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She nods.
I pull out my phone and play both clips from the same day. One of a woman looking exactly like Amethyst boarding a private jet. The other of Amethyst running toward the camera in a straitjacket.
“How do you know it’s not the same girl in both clips?” Elania asks.
“I know Amethyst,” I reply. “She’s quiet, she’s introverted, she only has one real-life friend. She’s too sensitive about her mental health to stage herself as a lunatic being tackled by a guard.” My voice falters. “She’s terrified.”
Silence descends on the room, and the twins share another glance.
Aria stares me full in the face and asks, “Are you really her boyfriend?”
“Yes,” I say, my voice hoarse.
“If you’re not a cop, tell us your name,” Elania says.
I swallow hard, determination steeling my resolve. I can’t afford to blow my cover, but if telling them the truth will help Amethyst, then I have no choice. My heart pounds, and I clench my fists to keep steady.
“It’s Xero. Xero Greaves.” The words burn as they leave my throat, each one a calculated risk.
She nods as if she already guessed it. “Then you’ll know Roman.”
“Montesano was in the cell opposite mine,” I rasp. “Our exercise times overlapped, and we spoke a little in the death row book club. He shared some of his housekeeper’s home cooking.”
They exchange glances again before Aria asks, “Why do you think Amy is in danger?”
I tell her about X-Cite Media’s attempts to capture Amethyst, along with Reverend Thomas’s account of Dolly being forced toparticipate in snuff movies and surviving. I replay clips from where I interrogated Harlan Stills, the employee we lured out of X-Cite Media’s stronghold.
With each word, the Salentino twins’ disgust deepens. Aria snarls, her fury palpable, while Elania curls her lip in disdain. I can hardly blame them. Interrogating Stills the first time was infuriating enough.
“Why didn’t Melonie tell us Amy was in trouble again?” Aria asks. “We could have helped.”
“I think Melonie grew tired of covering up Amethyst’s kills,” I mutter.
Neither of them speak, not wanting to implicate themselves in covering up murders, but I’m almost certain they helped dispose of the brothers who went missing from her college.
“Give it to him,” Aria says.
I straighten, my gaze darting to Elania, who returns to her desk and pulls out a red, leather-bound book.
“What is it?” I ask.
“When Melonie returned from her disappearance, begging us for help, my mom wanted to put a bullet through her skull for losing one granddaughter and traumatizing the other, but Melonie handed over this diary, explaining how it happened.”
She presses the book into my hand. “The information there is fourteen-years old and might lead to nothing, but when I heard Melonie had been killed and Amy went on the run, I picked it up, looking for answers.”
“We wanted to be involved in her life, but her mother didn’t want her connected with our side of the family,” Aria says.
Elania’s features tighten with annoyance. “Judges tend to dole out harsher punishments for people connected to the Montesano family tree.”
I nod, already aware of how Roman Montesano was framed for the murder of a woman he hadn’t even met. “Thank you.”
Throat tightening, I turn to the door, gripping the diary, determined to show it to Amethyst once I’ve rescued her from the clutches of Father and her sister.
“Hey.”
I turn around and lock eyes with Elania. “When you find her, let us know. Our cousins have a small army of men who will march into hell to get her out.”
Nodding, I shelve her offer as potential back up.
