Yeah, Asch can get protective, and sure, he fucked Pandora up good that one time, but beyond that? He’s naive and soft.
This isn’t his place.
He’ll get his degree and find a real job and… and…
Fuck.
He can’t leave.
I won’t let him.
But I should. I need to.
All that’s happened lately is proof that he can’t be part of my world.
“Your father is aware of what your priorities are right now,” Ezio says. “But that’s why I’m here. I’ll get it sorted, Blaze.” He looks back at the filing cabinet. “Get in touch with Zayden. Find out where those files are.”
“Yeah,” I say. “If I can find him.” I pull out the remaining paper files. “Maybe he was more involved than we thought in the fire…”
Fuck, fuck. I need to get Pandora to hand over the stuff she stole. Without setting her off, without alerting Asch.
Without setting her off?
That shouldn’t matter. I should go over there and take everything from her by force.
That sounds like a better plan than asking her nicely.
“We done here?” I ask Ezio. I lift up the files. “I’ll get these sorted. That should be everything of value down here.”
Ezio takes the camera and tripod from the corner of the room. As far as I know, there’s no memory card in that camera, so I don’t worry about what he might find there.
Except I don’t need to worry, since Ezio already knows what we do here. He’d impressed my father so much with his workthat my father had offered him steady “employment” as soon as he’d graduated.
“Would be a shame to lose this camera in the demo,” Ezio says. He folds up the tripod and nods to me. “All right. That’s everything.”
We head back outside, careful about where we step.
In a week, it really will all be gone.
Everything destroyed, thanks to one woman.
I growl to myself in frustration. “Hey, can you find your way back on your own?” I ask. “I just remembered I have a group study session. There’s this huge marketing project we’re working on, and?—”
Ezio waves me away. “Yeah, go ahead. I’ll order a rideshare.”
“Thanks, man.” I take the files and jog off toward the parking lot. After I’ve stored them safely in the car, well hidden away, I pull out my phone.
Two new messages from River, another string from the frat brothers group chat, two from some of my classmates regarding the group projects, and one from Pandora.
No new messages from Asch.
Not that I was expecting any. He’s being a butthurt little bitch right now.
I open the Pandora message, and nearly recoil.
It’s a picture of her pet snake, coiled around her wrist. The timestamp says she sent it over an hour ago.
Pandora
