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Bill has enough seating in the room to comfortably fit all of us and a few extras. With no windows, it’s impossible to tell the time, but my stomach grumbles, and my next move has not only my joints cracking but my skin going tight.
I still hadn’t showered all the blood from me and only done a perfunctory hand and dick wash in the bathroom.
I scrub my hands over my face, through my hair.
If I let Aria go through with her plan, which she described last night to me and Naomi in murky detail, then today might be the day we finally topple the Black Market Syndicate. It’s always been the sort of pipe dream you work toward when knowing, logically, it might not be possible. Except now I have to rework everything inside of me. Not simply a possible dream but a tangible victory. Only a few hours, depending on the time, away from this very moment.
“You look pale. Do you want some coffee?” Aria whispers, suddenly beside me.
Without waiting for me to answer, she shoves a mug into one hand and a wet towel in the other.
“There is no possible way for me to look pale,” I hiss back.
“I’m telling you, there is a distinctive tone on your face I’ve never seen before, so you’re as pale as you’re going to get.” She drops down on the coffee table in front of me, our knees touching, a similar cup of coffee gripped between her palms.
“What time is it?” I want to know.
“Past time.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
She glances over her shoulder toward sleeping Adam. “You will soon enough.”
Why do I feel like I’ve missed something important?
“I’m going to go back to Broderick today. It depends on how soon I’ll be able to mobilize him into action, but I believe if we can get him to that secure secondary location we discussed with only a handful of his men, you’ll be able to take him out there.”
“No.”
“I’m not going to argue with you.” Her lips are thin again, but it doesn’t stop me from wanting to kiss her senseless.
“I know because I’ll win. I’m not going to let you put yourself at risk. This is our fight but my battle. Do you understand?” she continues.
“You don’t have a choice. He proved yesterday that he is still a step ahead of us, no matter if we're using my programs or not. We can’t stop him from stealing kids off the street until we kill him. I’m offering you a way to kill him.” No amount of coffee is going to thaw the ice in my chest.
“Listen to her, Dev.” Naomi stretches her arms overhead, yawns. Her hair is a fluffy mess and not at all what I’m used to seeing from her. “We talked about it after you fell asleep. A few points we hadn’t made when you were awake, and the plan is about as solid as we’re going to get. You were right, you know. Aria is key.”
I grimace, shooting black looks between the two of them. “Shit, did you guys gossip about me when I wasn’t awake to defend myself?”
“Gossiped about you, painted a dick somewhere on your body, and talked about my part to play,” Aria says.
“We’ve got the research in order. The only thing we need to know now is how soon Aria can get Broderick to—” Naomi starts.
“Where?” I snap, interrupting her. “Where are you planning to take him? He’s not going to listen to her.”
“Why not?” Aria looks indignant.
“Because how can he trust you at this point? You disappeared for two days, you’ve been checking into the server from another location…” I trail off. “Do you want me to count the ways why it’s too big a chance to take to go back there? And that’s not to mention what you’ll have to say to convince him to go with you anywhere.”
“And you are awfully presumptions to think we are going into this thing half-cocked.” Naomi leans forward, her elbows on her knees, taking a beat only to scrub the sleep from her eyes. “We already talked about all of it, Dev.”
“Without me.” My voice is hard.
“You needed your sleep.” Aria sighs, pushing up to her feet, and I’m close enough to see her small wobble before she locks her knees in place. “We’ll tell you everything now. Drink your coffee, Tough Guy, and get your listening ears on.”
I hate being left out of the loop, unable to find empathy for the fact that I’d put Naomi in a similar position as this. Unable to latch onto any emotion except the cold, hard nugget of dread inside of me.
How am I going to let Aria do this? How am I going to physically let her go back to Broderick Stevens, knowing what he’s done to her? Knowing he will probably turn on her?
