Page 61 of Choosing Stella

Her eyebrows rose.

“I haven’t finished.”

“You said enough.”

“That’s not how conversations work.”

“It is when the next sentence involves using yourself as bait.”

“Good. Then you do understand the plan.”

I stood.

“No.”

Stella folded her arms.

“You keep telling me hiding here is temporary.”

“It is.”

“How temporary?”

“Until we know who wants you and why.”

“And how do we learn that if whoever it is knows I vanished after the apartment?”

“We investigate.”

“You said you don’t investigate murders.”

“I don’t. I investigate threats to the person I’m protecting.”

“Then investigate this one where the threat lives.”

I held still.

“The Exchange is the one place where somebody with insider access controls more variables than I do.”

“Which is exactly why they’re comfortable there.”

“And exactly why I don’t want you there.”

“If I stay hidden, they get to wait.”

“They may make another mistake.”

“They already made one. We got lucky enough to find the equipment they dropped.”

“We didn’t get lucky. You took us off the elevator route, and I stopped them.”

“Fine. We were brilliant. The point is, they know the grab failed. Whoever sent them is going to adjust.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

Stella stepped closer to the table.

“If I go back publicly, they have to decide what to do about it.”