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“And what about what Orson is to you and me?” she asked gently. “At least Elijah is immortal. Orson couldn’t kill him if he tried, remember?”
My eyes narrowed. “That didn’t stop someone from trying before,” I told her suspiciously. “Did Orson have something to do with that? Is that why he went after Elijah?”
Etta balked and drew back. “What are you talking about, Abby?” She peered at me closely. “Honey, you’re starting to look really frazzled. When was the last time you ate anything?”
She reached for the plate and uncovered it, but the smell of the cookies churned my stomach.
“Just eat one,” she begged. “And let’s just let the men do whatever they need to do to get this out of their systems.”
Dubiously, I sat up straighter. “How can you say that?” I asked, appalled by her ability to just sweep everything under the rug. “That’s your partner.”
Etta sighed and rolled her eyes heavenward.
“I realized a long time ago that there are things I can control and things that are well beyond my scope. Instead of agonizing over what I can’t control, I choose to spend my days focused on what I can.”
I furrowed my brow and cocked my head to the side.
“You don’t think that Elijah could win back Pario City, do you?” I asked, inexplicably angered by her answer.
Etta laughed lightly. “It doesn’t matter to me if he does or not,” she admitted.
Her response perplexed me more.
“He’ll kill Orson for what he’s done,” I told her. “You must know that!”
Etta patted my leg sympathetically.
“This is what I mean about letting go of things you can’t control,” she told me sweetly. “Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be.” She paused and leaned closer. “But the one thing I know is that no matter what happens with those two, you and I will still be friends.”
I gaped at the fae, a peculiar sensation shuddering down my spine.
Has she always been nuts, or did Orson just drive her to the brink?
It was difficult to believe that once upon a time, I had envied her life. Now, I pitied her almost as much as I pitied myself.
“Now eat, and I’ll do something about your hair. Orson expects you back at work tomorrow.”
Ah. There it was. Shehadcome at Orson’s behest.
Friendship, my ass. She was just another one of Orson’s pawns, too.
Chapter34
Elijah
“Word of mouth is the best form of advertising,” Ash informed me when I told him my new plan. “Public opinion is fairly easily altered because people love to judge others. It’s easier to point out others’ flaws than look within.”
I jotted all his advice down, taking notes as Draven mapped out a route for our challenge.
Ash’s voice piped up through the speaker of the cell phone again.
“It’s really a basic concept. You start with a question: Where are all the young, eligible women in town? You ask this in enough places, it gets everyone rousing the question among themselves. What is the common denominator in all these missing women? I’m sure it’s been asked before but either silenced or ignored. The idea is to connect Orson with these missing women and his trafficking ring.”
“How?” I pressed. “So far, all I know is that the Verity Gang itself has brought women through other regions. Nothing has Orson’s actual name on it.”
“Orson is the Verity Gang,” Ash reminded me.
I didn’t like to admit that, but he was right.
