. Parks burned. People died. Water kept moving.
I almost missed it.
Near the stone steps by the river, half-buried in wet ash, something caught the beam of my flashlight. I crouched and brushed the soot away with my gloved hand.
A metal lighter.
Cheap. Scratched. Intact.
The fire hadn't touched it.
That was odd.
I flipped it over carefully.
Etched into the bottom was a symbol.
A small crown with three points.
Worn. Intentional.
Not a brand logo. Not random.
Someone had carved it.
"Jack! Yuri!" I shouted. "Come here!"
They rushed over.
"Look at this," I said, holding it up. "Does this look familiar to either of you? A small crown with three points."
Jack shook his head. "No."
"Yes," Yuri said at the same time.
Jack and I froze.
"What do you mean—" we both started.
"Let's keep searching," Yuri cut in sharply. "I'll explain later."
A few feet away, I noticed footprints leading toward the maintenance path—deep impressions, uneven. Someone had run, not walked. The tread was sharp and clean, meaning they'd left after the fire started.
One footprint was darker than the rest.
Soaked in something oily.
Accelerant.
Then there was the timing.
A melted digital watch lay near the bench, its screen frozen at 8:17 PM.
"Dispatch logged the first emergency call at 8:19," Jack said. "Two minutes. Whoever lit this stayed just long enough to watch it catch."
I stood, scanning the destruction—the victims, the smoke, the river pretending innocence.
A lighter with a crown.
Multiple ignition points.
No hesitation.
This wasn't rage.
This was a message.
Back at Jack's Apartment
Originally, Yuri and I were heading back to our own places. But Jack insisted.
"It's not safe right now," he said. "Stay at my place for a while."
So we did.
Anna and Fu Geng stayed with Noah.
By the time dinner was ready, the apartment felt oddly quiet. We sat at the dining table, food untouched. I broke the silence first.
"So… Yuri," I said carefully, "care to explain the lighter?"
"It's the Tri-Crown," she replied without hesitation.
Jack stiffened.
"It's not officially a gang symbol," she continued. "It's worse. Years ago—when I was fifteen—a vigilante group emerged. They called themselves The Three Kings."
Her voice was steady, but her hands clenched in her lap.
"Former medics. Firefighters. One ex–city planner. People who understood infrastructure. Crowd movement. Fire behavior. Panic." She swallowed. "One of them was my brother."
I felt my chest tighten.
"Kai," she said. "They believed Riverbay was rotting from the inside. That destruction was the only way to force change."
She looked down.
"Their last incident was three years ago. An abandoned warehouse fire. No casualties. Right before I joined this team. Officially, the case went cold. Unofficially… I thought they were done."
Her eyes hardened.
"But this time, they didn't choose an empty building."
She stood.
"They chose a park. Families. Teenagers. Joggers." Her voice sharpened. "Which means one thing. The Tri-Crown isn't back to warn the city."
She slammed her hand on the table.
"They're escalating."
Silence followed.
"And my brother was abusive," she added quietly. "If he dares to hurt one more innocent person… I swear I'll punish him myself."
With that, she turned and headed to the rooftop.
Jack and I sat there, mouths slightly open, forks hovering uselessly over our plates.
"Well," I muttered, "guess your food's going to waste."
Jack leaned back. "Yeah. I'm already full."
I blinked. "Full? You didn't eat anything."
"Oh, I did," he said seriously. "Air. Delicious stuff. You should try it."
I snorted. "Thanks. Maybe you should try oxygen sometime."
He laughed. "Girl, that's literally the same thing."
"Just take the damn joke," I shot back.
Still laughing, he gathered the plates and headed into the kitchen.
I watched him go, smiling.
It was a real smile.
One I hadn't worn in a long time.
One I'd only ever shared with family.