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“Why would I say anything to my dad about Dare or his friends?”
That hint of a smile widened. “Still don’t get it, do you? I really thought you’d be smarter.” When I stared at her blankly, she said, “Think about all of us, Elle. Who do you think we all are? Who am I?”
“Einstein.”
“And what do I do?” she prompted, dragging the last word out.
“You frustrate me,” I responded immediately, but as soon as I said it, I remembered her words from last week when I’d woken up to find her fixated on my mouth.
“I have a thing for locks and codes and puzzles.”
“You’re a hacker,” I mumbled, my tone numb.
The smile that lit up her face was feral. “Johnny, well . . . Johnny’s just Johnny. And the twins aren’t just hanging around because they’re hot. One’s a tracker, the other is a sniper. Combined? They’re basically our version of your boyfriend. Well, they’re not silent and invisible . . . but not everyone can be like Nightshade, and at least the twins have souls.”
I was too stunned to defend Kieran. Not that Einstein gave me a chance to speak anyway.
“Libby is actually Dare’s sister. But, as you can tell, she doesn’t really love being part of us. She sort of hates that she’s a—”
“Borello.” Horror laced my tone and all the blood quickly drained from my head. “Elizabeth Borello. Oh God.” I shot off the couch and stumbled blindly away from it.
Libby is Elizabeth fucking Borello. That means . . .
“No. No, you’re just—no.”
“You made your decision,” Einstein reminded me calmly.
But that was before I’d known.
The large room seemed to close in on me, a high-pitched ringing filled my ears.
“I didn’t—I didn’t know!”
Knowing he was a member of the Borello Gang was one thing. It was horrifying, but I knew I could still get past it.
Knowing he was an actual Borello? Knowing he was Demitri Borello, the man responsible for so many Holloway deaths? The man whose father had been responsible for even more of our spilled blood?
“Well, everybody is going to know who you are if you don’t calm down.”
I reached for the couch, but still roughly fell onto it when it felt like the world was ripped out from under me.
I’d given him my soul, and he wanted to destroy my heart. Destroy me.
“He wants to kill me.” My voice was nearly inaudible even to my own ears.
Einstein was silent so long that I finally looked at her, but her mouth was set in a grim line.
“He’s going to kill me, isn’t he?” I asked, looking for confirmation and praying for a denial. “Oh God. Was it him? Was it him last week in my—” Words failed me when Einstein’s eyes flashed to mine only to quickly dart away.
“We were tipped off,” she finally admitted.
A sharp exhale burst from my chest, and suddenly I was off the couch again. I don’t remember moving. I only knew I had been sitting, trying to stop the room from spinning, and suddenly I was across the room and headed for the front door.
Einstein slammed her weight into me, sending us both into the door and ma
king it so I could no longer get away. When she spoke, every word was sharp and edged with frustration. “I’ve kept your secret, so you’re going to hear me out. Someone sent a recent picture, trying to prove you were alive—which we just found out days before,” she added quickly when a pained laugh tumbled from my lips. “But I couldn’t use it, there was nothing identifying, and it was too far away. I told you last week, you’re safest here. I meant that. The most recent picture we have of you is from twelve years ago. It looks nothing like you, except—”
“My mouth,” I finished for her. I whirled around when she pushed off me. “That doesn’t change who he is. That doesn’t change who I am. It doesn’t change that his family killed both of my brothers and tried to take me, or that he just destroyed my house looking for me. All my feelings aside, the man I just gave myself to wants to kill me.” I gritted my teeth, hating that my voice was shaking. “I can’t—”
