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Maddoc is right about everything, and me being uncomfortable is just one more unpleasant emotion I can and will ignore if it gets in the way.
We need to find Chloe.
I stand, intending to follow through and go find Riley, but Maddoc, of course, doesn’t let it go that easily. He grips my shoulder, staring into my eyes. “You okay? Got your shit under control, even if she pushes your buttons?”
I nod, but he keeps staring hard, like he’s trying to determine whether or not I really mean it.
I’m not offended. Both Maddoc and Dante are better at people than I am, and sometimes they see me better than I see myself.
“I was gonna take Dante with me,” Maddoc goes on, “but if you’re not sure about working with Riley on your own, I can have him stay and—”
“No.” It’s my turn to cut him off. “There’s no need.”
Even though, if I’m honest, it’s tempting. But after what West Point just pulled, Maddoc will need Dante to have his back. And also… notallmy uneasiness at the idea of being alone with Riley is about not wanting her in my space. A part of me is drawn to the idea.
A part I’m not sure what to do with, so I ignore it.
Maddoc takes me at my word, and when we both leave my room, he heads out with Dante while I go to find Riley. She’s in her room. I already know it from the monitors, but I hesitate a moment before barging in and, instead, knock.
After a moment, she cracks open the door.
And stares at me.
“I need you,” I tell her after a beat of awkward silence, unaccountably put out by her standoffishness. She usually has more spirit, even when she’s upset—especiallywhen she’s upset—but now, it’s dimmed, as if she’s retreated behind a wall.
I don’t like it.
She raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms over her chest, annoying me even further as she waits me out with her face carefully kept blank, clearly expecting more of an explanation than I’ve given her.
Fine.
“Maddoc pointed out that you can assist me. We need to find Chloe.”
“Of course we do,” she says, the stiff set of her shoulders softening as she drops her arms. “But do you have something new? Because so far we’ve had shit luck with that.”
“No,” I say with a grimace I fail to control. “Wedon’t have anything new, but McKenna might.”
Riley’s eyes go wide. “You think West Point did that to your… to that man, because ofChloe?”
“I think they know we’ve mobilized our people to search for something, and I think McKenna wanted to find out why.”
And to let us know in the most brutal way possible that he’s getting bolder about interfering in Reaper business, but I don’t say that part.
I don’t have to. Riley is clearly thinking along the same lines.
“He’s a fucking sadist,” she snaps.
I nod. Austin McKenna most definitely has a monster inside him, and I’ve seen what that can do when the host has no desire to control it.
I grew up in the shadow of that kind of monster.
“It’s one of the reasons we can’t afford to let him take over more of the city. We need…”
Riley’s eyes narrow when I don’t finish, but of course she understands what I’m alluding to.
“My sister’s money,” she says flatly.
I don’t deny it, and she looks away for a moment, swallowing hard. When she looks back, her eyes are determined. Instead of ripping into me about how cold and calculating she finds our plan for Chloe’s inheritance, she lifts her chin.
