Yeah, no. Something doesn’t add up. I’ve been going around looking for suspects all over town. Doubting my own team. Finding traces of rats. When there’s a hacker of unknown caliber right in front of me with an extremely vague alibi.
What do I really know about Sam other than he’s Elliot’s friend? Hell, I didn’t know his last name was Parker until I saw it on his bag that’s still in the living room. When Dominic abducted Elliot, Sam located him within minutes. If he can do that, what’s stopping him from hacking into the Bureau’s server?
He did everything behind the scenes and has the money to hire anyone to do his bidding. Elliot told me they onlystopped their operation because Elliot couldn't do it anymore without burning himself out. Then he promised me he wouldn’t ever do it again. Sam never had any reason to stop.
What if the Vigilante Wolf Hunter didn’t leave in the first place? What if he never stopped? Just found another puppet to control after the first one refused?
Chapter Thirteen
Rotten Luck, Racing Clocks, and Risky Plans
Elliot
Oliver: We’re already here. You better be on your way.
Parked in front of the bakery where Oliver told me to meet, I glare at my phone. I don’t know why I agreed to this. I just remember gobbling up Oliver’s homemade empanadas, listening to Oliver complain about their wedding planning.
“It's so much work, and we never have the same day off. How are we supposed to decide anything? So, we just divided everything. We have cake and flowers. He has the rest of the decoration and the priest. Rest, we’ll find time together. We have cake testing on Tuesday. You want more?”
I’d nodded, and that was my biggest mistake. Letting my guard down around evil people. Didn’t he know people who, I don’t know, are remotely interested in any of this?
When I’d complained about it to Nicholas, he pouted for an hour because he was missing the cake tasting. Why would anyone want to eat that much cake? Who even cares what kind of cake they eat at weddings?
Another message pops up on the chain.
Oliver: I can see you from here. Don’t you dare drive away.
There goes my excuse of a patient emergency. I could have been busy with patients, but Oliver told me to text Ashley toclear my schedule for three hours today while I was still too drunk on the empanadas. Then he stood over me until I sent the text. He knew me too well.
I need to start looking for new friends who can cook good food without using their powers for evil.
I stare longingly at my steering wheel again before admitting defeat and pushing the car door open. I walk slowly, as if I can stop time with my pace alone.
I spot Oliver on a corner table with Camilla, their table littered with over twenty colorful pieces of cake. I feel nauseous just looking at them.
“Oh, good, you’re here,” Oliver says when I reach their table despite my best efforts. “Taste this. And this.” He pushes a bright yellow cake with blueberry and light icing and another one that’s dark brown with coffee icing. All this before I’d even sit down. Ugh, life isexhausting.
I scrunch my nose and sit opposite them. “I’m good,” I try.
Oliver glares at me, his eyes manic.
“I think you should try them, Elliot,” Cami says, her eyes wide in fear.
I slide the pieces closer to me, and Oliver relaxes. “Tell me which one you like more.” He has the audacity to smile and look at me expectantly until I grab a spoon and take a bite.
Sweet lemony taste mixed with the tanginess of blueberry fills my mouth. I immediately crave something savory. I take a bite from the other cake too before Oliver decides I’m being too slow and dumps it right into my mouth. This one is chocolaty with a hint of coffee and something else I’ve never tasted before.
“I like this one.” I point at the coffee one.
“Why? Because you like coffee? You’re useless.” Oliver pulls the cake pieces away from me. “You’re demoted to tiebreaker.”
I pretend to be appropriately disappointed. It must have worked too well because Oliver sighs. “Okay, you can try more of them. Sorry, I’m being grouchy. The whole wedding thing is killing me. I just want this part to be over.”
“Just two months and then you’ll have the most beautiful wedding. Think about that, and you won’t know when all the time passed,” Cami says, taking a bite from a blue colored cake. I hope never to find out what that tastes like.
“Exactly. This wouldn’t even matter. Choose any of them, and everyone will eat it anyway. It’s really not a big deal,” I add.
Cami’s eyes go wide. Oliver’s eyes narrow. He aggressively pulls all the cakes to his side like that’s a punishment. “You don’t get any cake,” he announces. Before I can relax, he adds, “Unless we need a tiebreaker.”
