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“Stay right there, sweetheart,” Gordon said.
“Go,” Theo said to me. “You can go. This isn’t your world anymore.”
“If she leaves,” Gordon said, “I’ll shoot you, Theodore.”
“Then do it already.”
“No,” I said with emotion this time.
“Or what? You’ll jump in front of him again? That’s so two years ago, dear. Just stay where you are.”
“Run, Scarlet,” Theo said.
My gaze bounced back and forth between the two of them, unsteady on my feet.
“It’s near impossible to shoot a running target with that gun,” Theo said to me. “So go. Now.”
I shook my head, vision brimming.
“Now,” he barked.
Gordon laughed, followed by Trace’s hollow chuckle.
A chill spiraled down my back, as if a ghost appeared in shadow behind me and ran a misted finger along my spine.
If you go, he will lose his life. He will not be arrested. Theo will die by his father first.
“I … I can’t,” I said to him, the very pain of him dying in front of me lacing through my voice.
“Scarlet.” Realization leeched through his expression, dried blood going stark against his pale skin. “Don’t do this. Don’t be stupid.”
“Do you remember when you told me you weren’t a hero?” I said to him, then stepped forward, grabbing his hand. “I don’t claim to be, either, but I’m not going anywhere. I’m not running away from you, Theo.”
“GoodGod,” Trace scoffed, speaking through the blood in his mouth, one hand resting on his father’s shoulder to balance his weight.
Gordon narrowed his eyes at me.
“You have no idea, do you, girl?” he asked.
At my pained expression, he continued. “The necklace. What have you made of it?”
Kai came into my head, but I clamped down at the thought. He couldn’t have—wouldn’t have—betrayed me. There had to be another reason, another cruel twist to this fate causing what was meant to be a safety net become a weapon—
I stared at Gordon with newfound clarity.
“You,” I said.
“Indeed.” To Gordon’s credit, he did not roll his eyes at my deduction. “It wasn’t easy, mind you, but it is crucial to find moles where you most need them.”
Moments, locations, people, blew through my mind with the force of a stack of playing cards slipping through a dealer’s hand.
“Rada?” I said the name as a question, a breath of air, while processing the possibility.
“You were correct, dear boy, sheisa smart one,” Gordon said to Theo. “It took Tracey at least an hour to figure that one out.”
“But how…?” I asked Theo, Gordon, Trace, myself. “I never took the necklace off…”
“Oh, but you did,” Tony said, the sound of his voice like a snake slithering through a dried out pond.
