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“We don’t have a problem…” I reply sternly, my jaw square. “I’ll get it done…”
“When?”
“When Madam Rosa can’t be implicated…” I say. “It’s important we strike with stealth so we can minimize bloodshed…”
“I don’t mind a little bloodshed…” she muses, glancing at her nails.
“A-aria…” My stutter is even worse than I could have imagined. I hate myself for not being able to keep it together. Lying had always been my forte. Why is saying her name so difficult? “Aria will be at the end of my blade soon enough.”
All I can do is look away as her eyes bore into my soul. I can feel her gaze shift…up and down…all around… Like she’s solving a puzzle in his head.
“Go get some sleep…” she says. “I feel like you’re stroking out…” She smacks my cheek a couple of times.
I look at her. My jaw agape. She’s still looking at me.
I’ve never been scared of her. But I wondered what might happen if she catches me in the lie. What will happen to Aria? To her family?
“Are you in?” Josh asks from behind me as we walk toward his garage.
“I haven’t heard the details yet…” I round the corner, and there it is. The newest to the collection. It’s a yellow Camaro. Brand new.
“I need your commitment before I give details; you know that’s how things work…”
“You should know by now that’s not how I work,” I grumble. “I gotta know what I’m getting into.”
He scoffs “And what’s it matter?” He asks, opening the car door. “You afraid your whole vigilante justice act with your mom’s pawns is going to get side armed by a real job?” I thought going to Detroit would make me break free from this hold Aria has on me. I’d forget about her. I’d get the taste of blood again and move on. I’d go back to the monster I’d always been…
And part of that was true.
I was fighting people that I knew had ties with Madam Rosa.
No one knew my face, though, so I was living on the edge but still being careful. For Aria’s sake… No one knew who to report to her. So she didn’t know I was in Detroit, stomping out all of her hired-men. I could get even with her…And I could get my bloodlust fix. It seemed like a win/win.
“Your mom knows, by the way,” he grumbles, popping the hood. “So I think you need to cool it…”
“What do you mean?” I ask, my head craning to follow him as he walks toward the hood…
An odd expression plays on his face, like he didn’t mean to say what he just did. One I’ve never seen before. One that sends jolts of nausea throughout my body.
“You talked to Madam Rosa?” I ask, my eyes wide, breath hitched.
“Yeah, I told her you’re on a rampage when she asked about you…”
“You told her I was here!?” I demand, slamming my hand down on the fender of his car.
I speak with more urgency.
His headlight is flickering now, and he grumbles, reaching inside. “Are you an idiot?!”
He’s ignoring me.
That’s all the confirmation I need…
He sold me out.
“What’d she offer you?” I demand.
He shakes his head. “It’s not like that…”
