“I figured,” he said. “And I know it doesn’t excuse what she did. But whatever made you think those people deserved to be dead? She obviously believed the same thing about Knox. Maybe we should focus more on whoever convinced her that was the case. This Adrian character, for one.”
My eyes slid closed. “It’s next on my list,” I muttered. “Not that a first name—and probably a fake one, at that—is gonna be much help.”
“But you still think it’s someone connected to the Vozzinas,” Tony said. “Because apparently you’re intercepting shipments of kidnapped omegas from the gangs, and you never thought to, y’know,mention that.”
“I donotwant you mixed up with the omega business,” I growled.
“Uh-huh,” he said. “So, how’s that working out for you? Because no offense, but I’m feeling pretty involved at the moment.”
“Yes,” I agreed unhappily. “You are. And it’s my job to see that you don’t get anymoreinvolved.”
He looked like he wanted to say something else that I wouldn’t like, but he visibly swallowed it back. “Look, you’re about to pass out. I can tell because I just watched someone else pass out after being awake for about the same amount of time you and Gage have been.”
“No time for sleep,” I said immediately, thinking of Knox, unconscious in his hospital bed.
“Right.” Tony sounded unconvinced. “Okay, how about this? I can go sit with Knox and call you if there’s any change. Gage can come back here, and you two can trade off sleeping and watching Jez. Only...”
I peered at him with bleary eyes. “What?”
He sighed. “Maybe don’t terrify her any more, because it’s really not helping the situation.”
“It got me Adrian’s name,” I told him.
Adrian’s probably fake name, I didn’t add.
“Sure,” Tony said, not looking happy about it. “So, follow up on that first. You can bark at her afterward.”
I subsided reluctantly. “Yeah, fine. I’ll call Gage and let him know you’re coming.”
ELEVEN
Jez
THE ATTIC DOOR WASunlocked. I needed to get up. I needed to try and escape. Instead, I was still curled in a ball on the stupid bed with its stupid pillows and blankets, sobbing.
Tony had glanced back and forth between me and the place where Heath had been standing a moment earlier, obviously torn.
“I have to go after him,” he’d said. “I’m not locking you in, but he’s probably still downstairs, okay?”
And then, he’d left—shutting the door softly behind him.
There would be windows in the house. Maybe I could climb out of one, unless they were all barred or nailed shut. There were probably weapons stored somewhere. Real weapons... even if it was just a kitchen knife.
But I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything except hug my knees to my chest and cry. Because no matter what the truth was, I’d done something horrible. Something unforgivable. Maybe unsurvivable.
