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For once, Smoke remains quiet.

“Violet and I need to meet one of our authors.”

“Reschedule.”

“We can't.”

“You can.”

“She's already on her way.”

“Then she can turn around.”

I stare at him. “That's not how businesses work.”

“It's how cars work.”

Smoke snorts.

“Stop it. It’s perfectly safe. A public place with my sister. And she can bring me straight home after.”

Roman scowls at the road, not saying anything.

“You can take Smoke to the safehouse. Just go and get Alibi first.”

Roman glances at me.

“He's been alone for hours.”

“He's fine.”

My mouth falls open. “He is not fine.”

“He's a dog.”

“He's our baby.”

A strangled sound comes from the back seat.

Smoke is staring at us.

“What?”

He points between Roman and me. “I'm trying to decide which part of that I want explained first.”

“None of it,” Roman says.

I turn back around. “He probably thinks we've abandoned him.”

“He watched us leave.”

“Exactly.”

Roman looks at me like I'm insane.

“We didn’t take him along. He’s probably got separation anxiety from us leaving him.”

“He doesn't have separation anxiety.”