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What the fuck is going on?
If there’s one thing I can say for Willow Hayes, it’s that she’s always fucking consistent. She goes to her classes and then goes home. Sometimes she stops off at the grocery store, but that’s about it. There’s never anything that strange about her routine.
Once the students have filed out of the building, I step inside myself, poking around to make sure she’s not just in the bathroom or something.
But she’s not here.
Suspicion burns in my chest, hot and fast. Did she try to leave town while we were gone? Is she pulling some shit on us?
We didn’t tell her we were leaving, but maybe she found out somehow and decided to use that time to escape.
“Motherfucker,” I mutter under my breath.
I stalk away from the building and pull out my phone, calling Vic.
“Mal?” he answers. “Was something wrong with the drop?”
“No. I can’t find the fucking girl,” I snap. “She’s not on campus.”
“Wait,” Vic says, and I can hear his fingers clacking over the keys of his keyboard on the other end of the call. A few seconds go by while he checks the cameras we put in her house. “She’s not at home either.”
What the actual fuck?
Anger rises in me, burning hotter and brighter, and I grip the phone in my hand. This is what happens when we don’t stick to the fucking plans. This is what happens when we leave loose ends dangling in the goddamn breeze.
“Wait.” Vic speaks up again before I can say anything else. “She just got home. You think she skipped classes?”
I bite the inside of my cheek, eyes narrowed as I walk back to the car. “I don’t know. But I’m about to find out.”
Dropping the call, I shove my phone back into my pocket, then get in the car and speed off toward her place.
It’s a shit-hole of a building, and the front entry door is cracked open. A few people are smoking on the steps, and they eye me with curious looks as I stalk up the stairs and push the door open.
None of them are stupid enough to ask if I belong there, and that’s good. Given the mood I’m in, it would not have ended well for them.
I head right to Willow’s floor and bang on the door, counting the seconds in my head like I’m Vic or something.
There’s a moment of silence, then I hear the soft shuffle of footsteps inside. There’s a clicking sound as the deadbolt unlocks, and as soon as the door starts to open, I shove it wider and barge in, stepping into her apartment.
“What—? Malice?” Willow stumbles back a few steps, looking shocked. “What are you doing here?”
Rather than answering her question, I swivel my head back and forth, taking in her small, run-down apartment. I’ve never been in here before, but I’ve caught a few glimpses of it on the screens in Vic’s room from time to time, so I know the general layout of the place.
When I glance over at the wall between the living room and the kitchen, I freeze, my eyes narrowing.
“What the hell is this?” I grit out. “Are you planning on running,Solnyshka? Trying to skip town on us?”
“No.” She shakes her head, her light blonde hair shimmering with the quick movement. “No, I’m not—”
“Then what the fuck are those?” I jab a finger toward the boxes lined up against the wall. “Looks like you’re packing up to me. So what is it? You’re trying to leave? Trying to give us the slip? We told you what would happen if you set a foot out of line, so what the fuck is this?”
She shakes her head again, swallowing hard. “I haven’t done anything. You said not to sell you out, and I haven’t. Those boxes don’t have anything to do with you!”
“That’s not good enough. You need to tell me what’s going on, or I swear to fuck—” I bite off the threat, because she already knows what’s going to happen.
“It’s not—I have to—”
Irritated and tired of her shit, I step toward her. She stayed by the door when I barged in, and as I move closer to her, she presses her back up against it, her eyes wide.
