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“That’s not going to happen this time.” Danesqueezed her hand. “He put you and Gia in harm’s way.”
“He didn’t, though.” She slid her fingersalong Dane’s, wishing the touch felt as reassuring as it had whenshe was half-delirious on a back-alley exam table. “We went on ourown.”
“And one of his guys fucked with you. That’snot an excusable mistake.”
Zara swallowed. “That’s, um, not exactly thetruth. Not really. I mean, yeah, I think he meant to try something,but—”
“Jesus, don’t tell me you’re blamingyourself for this.” Dane’s face contorted as he obviously bit backa lot more curses. “Zara, this wasn’t your fault.”
She glanced at the door. “I … I need to tellyou something, okay? But it has to stay a secret.”
Dane let go of her and raked his handthrough his hair before he turned to her, leaning in. “You know youcan trust me.”
“Cross your heart and hope to die.” Sherepeated the words they’d used as kids because every otherexplanation sounded too real. Too heavy. It might shatter themoment. Dane blinked but gave a slow nod.
“Full playground mode, huh? Let’s hearit.”
“Swear first. You know the rules.”
Dane’s eyes rolled. “Cross my heart, hope todie. I’ll even raise you: stick a needle in my eye.”
She stared at the ceiling for a second, incase meeting his gaze dissolved her concentration. It usually did.“I, um, I was the one who roofied me.”
“What?”He managed to pack a whole tenminutes of shouting into one whispered syllable.He’s reallyspending too much time around Dad.
“I didn’t mean to!” Zara shrank into thecouch cushions. “I must’ve mixed up the cups.”
“Jesus.” Dane’s expression iced over. “Tellme you’re kidding.”
“N-no, I’m not.”
He took a breath. Closed his eyes. Zara knewhe was counting to ten, so she waited. “Fucking why?” he hissed.“What the hell were you doing?”
“D-does that matter? I—”
“Talk fast, before I shake your damn teethout.”
“We wanted to figure out about Ben. And whatKirke was up to, and…”
“Fuck me.” This time it was Dane checkingthe doorway before he spoke. “You and Gia decided to play Nancyfuckin’ Drew for fun? With drugs you didn’t know how to fuckinguse.”
“Well, it would’ve been the right dose. IfKirke got it.”
“Or you got the wrong dose for him just likehe got the wrong one for you.” He looked thoughtful. “That mightexplain why he didn’t move faster.”
“I triple-checked the dosage.” She heard thesulky note in her own voice but didn’t care. Admitting that she’dmessed up was hard enough. He didn’t have to go questioning herresearch skills. Bad enough he dismissed all their work and reconas playing. Like they’d been tracking their brother’s trail ofblood and broken souls for fun.
Dane rubbed his face and ruffled his haireven more. It didn’t make him any less hot, but her stung pridehelped dull his usual distracting effects.“I’m not going toask where you got Rohypnol. I don’t want to know.” He paused. “Whyare you telling me this? Do you want him un-fucking banished?Because that’s not—”
“No.” She sighed. “It’s j-just ... if Dadbelieves him later ... forgives him...”
“The truth is too stupid, Z. Your dad willnever buy it. You’re fine.” He frowned again. “I’m still not sureIbuy it, to be honest. Leaving off how you got hold of thatshit, why the hell were you playing detective? You knowbetter.”
Every Outfit daughter did, officially. Thepatriarchy was alive and well, so their roles were set: obey, nevernotice anything around them, and don’t ask questions. Zara slumpedback, staring at the coffered ceiling and fancy plasterwork hergreat-grandfather chose when he built the mansion. “We needed theevidence. Something concrete. So he couldn’t ever come back. Wedidn’t really care what it was, just something big.”
“Well, technically, you got that. And Idon’t think Kirke intended to let you out of there. Whatever youdid to him didn’t have the effect you intended, but he didn’t needyou in one piece if Ben meant for you or Gia to be an opening shotin his wars.”
Was that even true? Was he planning todo… that?There wasn’t any way to know now. She suspected Kirkewouldn’t be speaking any truths or lies—or any words at all—everagain, and Ben would lie no matter what words came out of hismouth. Healwayslied. Always made himself sound like thevictim. Even with Gia’s blood still staining his shirt. “Youreally, truly think it doesn’t matter? Dad’s not going to backdown?”
