There is no such thing as a permanent friend. With the right incentive, anyone could turn into a backstabber. I had learned this the hard way, so it wasn’t hard to consider the possibility that Siren could be double-crossing me. To be fair, everyone whose alibi I hadn’t cleared was a suspect, including Heston. He relied on Inferno more than I did but he was right. What if his sister’s life was the price he had to pay for his loyalty to me? Would he still be loyal? I already knew the answer to that. He wouldn’t. Heston’s sister was the only person he cared about—and Siren, I was starting to notice. However, whatever was going on between them was not enough for him to cover for her if he thought she was Miles’s mole. It was the only reason why I didn’t drag Siren into a dungeon to interrogate her as soon as she returned. “What now?” She shifted her gaze between us. “Do you want me to leave so you discuss what to do about Inferno?” “No need. You can stay. You are one of us, after all

“If you wanted to kill me, you should have simply said so.” I panted, wobbling off the treadmill with trembling legs. I was sweating buckets while Curtis didn’t look like he’d run the same ten miles I had run. He pulled two cotton towels off the rack and threw one at me. “Your stamina is shit.” He grunted. Wait until I chop your vocal cords off, then we can talk about how epic my stamina needs to be. I thought, but what I said was the exact opposite. “Maybe you can help with that?” I felt a jolt in my leg and instantly added, “if you don’t make me run my legs off, that would be nice.” He dumped his towel in the basket at the side, his sigh telling everything his mouth couldn’t. “I’ll find you a personal trainer.” That wasn’t what I was going for. I dabbed at my face and threw my towel in the basket along with his, using the chance to inch closer. “Don’t you want to train me?” “I’ll be too easy on you. Can’t go all out when you’re halfway toward your grave, can I?” He loomed over m

Angelica Curtis returned faster than I thought, his mouth practically watering. “Can I have my breakfast now?” He asked, but instead of taking his seat, he slid up behind me and grabbed my waist. For a second, I wasn’t sure whether he was talking about the pancakes or something else. Pretending not to understand his double meaning, I scooted away and plated his pancakes. “Here. Do you want anything with it?” “Jasmine syrup.” He answered without flinching. I eyed the jasmine tea he had asked a maid to bring earlier and raised a brow. Was he addicted to jasmines? What an odd preference. Keeping that in mind, I took my seat just as Maverick walked into the dining room. “Maverick?” Curtis was as puzzled as I was. “Hey Ricky.” I waved at him. The elderly man tried his best to ignore me but his face still cracked a smile. I took that as a chance to win him over. “Do you want to join us for breakfast? I accidentally made too much.” That was a lie. I knew Maverick was on his way over t

The drive to Silverwood Psychiatric Hospital was nerve-wracking. It should have been the time I got to bug Spider for more information about the vault because he was just that kind of human being. He wouldn’t tell me anything without hours of back-and-forth and eventually coercion. However, I couldn’t do any of that in Curtis’s car when I couldn’t be sure whether or not there was a hidden camera. Biting my tongue, I pulled into the hospital and checked in, then let Gia show me to the garden where Crystal supposedly was. She was visibly uncomfortable around me so I didn’t try to strike up a conversation, only following her lead. Crystal was sitting on a bench next to a patch of roses, head cast down as she mumbled something to herself. She looked nothing like she was the previous two times. I had been scared she would be disappointed when I got out of Curtis’s car instead of him but this was worse. Seeing her like this was gnawing at me. “Feel free to call me if you need me.” Gia of

AngelicaOne minute, I was on a phone call with Spider, and the next, I was stuttering before Curtis like a cat got my tongue. I couldn't form a statement that made the tiniest amount of sense. It was a surprise he hadn't walked off. "Yes." I muttered. Although I had said yes twice, he looked confused—rightfully so, I wasn't certain either. "I don't know…" I cracked my knuckles in rapid succession. "I just… I do want you to stay. There's no doubt about that.""What's the worst that could happen?" He asked, closing in the distance between us. "Huh?" I was already too nervous for my own good before he got so close. Now that we were merely a breath apart, my brain was a chaotic mush. "What would go wrong if I stayed?" His eyes dropped to my lips and I couldn't stop myself from liking them until he grinned. Something told me he knew exactly what he was doing to me and he was enjoying it too much. "Nothing." I tried not to succumb to the allure of his eyes. "But… I don't want to have