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“Revenge makes monsters of all of us, Angel. It’s one of my favorite things about it. The things we’ll do to the men who killed Bugsy... The human language doesn’t have a word for what we’ll become when we’re through with him.”
It was a testament to how much I’d changed that I never agreed with anything more.
“Kenzie?” Sienna whisper-shouted through the door. “Kenzie, are you awake?”
I handed Laurel to Sunny and jumped up. “Sienna,” I scolded, throwing my arms around her. “Do you have any idea how worried I was? You weren’t answering your phone. Did you hear what happened?”
She nodded gravely. “Thatcher told me on the way in. It’s awful, Kenzie. I feel even worse now for not texting you, but I didn’t want to until I was sure.”
“Sure about what?”
“It turns out that cockroach Luca didn’t show his face to the adoptive parents—not a surprise since you know how much they hate sunlight.” Sienna’s expression said if Luca was alive and she got to him first, she’d earn that title the human language didn’t have a word for. Of course she’d have to get in line after me. “Everything we thought was right. Luca set up an office, website, fake recommendations, and hired a pretty young puppet to lure families in. The Forbises said they handed over a total of fifty thousand dollars to adopt Jake. Fifty thousand times twenty-three.”
“It’s over a million dollars. That’s why he targeted me. When I showed up in his building pregnant, he took one look at my belly and saw a check for fifty thousand dollars.”
“And this is the woman who would have split the money with him.” Sienna fished out her phone. “Look familiar?”
I fell to the floor, taking Sienna’s phone with me. No matter how many times I squinted, enlarged, or studied her face, it remained the same.
“You get what this means, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I breathed. “I know exactly what this means. We need to talk to Genny. Right now.”
THAT WAS EASIER SAID than done.
I sat in the elevator for half the morning, buzzing for Genny to let me in. She didn’t even bother to come on the intercom and tell me to go away. Nothing but radio silence.
I stopped at one point to eat, feed Laurel, and shower. Then I was back in that elevator, buzzing, buzzing, and buzzing Genny. At three o’clock in the afternoon, my growling stomach forced me down to my apartment for Shonda’s chicken wraps.
“I’ve been calling her,” Sienna said from the floor. She was on the carpet playing with Laurel. She was extra clingy after seeing firsthand the future Luca had picked out for her. “Over and over, but it just goes to voicemail.”
“She’s grieving. Any other day, I’d leave her in peace, but—”
“I know, Kenzie. Keep trying,” she said, grabbing her phone. “I’ll call for reinforcements.”
After lunch, I prepared for another several hours standing in an elevator. I had my finger on the button for all of a second when the doors dinged open. My surprise cleared up at the sight of the figure standing in Genny’s doorway.
Adeline.
“Sienna explained that it was important. Go on in, Kenzie.”
“Fuck off!” Genny shouted. Adeline just motioned for me to step inside.
I did—biting back a hiss at the wreckage. Genny destroyed... everything. The pillow, the pictures, the television, the furniture, and the couch she and her father, Liam, were on.
Hair wild, knuckles bruised—she curled up, her head on his lap. Gen looked right through me as I knelt in front of her.
“Genny,” I began. “Our time in Caddell House was a complete bust. Vance called this morning and fired me. No one with a connection to the Johnsons is allowed anywhere near Caddell House. Your account is closed and there’s a warrant out for the arrest of the Blonde Bandit. That’s what Zoe dubbed you. She’s quite proud of herself for taking you down.
“After all that—losing my dream job, adding another line on your rap sheet, and getting beat up by stitch bitches—we didn’t even get the right guy. Jace is somewhere toasting his lucky break right about now.”
“Is there a point to this?” Killian snapped. “Now is not the time, Miss Blaine.”
I held my ground, even though this man intimidated me more than a little bit. Liam wasn’t deemed cold because he was. They called him that because he inherited this man’s eyes.
“Now is the time,” I replied. “Because Genny needs to know that despite how royally we screwed this up, none of that matters. We’ve got the rat.”
Her gaze focused, narrowing on me. “What are you talking about?”
“We’ve got her, Gen. I know who’s been working for the Brotherhood. More importantly, I know where she is. How about we pick her up and ask a few questions about the men she’s gotten into bed with?”
Genny pushed herself up. “What’s everybody standing around here for?” she asked, voice even. “Let’s go.”
