Page 82 of Choosing Stella

“You sound like me.”

“That’s horrifying.”

His mouth curved without opening his eyes.

Within minutes, his breathing slowed.

I stayed beside him longer.

I wanted him. The safe house, the operation, and the reason he’d been sent to my apartment had nothing to do with it.

Eventually, I slipped from the bed, pulled on my T-shirt and pants, and carried my water into the main room.

The garment bag with the dress was still hanging where Colleen had left it.

The tracker sat on the table.

Beside it was my cloth-wrapped tarot deck.

I stopped.

Geo had gone over the Halloween plan from every angle he could think of.

I still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong with it.

It wasn’t wrong enough to name, only unfinished.

I stared at the deck.

My head had only recently stopped aching from the reading I’d done for Geo that morning.

That should’ve been enough reason to leave the cards alone.

It wasn’t.

I sat at the table and unwrapped them.

The first shuffle sent a faint pulse behind my right eye.

“Great.”

I should stop.

Instead, I cut the deck.

I wasn’t asking who killed Antonio.

I wasn’t asking whether Volkov was guilty.

I wasn’t asking the cards to hand me a future they’d never handed anyone cleanly.

I only wanted to know what I was missing about the Halloween operation.

The first card was The Moon.

Unease crawled over my skin.

The second was the Seven of Swords.