Page 101 of Heart of Thieves

“Well, trusting Enzo was your first mistake,” Nic says.

“Shut up, Nic,” I spit.

“She’s conning us,” Isla says, shooting a glare at Nic before leveling one at me. “Putting our lives on the line and refusing to tell us why.”

Her words roar in my ears, and I should be angry, I know, but every time the feeling rises, I’m thrust back to that night when I thought I’d destroyed Lola’s trust forever. When she cast me out and ran to my brother at the Liar’s Den. When it felt like it was only a matter of time before she came back threatening me with the only thing I feared more than losing her heart and facing that emotionless oblivion again—losing her. The only family that chose me. The only one who wanted me, not the way the Tentacles did, but in an honest, whole, unconditional way.

“Stop,” I grind out again, but they aren’t done.

“We caught her with the very brother who’s had us chasing our tails for literal years,” Isla says.

“And you’re not even going to ask why, are you?” growls Soren.

“Soren,” I warn.

His face reddens. “Why won’t you ask why, Enzo?!”

“Because I trust her, too!” I shout.

Soren stares at me, barely breathing. The room is dead calm. Even Nic doesn’t blink, waiting for my explanation.

I don’t give them one.

Finally, Soren speaks again, quiet. Resigned. Deadly. “I don’t.”

“You don’t have to trust her,” I retort. “You just have to shut up about it.”

The words are out of my mouth before I’ve thought them through, and as soon as I’ve said them, I want to take them back. They hang between us, hard and clear and sharp as knives.

Soren stares at me. “I thought we were partners.”

“We are partners,” I say.

“Then hold her accountable.” He jabs a finger at Lola. “Ask why she’s with the Liar. Ask where she’s been disappearing to.” He raises a brow. “Unless you’re too afraid of the truth?”

Lola clears her throat. “What’s going on between Nic and me has nothing to do with the Tentacles.”

“So you admit something is going on?” Arden shoots back.

“Yes, I snuck out,” she retorts. “Yes, I should have been forth-coming. But I would never do anything to compromise the group.”

My ears ring, my pulse skitters, the room swims. All I can see is Lola retreating to the Liar’s Den, choosing Nic over me. All I can see is Nic, cursing me on a beach. All I can see is my father, smiling at him then turning to whip my backside.

I trust you.

“Tell us why you lied,” Soren says to Lola.

If this is to be a choice between Lola’s loyalty—which keeps me from oblivion—and the Tentacles, I have to choose her.

“She doesn’t need to,” I say.

Soren looks at me for a long time, a vein pulsing in his temple. Then, after an eternity, he turns away. “Then I’m done.”

“Excuse me?”

He walks toward the door without looking back. “Win the game on your own. Find the shard yourself. Let her destroy you right under your nose. I’m done.”

Jade, Isla, and Arden trail after him.