Bobbi shakes her head. “No! Stop fucking lying! Your father— He… He…”
“Whatever he told you, he lied,” Blaze says. “I’ve got all the records about her. The record from whenyouwere taken, too. Dad saw potential in you, and that’s why he had somebody train you.”
“Because fewer people would suspect you as an assassin,” Pandora says softly. “Sure, you’re muscled—and very hot for it—but most people drop their guards around women.”
I had.
I’d known she was a good fighter, but I hadn’t thought she was dangerous. Or at least, I hadn’t thought she was dangerous in that sort of way. I’d never have pegged her as an assassin.
If it hadn’t been for the information from the files, she could’ve gotten to Pandora, killed her, and gotten away with it because we wouldn’t have suspected her.
“We have the documentation to prove it,” Blaze says. “I’ll share it with you—but only if we can guarantee you won’t turn on us now.”
“She’s not going to promise anything,” I mutter. “Even if she does, why should we trust her? She’ll say or do anything to get out of this, then come back to try to finish the job.”
“River might be right,” Asch says. “If she has loyalty to the Bouchards…”
Bobbi raises her head. “You have proof?”
Blaze nods. “I don’t know where she is now, but I can tell you where she started. You might be able to help fill in the details. We’d need to pool all of our info.”
I grit my teeth. I don’t trust her. Iwon’ttrust her.
“Do I need to remind all of you that she tried to kill Pandora? That if we were five minutes later, she might’ve managed it?” I snarl.
Pandora gets up and walks over to me. She very pointedly gets within range of Bobbi, but Bobbi doesn’t even attempt to shake Asch off her.
Pandora wraps her arms around my neck and gazes up at me. “Thank you,” she says. “For fighting for me. For coming for me. For defending me and wanting revenge for me.” She kisses me gently on the lips. I can taste the blood on them, which only makes my agitationworse. “But weren’t you the one that told me we need to remember Rachel?”
“Sparing Bobbi isn’t going to do shit for Rachel. She doesn’t know anything about Rachel,” I say, my voice still harsh.
“She might have information about the Bouchards that we don’t,” Asch says. He doesn’t relax his hold on Bobbi, but his eyes are trained on me.
“Rachel,” Bobbi repeats. “Your friend.” She scoffs loudly. “Yeah, well. I did look into that.”
Pandora’s hands tighten on me.
“What the fuck do you know about Rachel?” I demand.
Bobbi shakes her head. “You think you were subtle? Between Blaze poking around, Pandora’s public displays of violence… oh, and I found her adorable little diary too, when I looked around your dorm room.”
Blaze curses and stands up. “Youdidbreak in.”
Pandora laughs and rests her head on my shoulder. “That’s why there were eyes on the walls.”
Eyes on the walls?
Now isn’t the time to ask.
Asch exhales slowly. “So we exchange info. We come to a truce until all this is figured out. And we hope like hell that George Bouchard doesn’t send another assassin.”
Bobbi raises her chin defiantly. “He’ll give it time. I told him it would take me a while. But if you’re lying to me about my sister, the truce is over.”
Blaze bites his lips, then glances our way. “It’s still your call, Pandora.”
She curls her fingers in my shirt. “My call. She threatened Samantha. ButherSamantha is threatened. And I need to find Rachel’s killer.” Pandora looks me in the eyes. “We can always take care of her after, right?”
My jaw clenches, but if anyone has the right to make this call, it’s Pandora. “Yeah, okay,” I mutter.
