Thomas Walsh was no different. He didn’t care about her. He was just good at his job. He’d spent the summer doggedly chipping away at her defenses, and he’d done it for a paycheck. When the time came, he’d sell her secrets to Philip for a song.
You’re right, she signed.I should disappear.
“What?” Reed looked startled. “When did I say that?”
You didn’t.But if T-h-o-m-a-s finds out about J-e-s-s-e and his thesis, he’ll go running to P-h-i-l-i-p and ruin everything. It’s better if I go through the surgery now, before he figures it out.
“I’m not sure what timeline you’re operating on,” said Reed, “but Grayson is nowhere near ready to perform an experimental medical procedure. I’ve seen him, Viv. He can barely figure out how to insert an IV.”
He’ll do what I tell him.
“He’ll kill you.”
She swallowed around the sudden brick in her throat. She thought of Bryce Donahue wailing on the gleaming foredeck of a fishing boat. Mikhail Popov, gasping for air on the snow-encrusted bank of an unlit back road. Thomas Walsh, pushing her away in the hush of his bedroom.
She wasn’t afraid of death.
She was afraid of the girl in the mirror.
We do it tomorrow night, she signed.At the gala.
Reed balked. “I’m sorry, did you saywe?”
We can make it look like a kidnapping.
“Again with thiswe.” He hadn’t touched his drink, and the melting ice was quickly turning the foam to sludge. “I don’t remember agreeing to this.”
I’ll make it worth your while.
He fixed her in a stony stare. “All right. I’ll bite, but only because I’mfascinatedby the inner workings of your vindictive little brain—how exactly are you planning on pulling off a disappearing act? Walsh is the most committed watchdog I’ve ever seen.”
We’ll create a distraction, signed Vivienne. She considered for a moment and then added,Last year our swim team raided a rival school’s locker room with paintball guns.
“Paintball guns,” Reed said dryly. “How uninspired. Just so you and I are on the same page—do you want me at this party as a favor to Turner, or so I can help you sabotage it?”
She contemplated this.A little bit of both.
“He’s going to hate me.”
What do you care? He’s a trust-fund brat with a brand-new F-e-r-r-a-r-i and a full ride to the Ivy League school of his choosing. He’s everything you’re not. Wouldn’t it feel good to knock him down a peg?
Reed opened his mouth as though to argue and then shut it again, contemplating Thomas through the window. “You know what I think?” he finally asked. “I think you’re grasping. I think something happened between you and Walsh, and you’re freaking out.”
You haven’t said no, she noted.
He grimaced. “I’ll need help.”
We’ll recruit the other pledges.
“Will we? I hate to break it to you, but they won’t be as easy to manipulate as me and Grayson were.”
Why not?
“For one, you don’t have the fundsorthe intel to bribe that many people. For another, they answer to the House, not to you. Why would they stick their necks out for someone they don’t even know?”
Because you’re going to tell them to.
“Me?” Slumping back against the couch, Reed let the idea sink in. Finally, he lifted his cup in a toast. “Okay. I’m in. I’ll do your dirty work, but I want next semester’s tuition.”
