Everett grinned. “You always were a surprise.”
She sighed as if she were totally bored with him. “Let’s start with—how long have you been a spy? Is that a good place to start?”
“A while,” he said with a shrug. “Long enough.”
“Do your friends know?”
“No. They are exactly as they seem.”
“Why were you spying on me?”
“Well, I wasn’t spying onyou,” he said nonchalantly.
“You didn’t spy on me? Explain that.”
“I didn’t have to spy on you, Reyna. You were so desperate for someone to notice you that you would have made the easiest mark in the world.”
She flushed. That was true. She had been that girl. Out of her depth and in need of a friend. No wonder he had been so kind to her. The only person who had been.
“But you weren’t the mark,” Everett added calmly.
“You turned me in to Harrington, andIwasn’t the mark?” She had to fight to keep her anger in check.
“Why would Harrington give a shit about you?”
Reyna bit the inside of her cheek. “Then why did you turn me in?”
“Because Beckham was the mark.” His handcuffs jingled as he pointed toward the door. “He’s out there, isn’t he?”
“Then why did you turn me in?” she repeated, ignoring his question.
“I did what I was told. I was supposed to report on anything interesting in Beckham’s movements, changes in his demeanor, differences in his schedule. That sort of thing. He’s a rather boring and predictable person, to be honest. Until you came along.”
Reyna swallowed. “What changed when I showed up?”
Everett cocked his head to the side. His eyes were bright, as if he found the question interesting or maybe hilarious. “Everything.”
She knew she shouldn’t feel excitement at that thought, but still it curled inside of her.
“Didn’t you ever wonder why I never turned you in for all your obvious rebellious behavior? That camera?” He laughed. “If I could figure out that you were behind thePerspectivewebsite in a half second, did you think no one else was going to find out? Do you know how many times I covered your tracks?”
Reyna sat motionless. He was manipulating her. He was trying to get to her, like Beckham and Gabe had said he would. There was no way to know whether he had covered for her. Beckham had set up the website, and he knew what he was doing. Everett didn’t have enough power to do more than Beckham had. She wouldn’t sympathize with him because of this.
“So?” She narrowed her eyes. “Do you think that absolves you of your part in my kidnapping?”
“Reyna, I didn’t even know that was going to happen to you. I called in the bite because it was out of character for Beckham,” he informed her. “I thought Beckham would finally be arrested. Even though I was spying on Beckham, Harrington somehow trusted him against all reason. Until you…”
“Yeah, well, he didn’t come for Beckham. He came for me.”
“And now you’re out,” he said breezily. As if this whole thing had been a walk in the park.
Reyna jumped up from her chair and kicked it to the side. She stormed toward him, grabbed him by the collar, and bent down low into his face. “Do not ever talk so flippantly about what happened to me. You havenoidea what I went through. The fact that I’m out doesn’t make it better. Nothing is better.”
Everett’s eyes widened in shock at her aggression. If he thought he was going to get the naive girl she once was, he was sorely mistaken. He’d played his cards wrong. She might have once been that girl, but now she’d grown teeth.
He held up his hands in supplication. “What did they do to you?”
She threw him away like a piece of trash. “Ripped away my innocence.”
