A look of genuine shock from Meera. She can’t be this good an actor. “She’s dead?”
But apparently, her reaction isn’t convincing enough for Talia. “Just stop it with the act,” she says. “Stop lying.”
“You’re the one lying. How do you explain your sob story coming straight from a book?”
This conversation is happening too fast for Townsend to keep up. He’s still trying to process what Meera has told him about Talia’s past, about her sister. Now that he thinks of it, hedoesremember Mother trying to tell him something about Talia’s sister, which she learned through the PI ...
As though reading his mind, Talia says, “I did lie about my sister. I’m sorry, Townsend.” Tears start to fall. “But I only did it because the truth is so terrible.”
“What do you mean?” He really wishes Talia would put down that gun. It’s still by her side, held like an afterthought in her hand, but he’d feel much better if it weren’t there at all.
“I liked the idea that I had a sister out there—and maybe even a niece—who I could find one day. It’s a story I’ve told myself and others for so long that it has started to feel true.”
“But you don’t have a sister,” Meera says. “Right?”
More tears. “I used to. She died when we were still kids. A drowning accident.”
Is that what Mother was trying to tell him? Townsend wishes he’d listened. He wishes he’d known. Slowly, he approaches Talia and wraps his arms around her. “You could have told me the truth.”
“I know. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“I am too,” he says. Then, as soon as he feels Talia’s body relax into his, he wrestles the gun out of her hand and into his own.
She yelps in surprise. “Townsend, what the fuck? What are you doing?”
“You were going to hurt yourself, Tal. I got us into this mess. I should be the one to handle this.”
Feeling like an action hero, Townsend moves to stand in front of Talia, keeping the gun trained on Meera.This is how it should be,hethinks.A man in charge.He puffs out his chest as Meera presses herself back into a wall.
“You. Talk. Why are you here?”
“I—” Just as when Talia first stepped into the room with the gun, Meera’s face is twisted with fear. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” She inclines her head toward Talia. “She’s trying to frame me.”
Behind him, Talia growls. Townsend’s head is spinning. The gun begins to feel heavy in his hand. “Frame you for what?”
“All of it.” Meera starts to reach for something in her pocket, and reflexively, Townsend jerks the gun back up.
In an instant, Meera’s hands are back in front of her, held up in surrender.
“Please, I just—in my pocket. It’s my termination paperwork from Cuff. Read it, and you’ll see.” Slowly, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out folded pieces of paper. She stretches out an arm to hand the documents to Townsend while keeping as much distance as she can between them.
Townsend’s eyes skate over the page, his adrenaline too high for the words to make any sense.
“I thought I’d just been fired for accessing your messages with Amanda,” Meera explains. “But they claimed I’d beensendingmessages from a user’s account. They traced the impostor messages back to an IP address linked to my devices. But IswearI didn’t send them—”
“Who was the user?” Townsend asks. Even though the thump in his gut tells him that he already knows the answer.
“Townsend—” Talia, still behind him, says his name like a warning.
Meera’s voice comes out in a whisper: “Amanda Reade.”
For just a moment, Townsend’s hands loosen their grip—but it’s all the time Talia needs.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Talia
She’s never held a gun before.
