AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She gave me a watery smile. “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell them anything in the end. I just told them I was bullying you because I hate you and think you’re totally trashy,” she said. “I don’t think that, by the way. Not at all.”
“I know.”
“Anyway, they finally believed me and let me out of the house again. But I’m pretty sure they’ve bugged my phone just in case, because they’re still really suspicious. They’re reading my messages and emails. Listening to my calls. Maybe even using it to listen in on everyday conversations. That’s why I made us leave our phones on my desk. I’m so paranoid.”
“I understand.”
Addy rubbed her face again and sighed. “It’s been so hard, because when I met you, I actually liked you, Amerie. I really wanted to be friends with you.”
I squeezed her hand again. “Addy, we are friends.”
“But I’ve been so awful. You must hate me.”
“You were just protecting me,” I said. “That’s what a friend does. A good friend. I totally understand everything you did. I don’t blame you at all, and I definitely don’t hate you.”
“Me neither,” Jensen added. “You were just trying to help, and you risked your own life to do it. You got hurt, too. And you still didn’t break.”
“So… you guys really believe everything I just said?” Addy said, eyes widening as she looked at each of us in turn. “About all this society stuff?”
Jensen and I nodded in unison. “We know everything you said is true,” I replied. “We’ve already confirmed it ourselves, unfortunately.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
Jensen gave her a brief synopsis of everything that had happened over the last few months—how I started looking into the Rosmerta Society, how I found the Carruthers contract, how Ali and Zara smoothed it over with lies I blindly believed out of desperation to have a family.
“Amerie, you’re in serious danger,” Addy cut in halfway through, eyes wild with fear. “You have to get out of town before it’s too late!”
“It’s already too late,” I said softly. “I’m pregnant, and the society is monitoring me to make sure I don’t try to run away. They’ve also threatened my family so I don’t talk. My bio family, I mean.”
“Oh my god. Oh my god.” Addy clutched at her chest again, like she was about to hyperventilate. “You’re really pregnant?”
I nodded and quickly filled her in on the rest of the story.
When I was finished, tears flooded Addy’s eyes again. “What are we going to do?” she asked in a tremulous voice.
“We’re going to take down the society,” Jensen said. “We just need real evidence.”
I nodded. “If we don’t get that, nothing will happen to them, and innocent people could get hurt,” I added. “We can’t risk having this whole thing fizzle out. We need solid evidence so we can hit them hard.”
“What sort of evidence?”
“If we can find the exact location of the Playground, we could go there and get everything we need,” I said. “Do you have any idea where it could be?”
Addy shook her head. “No. Sorry.”
“What about Rosie’s source? Do you have any idea who he was?”
“All I know is that it was a guy. But he’s probably dead now, just like Rosie. So even if we figured out who he was, it wouldn’t help.”
“If you think of anything at all, will you tell us?” Jensen asked. “I’ll give you Amerie’s burner number so you can text her to meet up somewhere. That way you won’t risk being overheard.”
“Okay.” Addy abruptly stood. “Speaking of that… we should probably get back out there. If our phones are silent for too long, they might realize we sneaked off to talk about everything.”
I stood up too. “Let’s stage another tiff in front of the phones, just in case anyone happens to be eavesdropping.”
We trudged out of the closet and headed back over to Addy’s desk. “God, could you possibly have taken any longer to alphabetize those files?” she grumbled.
“Sorry,” I said. “I’m not feeling too great.”
