Page 79 of The Next Lie

She stares at me, the pulse in her throat jumping.

“Who is trying to kill me?” she asks.

“Not kill.”

Her brows pull together.

“Not primarily. At least, I don’t think so. I guess it’s a possibility.”

“All that is truly comforting, Deacon.”

“I would guess she wants you found, first and foremost.”

“Who is ‘she’? And I would argue that she does want me dead, because she’s tried pretty damn hard a couple of times.”

Yeah. I’ve heard, and I need to find out what the hell is going on. Because after all this time, trying to kill Reva just doesn’t make sense. “Someone who believes you should not have survived. And…I’ve heard. I’m hoping it’s just someone who got a little…excitable. I’ll have to dig a little further.”

“The Syndicate?”

I do not react.

Her gaze sharpens. “That’s who Nash and Cal said. The Syndicate is who ordered the assignment in the first place.”

“Yes.”

“Who is ‘she’ to the Syndicate?”

“Someone you should not meet unprepared.”

“Deacon.”

“No.”

Her hands curl into fists. “You don’t get to decide what I know.”

“Yes,” I say. “I do.”

She takes one step toward me. Brave girl. Foolish, but brave. Everything about her makes my control feel temporary.

She turns as if she needs to move or she will come apart, then remembers I am still between her and the door.

“Delia,” she says.

My chest tightens. “What about her?”

“How is she alive?”

“You want the full truth, I’m assuming.”

“No, I want you to continue lying to me for my own fucking good. What do you think, Deacon?”

I give her a clipped nod. “It’s not pretty.”

“I didn’t figure it would be.”

“I was given an assignment by the Syndicate: punish the Hart family. They had done something—I wasn’t sure what, didn’t matter. The punishment was the only thing I was concerned with. If I didn’t do it, it was my neck.”

I pull my sleeve up, drawing her attention to the tattoo faded on my forearm. She pales but doesn’t otherwise respond.