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She’s nervous.
“Okay, so you can kill a man but you can’t talk about it?” she asks.
“Since when do you care about Rodion?” I start to ask.
Then an idea strikes.
The moment the words are out of my mouth, I follow them across the room. I move so quickly Piper doesn’t have time to back away or protect herself. She just flattens against the wall as I shove my hand down the front of her jeans.
“What are you—” She slaps at my arm and kicks at my ankle. “Get off!”
I don’t feel anything, so I yank her shirt up. Her stomach is flat and bare. “You’re not wearing a wire.”
She squeals and squirms until I let her shirt drop. Her hands settle protectively across her stomach. “Why in the hell would I be wearing a wire?”
“To get me sent to prison. You have the connections. Your friend’s boyfriend is in the FBI.”
“She isn’t—” The words die on her lips, and I know there is something she isn’t telling me. Several somethings, I’m sure. “Noelle has nothing to do with this.”
Piper tries to slide out from between me and the wall, but I brace my arms on either side of her head. “It would be a shame if you were trying to frame me, but you implicated her instead.”
“I’m not trying to frame anyone!” she shouts as I slide my hand across her shoulder and down, tracing the swell of her breast. She goes rigid. She stares at me with wide eyes. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t trust you. You say you’re not wearing a wire, but you also say you don’t know where Benjamin is. How can I be sure until I check every inch of you?”
She grabs for my wrist, but I twist away from her and drag my hand lower. My fingers edge under the hem of her shirt. If I actually believed she had a wire on, I’d do a full strip search. As it is, making her a little uncomfortable serves my purposes just about as well.
“I’m telling the truth. About everything.” She presses herself flat against the wall, her arms folded over her waist. “Do you believe me?”
“No. I don’t. And it’s too bad.” She sags in disappointment, but I immediately press her flat with the weight of my body. “Because Ashley and your grandmother are going to suffer because of you.”
Color leeches out of her face. “I am telling you the truth. I don’t know—”
“Enough with the same fucking lie. At least be original,” I growl. “Don’t Ashley and Gram at least deserve that much from you?”
Her hands fist in my shirt. Then, all at once, she lets go. Piper shoves against my chest, and I let her. I back away a few steps, giving her just enough room to pace back and forth like a caged animal.
“You can’t…” She drifts off, not finishing the thought right away. “You can’t find them. They’re gone.”
“Is that so?”
She nods, growing more smug. “Yeah. I put them in hiding weeks ago. I knew this would happen. I knew I couldn’t trust you.”
“Just as I knew I couldn’t trust you.” I hold up two fingers, a wide fake smile on my face. “Two tickets to Mexico in the middle of trying on dresses for our first date. It seemed a little early for you to be planning a romantic trip for the two of us.”
I watch her, letting the meaning settle like a fine mist. Horror creeps across her face. “You’re… you’re lying.”
“No,” I say. “I deal in the truth, no matter how ugly. And the truth is, you have until my plane lands in Mexico to tell me where Benjamin is. If you fail, I’ll find Ashley and your grandmother. Once I do, they are dead.”
I turn for the door, but Piper claws at the back of my shirt. “No. Wait. No, I—Noelle! Noelle is working with the Albanians. She is the one who—”
“Throwing one friend under the bus to save another? Yet you say I’m the one who can’t be trusted.”
“It’s the truth!” she says through gritted teeth. “I was lying before, but now—”
I wave a lazy hand in the air. “You were lying before, but I should trust you now. How convenient. Maybe I should start writing these down so I can keep up with all of your lies, Piper.”
“I’m serious!” She comes close to shrieking her words in my face. Her hands move to grip my arms, and the touch almost makes me hesitate.
