“It’s fine.” He doesn’t need to be bothered.
“Can I be there when you tell Ren that you two are sleeping together?”
I rub my eyes. “All Abe saw was a hug.”
“Uh huh.” She clicks her tongue and then a second later asks, “Are you going to be okay?”
There’s no getting my sister back, so not really.
“Yeah,” I say anyway. “I’m sorry, I?—”
“Stop apologizing,” Lennie orders. “You get to cry whenever you want.”
Rubbing my face, I push hair off myforehead. “Thanks, Len.”
“Luis and my mom are pulling dresses so. . .” She nods back in the direction of the boutique.
“I’ll be there in just a second.”
She leaves me there, again respecting my need for a private moment.
Still dealing with a stuffy nose, I keep rubbing my face, brushing my hair back. I pace in a circle, ignoring steam and a giant bag of trash. There’s movement, a rat scurrying by.
But what my attention is really drawn to is the footsteps that come from the opposite direction.
A man, skinny and tall, dressed in a suit, walks toward me.
My breath leaves me again. It’s no longer the failed gasps between sobs. Instead, it’s the complete loss of the necessary oxygen as I spot the man I’ve dreaded.
No, it’s not Cade.
It’s the man he’s sent to kill me.
“Hello, Isolde,” the Spider says, clasping his hands in front of him. His eyes scan over my form, and I can only imagine what he’s seeing. A frumpy, tear-stained girl. Easy prey. “I’m sorry to have caught you at a bad time.”
CHAPTER 24
Isolde
The Spider’s accent is indistinct. His tone pleasant.
He is, of course, full of shit.
He and I both know it as we stand in the middle of an alleyway in Manhattan.
A few meters away from me, there’s a busy street full of financial workers, tourists, and wealthy women on the way to lunch.
That’s the thing about crime. Most of the time it doesn’t care how close you are to a busy, moving stream of people. If I yelled, what are the chances of someone noticing? Of sneaking down the smelly and creepy alleyway to help me.
And yelling has never been an option.
It’ll do you no good when you’re up against a Spider.
The man stands tall, the telltale tattoo along his wrist just peeking out.
Hadrian and I had both known the astronomically high likelihood of Cade sending along a Spider. I don’t think I’d ever truly accepted those odds, though, until I’m standing face-to-face with him.
Just me and the mercenary.
