Mind made up, Bellamy glared at Cedar. “What’s the favor?”
“Your assignment tomorrow. There will be a woman there.” Cedar produced another small bracelet, this one marked with a thin white stripe. She tapped the bracelet. An image shimmeredto life—a young woman with dark skin and cerulean hair. “Let her escape.”
Bellamy gaped. She stared at Cedar before her gaze darted back to the image on the bracelet and the seriousness in Cedar’s face. She swallowed. “How do you know this? That could get me killed!”
“Then I suggest you don’t get caught.”
“Who is she?”
“Not important. Will you do this? Or…” Cedar toyed with the bracelet on her wrist, the one with the damning evidence of Bellamy’s cheating. “Should I deliver this to the house tonight?”
“Is she a target?”
“Witness.”
Bellamy ground her teeth. A witness would be easier to let escape, but if she were found out, it would be her head. This wasn’t worth the risk. She should just accept this was the end of her gambling days.
“What if I can’t?” she asked.
Cedar raised her eyebrow. “I think you know the answer to that.” She tapped the bracelet again and the images of Bellamy cheating flared back up to life. Bellamy sighed in frustration, clenching and unclenching her jaw.
Just a witness. Just don’t kill her. Let her go. Shouldn’t be hard. Shouldn’t get caught. She could create a diversion, chaos.Fuck.
“How do I know you’ll keep your word?”
Cedar smirked. The cocky look on her face made Bellamy want to knock her fucking teeth out. “Guess you’ll just have to trust me.” She took a step back and Bellamy reached out to stop her, but then the air was hazy, smokey white, a small change she almost missed, then Cedar had vanished.
What the fuck?
Bellamy whirled in a tight circle. Cedar was gone, and her threat lingered in Bellamy’s mind.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Bellamy
6 Years Ago
She did it. She let the fucking witness go. It was harder than she’d thought it would be—the job hadn’t allowed for much space. She almost hadn’t done it at all. The downfall of doing soalmostwon out. But then Vesper turned her back on Bellamy when the explosion went off, and she knew she’d get away with it. She used the distraction to her advantage, grabbing the woman’s arm and shoving her down an alley.
When Bellamy reappeared, Vesper didn’t even notice. Vesper had her own witness to take care of, something Bellamy had really been hoping for when she settled on blowing up the building. They were on a tight timeline now. They would have to run, and Bellamy knew Vesper was pissed.
“You couldn’t have gone for anything more subtle?” Vesper seethed when she turned back to Bellamy, grabbing her arm and dragging her away—thankfully, in the opposite direction the witness had gone. “Now we’re on a fucking countdown, Bel.”
Bellamy shrugged, trying to play it off, but guilt gnawed at her. “Thought it’d be most efficient.”
“Most effi—there were two bodies! For fuck’s sake.” Vespertook a deep breath as they rounded another corner, finally arriving at their trolley where they could relax. “You’re lucky there were only two witnesses. How’d it go with yours?” Vesper asked, her body already losing the tension, her tone already cooling.
Vesper never could stay angry with Bellamy. She always suspected that was because Ves was just masking her fear—not that Bellamy would ever say that out loud. But it only made the guilt worse.
She cleared her throat, pretending to catch her breath as she steadied herself for the lie. She never lied to Vesper if she could help it—aside from the gambling. But that was for Vesper’s benefit. “She was close enough to the fire, it wasn’t hard. Slit her throat, pushed her in.”
Vesper nodded absently, looking over Bellamy’s shoulder to the billowing smoke. “Good,” she muttered. “Good, we’re fine.” Vesper pulled Bellamy into the trolley behind her and then into a tight hug. Guilt slammed its way back into her, shoving down her throat, clawing through her stomach. Her eyes burned, and an acute nausea set in as the trolley started moving.
She swallowed it all. “Yeah, we’re fine,” she whispered back, taking a deep breath.
They would be fine. She’d done this shitty little favor, and that was that. She’d find Cedar, somehow, get that stupid bracelet, and burn it. Destroy the evidence. Maybe Vesper was right, maybe the gambling wasn’t worth it. Sure, she’d gotten away with it this time, but the chance of her getting caught… It was too risky. She couldn’t do this again.
Bellamy wasn’t going to be able to relax until she had those fucking bracelets destroyed.
