“Good. Now, I have a favor.”
“Oh?” She plops back into the seat. “What is it?”
“Arlo has a work phone. I’m assuming you have one, too.”
“Yes,” she drawls out, suspicion lacing her tongue.
“Let me see it.”
Hesitantly, she pulls it out and tosses it to me. I catch it with ease, then immediately start looking through her contacts, scrolling down until I land on the letter K.
“What are you doing?”
“What I’m about to tell you doesn’t leave this room, do you understand me?”
Aria nods. “I promise.”
“Before Luna died, she told me something.”
TWENTY-FOUR
The reflection in the mirror doesn’t match the person I used to be.
My cheeks are hollow, the shade of my under-eye bags deepening with each passing day. My hair’s never been this dirty, and my body’s constantly shaking. My hands have been a trembling mess ever since Cove shoved me into this fucking institution.
The door of the room opens, and when I turn around, Cove steps inside, his facial expressions as passive as ever. He tosses a big, black duffle bag on the single bed in the corner, then takes a seat nextto it.
“Cove.”
“You look like shit,” he muses, looking me over a couple of times. Though there’s a hint of amusement in his voice, he doesn’t show it at all. “How are you feeling?”
“What do you think?” I snap, pacing inside the room, back and forth in front of him. “I’m stuck in these four walls, don’t have anyone to talk to except the damned therapist that’s so adamant about me opening up.”
“Maybe you should.”
“Oh, yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea,” I respond sarcastically. “Should I start with how I was raised in a family of assassins? Or the fact that I massacred an entire prison because I was so obsessed with a girl? Or, maybe, just with the recent events of me killing the cousin I spent years trying to find? She’d either have me severely medicated or imprisoned. I don’t know which option is worse.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it, asshole.”
“Let me out of here, Cove.”
“No,” he says, bluntly. “Not until you get the shaking of your hands under control.”
Instinctively, I put my hands behind my back, squeezing them into fists. That way, they don’t shake as much. I take a deep breath, then lean my back against the wall.
“I’m of no use while I’m in here.”
“You’re of no use in your current state, anyway.”
I scoff. “Fill me in. What’s been happening?”
It’s been two weeks since I’ve been admitted. Each day feels like a fucking eternity. Each night, I dream of Blair. Her soft hair, her divine scent, and that pretty smile of hers. And without fail, each night, the beautiful dreams turn into the worst nightmares I’ve ever had. They are just a reminder of the biggest failure of my life, something I’ll have to live with.
“Aria took over.”
My body tenses at the thought, brows lifting to myhairline. “She what?”
Cove nods. “Lucas is handling the legal aspects of your business, because Niko isn’t in the right headspace. Aria’s taken over everything else, though. From weapon and drug distribution to making new training plans for newcomers and trying to find who the mole is.”
