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Nicole sat back up and wiped her eyes. “Because … because I know that you can do something about it now. I know that you can put him away for years, if you … if you want to. And I’m begging you to do something. If you don’t, I’ll be stuck here for the rest of my life.”
Staring back and forth between Nicole and Poison, Allie furrowed her brows.
After a few moments, Nicole stood and shook her head. “You don’t believe me, do you?”
João looked at me, and I shrugged. “I didn’t find any of that footage when we went through the principal’s computer, but he could’ve stashed it elsewhere. I don’t know. She could be lying, or she could be telling us the truth about her father. We know he’s a prick.”
After a few moments, João nodded to the door. “Get out.”
Allie’s eyes widened. “You’re going to make her leave? After what she told you?”
“She can’t prove this. We have nothing to go off of and nothing to hurt her father with,” João said, glancing back at her. “You bring me all the shit you can find to prove to me that you’re not lying, and we’ll help you out. If you can’t, then you’re stuck.”
Nicole shook her head, fear evident on her face. “But I-I—what am I supposed to get? How am I supposed to give it to you? What kind of evidence do you need? He doesn’t let me into his office, and he somehow always knows if I try to sneak in there or not. I can’t get you anything.” She rubbed the back of her neck and stared at the ground with wide eyes. “Please, you have to believe me.”
João sighed heavily through his mouth and stood, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her to the door. “I told you that I want you out,” he said through clenched teeth. “Come back when you have something that we can use.”
Nicole looked back at us, staring at Jace and then at Allie. “You have to believe me. Please, Allie, please. You’re the only one who does. I can see it. Don’t let them—”
João shoved her out and slammed the door in her face.
“Jace,” Allie whispered, curling closer to him. “Do you think she’ll be okay?”
Jace grimaced at the door. “I don’t know, Allie. I don’t like her. She always lies about everything. And you can’t believe a liar, not even when they’re telling the truth.”
I stared at Allie, then at Imani, who was glaring at my proximity to Allie. She clenched her jaw, then hurried toward the exit of the room toward a side room off the basement.
“I need to get something to drink,” Imani said. “That was a lot.”
Hating—loathing—the hurt in her eyes, I followed after her and captured her wrist as we left the room. She wasn’t leaving the room to get anything to drink. She was leaving because she thought that I liked Allie.
When the door closed, Imani shook her head. “You like her,” Imani said, agony in every word. “You like my best friend.”
“I don’t like Allie,” I said, all those painful memories coming back and haunting me.
She stared at me with tears in her eyes.
“You’re not going to ask me anything else?” I asked, expecting her to at least try to pry some more. That was what she had been doing for weeks about my relationship with Allie, but all she’d gotten was nothing.
“No,” she said, ripping herself away from me. “It’s not like you’d actually tell me anyway.”
“Imani,” I whispered, grasping her hand again.
She turned toward me. “What, Kai?! What do you want from me? To fuck?” She shoved me back and shook her head. “Is that all you want from—”
“Allie is my sister.”
