Spider mouths the words alongside me. His lips snap shut when I toss him a dark look.
I slam my palm on the roof of the car.
“Let’s go.”
Haven jogs down the stairs. Her hair is not in its usual braid. It drifts behind her like a shadow.
“Take me with you,” she breathes. “I’m part of the unit.”
“You’re still a recruit. You haven’t yet passed,” I say. “AndIdecide who comes and stays.”
“But I’m the only one,” she whispers, glancing around. Haven frowns. “The others are all here.”
Even with their faces covered, I’m certain she can make out her peers. This attack is a big deal. My father will have my head ifanother mission fails. And I don’t exactly trust Haven. Not since Ansel said she was keeping secrets.
“You have an assignment to handle,” I say. I’ve been putting her on different rotations around the Forge, helping out where needed to teach her a lesson. “Perhaps, if you do it in a satisfactor?—”
“This is bullshit, Vale, and you know it,” she spits. “You’re punishing me because you’re a sick bastard.”
I straighten, having had enough of this conversation. I can’t let her get inside my head before one of my biggest takedowns. This will cement my reputation and shield me from my father’s anger. He nearly made my ears bleed last night, recounting all my failures. He even went so far as to blame my new wife, claiming she is distracting me from my duties.
He lingered behind after the party ended. I sent Haven away and instructed Mercy not to come out of her bedroom.
Haven opens her mouth to rage some more, but I clasp her chin.
“Go back inside,” I say forcefully.
Haven frowns.
“What the hell happened to your face?” she asks.
There’s a bruise on my cheek. A dark blue-black mark that looks like a wilting violet. Knox stiffens beside me. He stomps off to the passenger seat. His door slams hard, the sound echoing in the air.
“Wait, did Fraser do this?” she asks. Her finger drifts to her gun, and for a moment, I think she’ll go after him.
A dose of warmth unfurls in my chest at the anger that burns in her eyes. I didn’t think she gave a damn about me.
“No,” I say. “It wasn’t him.”
“Who touched you, Vale?” she asks. “I’ll feed them their fingers.”
My mouth twitches. She is so beautiful when she’s defending me.
“It doesn’t matter,” I say, releasing her.
I turn my back on her and hop in the driver’s seat. She’s still standing there, looking torn between coming after me and staying behind. For once, she makes the right choice and spins on her heels, hair floating behind her as she marches up the stairs.
Knox is silent as we drive to our destination.
I sigh deeply. “You’re mad at me.”
“You sent me away,” he says, in an accusing tone. “You told me to take Haven back to the Forge. You never said he was going to stay back. If I knew, I wouldn’t have gone.”
“I messed up those missions,” I say. “I am the one in charge. I had to answer for my mistakes.”
“Bullshit,” Knox snarls.
Knox is rarely in a bad mood. Even when we have to wake up early for work, he always has a big smile on his face.
