“Watch it,” Christian warned, pointing a finger at her.
Hawk put an arm in front of Imara. “We want to talk to her. That’s all.”
Christian’s hands balled into fists, but Gemma stood. These were her three closest friends—well, they used to be anyway—and she was not letting them fight because of a foolish decision she’d made.
“It’s fine, Christian. Let them in,” Gemma said.
His jaw twitched, but he stepped back, sarcastically waving an arm wide. The door closed once Hawk and Imara had passed through.
Gemma held her ground as her two teammates approached, though her legs had begun to weaken.You’ve earned this. She’d let Reymond play her; she deserved Hawk’s and Imara’s justified wrath.
“So, imagine our surprise when we get called to attend an announcement after we saw you tear out of that ballroom,” Imara started, her dark eyes burning with fury. “And Rami says that Ivan’s murder is ‘under investigation.’ Not ‘the killer has been apprehended.’ What’d you do, Gemma? Open your legs to Rami too?”
“Imara,” Christian growled, his nostrils flaring. If Imara wasn’t careful, the part of him that kept his emotions in check was going to disappear.
Gemma swallowed and lifted her hands in defeat. “You’re right, okay? I did kill Ivan. But there’s a lot more to this story than you know.”
“Like how you’re with the Dissent?” Imara shouted. “Yeah, we figured it out. This entire time we’ve been teamed up with a fucking terrorist!”
Hawk spun Imara away when she lunged for Gemma. Christian was poised on the balls of his feet, ready to fight, but Gemma placed a hand on his arm.
“You promised you could do this pragmatically,” Hawk said to Imara.
“I’ll give you a pragmatic foot up your ass,” she snapped back. “The Dissent killed Jeramy, and this whole time she pretended to be my friend.”
Gemma’s heart sank to her knees. Ramihadmentioned several hundreds of people had been murdered or gone missing from Perileos.
“I didn’t know,” Gemma said, her eyes filling with tears. “I didn’t—they told me my sister was murdered, and that they’d help me get revenge. That’s as deep as I went into the group. I promise I had no idea who they really were.”
Hawk held tight to Imara as he urged Gemma to explain.
She recounted her story in detail as she had with Christian, leaving out the parts about Rami’s past that she swore she’d keep to herself. She told them of the deal she’d made with Rami to stop the Dissent before they could enact a major plan and how she planned to kill Reymond herself the second she got the chance. The deeper into the story she got, the more Imara seemed to calm down, which helped Christian visibly relax too.
“So, that’s it? That’s the plan? Find the operative and you don’t die?” Hawk’s eyebrows pressed in confusion.
“Rami said he’d get in touch with me today to brief me on details. Between Christian and I...we’ll figure something out,” Gemma replied.
A long, awkward pause settled in the room. Imara visibly relaxed, and Hawk released his hold on her.
“What about us?” Imara said. “There’s no way in all the hells I’m not getting revenge for Jeramy.”
Hawk nodded. “And I’m not just gonna sit here and wait for a blasted shuttle. I’ll help, too, and convince Colton to join us as well.”
Gemma adamantly shook her head. “No, it’s too dangerous. If the Dissent finds out—”
“Look,” Imara interrupted, “I’m not gonna pretend I’m not peeved at you. If you’d killed Rami, I would’ve had to spend the rest of my life ‘dancing’ in my mom’s club, and Hawk never would’ve had the chance to meet his family.” Her eyes softened. “But I also don’t think it’s fair that you should die for what they made you do. You’re a victim of the Dissent, just as much as me.”
Gemma fell onto the couch, speechless. Who were these people that they were able to see past someone’s poor choices to the motivation behind them? Would she have been able to do the same if roles had been reversed?
She wasn’t so sure.
“We’ll let you know when Gemma hears from Rami,” Christian said.
Imara stopped and turned to face Gemma before she left. “I’m sorry for what I said.”
A single tear rolled down Gemma’s cheek as her door closed after her friends, a sliver of peace returning to her soul.
Several hours later, Rami’s message came through.
