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“Gavin Crude is dead,” I told him, because I was as abrupt and succinct as he was. I tossed the USB drive onto his desk. “The Crude family was collecting information on the Belladonnas. Apparently we’re gaining notoriety among the criminal underworld. The Crudes tried to be ready for me. We need to be more careful.”
Man grunted and picked up the thumb drive. I wasn’t sure he was going to trulybe more carefulwith us.I’d like to understand his reasons for taking us in, for grooming us to be Belladonnas.
But maybe it didn’t matter.
I knew this wasn’t the right place for a kid to grow up
“Did you know you were sending me after the man who killed my parents?” My voice came out light. As if I didn’t care. My usual M.O.
He raised his eyebrows. “What do you think?”
“I think I’m done taking orders,” I said. “I need a break.”
I turned and walked out of his office.
“Selena,” he called after me. I turned to find he’d stood up from his desk. “You’ve done well. I’m proud of you.”
I wasn’t sure he’d be too proud when he found out I was knocked up by my target’s son.
CHAPTER36
Selena
Tabitha wentwith me to my ultrasound appointment. She held my hand and squealed when the ultrasound showed a healthy, alien-looking little figure. The girls were excited for me, as long asIwas excited, but Tabitha had been acting like my big sister.
When she was by my side, I could almost pretend that I was fine on my own.
I could almost pretend I didn’t think about Dominic, Xander and Aiden constantly.
* * *
It feltlike the first time in weeks I left the house, and it was the first time I’d left alone. But I needed to be myself.
My parents had a safety deposit at the bank. That was where my trail had ultimately led.
My parents, a long time ago, had gone analog. Maybe they would have loved Aiden and his technophobe ways.
I pulled my mind away from the thought. It seemed like I was always thinking about Aiden. And Dominic. And Zander.
I’d even bought some canvases and started to paint. Everything I made was terrible. But that wasn’t really the point. The other girls kept asking if they could see, once they had noticed the paint on my fingers. I told them that I destroyed all the canvases afterward, which was true. It was the best part. Splashing them with bleach or setting them on fire to change what they were into something else entirely, something rougher but still beautiful. Something a little more my style.
When I opened the safety deposit box, I found the evidence my father had collected about Aster. It hardly mattered; my father had tried to bring Aster down with the law, and I’d done it my own way.
They had done what they could to keep it from falling into Aster’s hands. They’d known their lives were in danger.
Had they known one day, I’d chase down their killers? Get justice for them?
I had a feeling they hadn’t dreamt of my path. That all they’d wanted was for me to survive that terrible day. To have a life. To be happy.
I didn’t exactly have any of those things yet, but I did have a powerful need for spaghetti at the moment, and that would have to be good enough.
With my hand on the strap in my bag, I headed down the street. The evidence they’d worked to protect didn’t even matter, and that felt wrong and sad. I’d made my own justice.
As I headed down the sidewalk, the sense something was wrong crawled up my spine. I could feel myself being watched. I reached for my knife in my bag and used my thumb to push off the sheath. Then I drew it out, hiding the blade against my leg.
I’d drop the bag and pull my gun if I needed to, but a knife is usually more unobtrusive. I could stab whoever was following me if I needed to, then continue on my way through without anyone realizing.
A van rolled past me. The door was opening. It wasn’t subtle, but they had the benefit of speed and I imagined they’d hoped for surprise.
