Page 30 of Ghost Among Lies

"That's who directed me to the discussion board." I squeaked. Actually fucking squeaked but hey, I got my voice back, so there was that.

"We have to deal with him. Are you going to be able to handle that, or do you need to sit this one out?"

That was a loaded question. Anita didn't give me time to think before she was giving her opinion. "Personally, I think you need to face this particular demon."

Easy for her to say. Anita had a take-no-prisoners attitude and handled emotions differently than I did. She could compartmentalize better. I wished I had her ability. It would've made dealing with my trauma that much easier. Instead, I was stunted in a lot of ways.

"And what happens when it breaks me?"

"First off, there's no such thing as when in this scenario. You're stronger than you realize. Second, I'll be with you the entire time. I'll be the buffer if you need it."

"And what about the team? Only you know."

I didn't think I was ready for my secrets to come to light. I know I wasn't ready for my team to look at me differently. Even though I would only tell them part of my story, they would look at me with pity.

I hated pity.

"You tell them as much as you're comfortable with. I know why you've kept it to yourself, but Lilith and Nyx won't judge you."

"No, but they sure as hell will feel sorry for me," I huffed.

"Yeah, they will, but that's just who they are. Both of them are kinder than me. Doesn't mean they will treat you any different." Anita wasn't pulling any punches, and she certainly wasn't here to tell me what she thought I wanted to hear.

"There's no other way?"

Anita pointed at the screen. "You could take the chance he'll sing like a fucking canary."

That would be worse. And there was no scenario where he wouldn't expose my secrets merely to torture me further. If my team deserved to hear it from anyone, it was me.

"Fine. Gather the team, but Hayes needs to stay out of it. At least for this part. We can include him when we discuss the information we found."

"Where do you want to meet?"

I didn't have to think about it long. "Nyx's house. The chances of Hayes stumbling in there are slim."

Beckett was busy getting to know Hayes, so Anita's house was out. Krista was staying with Lilith, so that was a no go. For obvious reasons, my place was off-limits. And everything else was a communal area. That left Nyx's house.

"She'll be thrilled to know she was the chosen one."

I wanted to believe that was Anita's attempt at a joke, but I couldn't be sure. She wasn't known for even cracking a smile let alone joking around.

Less than a minute later, my phone buzzed with a group message.

MEET AT NYX’s PLACE IN FIVE.

Straight and to the point. That was Anita's way. Of course our other teammate couldn't just leave it at that.

GLAD TO KNOW MY HOUSE IS THE NEW WORK AREA. I MUST'VE MISSED THE DISCUSSION WHERE WE DECIDED ON THE CHANGE.

Anita shook her head. "Let's go before I'm tempted to smash my phone from the constant buzzing."

Group chats weren't Anita's thing. We all knew it and usually kept its use to one-liners that didn't require a response. Anita's message ruffled Nyx's feathers, so now we were paying for it.

Nyx's tempter tantrum didn't stop when we walked into her house two minutes later.

"I see responding to a message is below you, Your Highness." She waved her hand at Anita. "Did you ever think that maybe my house isn't presentable to host guests? Huh? Huh?" Nyx glared at us both. "Or do we even care about my feelings?"

"Oh for fuck's sake," Anita growled. "Can you shut up for one damn minute so Sloane can explain why your house was the only option?"