“We need to leave before someone reports the disturbance. My people will clean this up. You’re never coming back here, understood?”
I nod dumbly.
He offers his hand again.
“Come with me, Thea.”
I stare at his hand for a long moment.
And then I take it.
CHAPTER 18
THEA
The rain is still coming down hard as we drive over the bridge back into Manhattan. Fat drops splatter against the windshield, blurring the city lights into streaks of gold and red. The wipers move in a steady rhythm back and forth, and I watch them like they’re my anchor connecting me to the real world.
Gabriel is on the phone.
“Confirm the apartment is clean,” he says, his voice low and clipped. “I want it sterile. No prints, no DNA, nothing. More thorough than the standard job.”
A pause. “Good. And the neighbor?”
My heart skips a beat. Another pause. Longer this time.
“Handle it. I don’t care how. Just make sure there’s no blowback. Cut him a check, tell him he heard nothing.” He listens. “NYPD contact came through? Excellent. Send him a bonus.”
He ends the call and glances at me.
I’m still staring out the window.
“Thea.”
I don’t respond. I can’t.
“Thea, look at me.”
I slowly turn my head, like I’m moving through water.
“Are you alright?”
The question is so absurd that I almost laugh. Am I alright? I just watched two men die. Watched their heads snap back, watched them crumple to the floor into lifeless heaps.
And I just learned that my entire life is a lie, that my name isn’t my name.
“I don’t know.”
He reaches over, his hand covering mine where it rests in my lap.
“Don’t think about them.”
“The men?”
“Yes.”
“They were alive.” My voice sounds distant, detached. “And then they weren’t. Just like that.”
“They would’ve killed you, Thea. Or worse. Whatever Kolya wanted done to you, they would’ve done it. If he would’ve given the order, they would’ve shot you in the head and thrown you in a ditch. That’s the kind of men those two were.”
