Page 95 of Jonas

“Do you have your phone? Can you call Zane and tell him we need to⁠—”

I stopped when I heard the lock click. My eyes immediately went to the porch ceiling and I spotted the camera in the corner. I glanced toward the front door and saw another camera above the doorbell.

Fucking cameras.

I flipped the one in the corner the middle finger and made my way to the door, holding it open for Lore.

“By the way,” Lore started as she closed the door. “The middle finger was epic.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been spied on enough for one day.”

“I didn’t see, but I heard you and your man put on quite the show.”

Whatever.

So what if Jonas’s team saw us kissing?

“How long have you been together?” she asked.

I stumbled to a stop and glanced back at her.

“Um…”

Lore held her hands up in front of her. “I get it. If that’s too personal, forget I asked.”

Hm. Another manipulation or genuine politeness?

“Not long,” I evaded.

“Got it.”

She didn’t get it. She thought I’d dodged the question because of who she was, not because I didn’t want to admit I’d only known Jonas for a really short period of time and I was already mostly in love with him.

“Like a day,” I told her honestly.

Lore blinked and her torso swung back. Seeing her reaction, I realized that was the first unguarded response she’d given me. The rest had been carefully crafted to keep her Machiavellian persona intact.

“A day?”

“Yup.” She continued to stare, but as the shock bled into disbelief I added, “I’m telling you the truth.”

Lore’s mask fell back into place. All emotions wiped clear so quickly if I hadn’t been looking right at her I would’ve missed the transition.

“That’s actually fascinating,” I told her.

“What is?”

“The speed in which you can disguise your emotions. Actually, the expertise is what’s most impressive. You went from shock to…nothing. Totally blank in the blink of an eye. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

With absolutely zero inflection or feeling, she responded, “There’s nothing impressive about me. I’m a lie. A carefully created façade. I feed off the pain of others—I catalog it and exploit it when it best suits me. I don’t mask my emotions, Derrika, I have none. Unless you consider malice an emotion.”

Lore’s speech was so convincing I almost believed her. Heck, I did believe she’d carefully created a façade, but she used that lie to hide behind—to protect herself. The rest, the part about not having emotions, was bullshit.

“I see you, Stella.”

A dangerous glint hit her eyes.

So much for not having emotions.