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“Unless they gave you a message to send to me, that doesn’t make any fucking sense.”
She lays her head on my shoulder, her breath humid against my neck. “The only thing that makes sense to me is that you’re here. I knew you would find me.”
I look to Yasha. He circles his hand in the air. We need to check the rest of the building. We can’t leave without making sure Jorden and Cora aren’t here somewhere.
I extricate myself from Francia and press her against the wall. “Stay here. We’re going to do a search.”
She bites her lower lip. “By myself?”
“Scream if you need help,” Yasha says.
Then we both continue down the hallway, Francia disappearing into the shadows behind us.
We turn a corner up ahead and I stop.
“Something about this isn’t right,” Yasha mutters.
I nod. “Why would they go to the trouble of kidnapping Francia just to drop her back off unharmed?”
“She heard what was going on. She’d be a loose end,” he says. “If it was me, I’d kill her to be safe.”
“Agreed.” I beckon Yasha into the room to my right and close the door. Something occurs to me. “When you put the women in the safehouses, you cloned their phones, right? Can you still see Francia’s texts?”
He nods. “Do you suspect something?”
“It would be foolish not to. She’s a victim, an eyewitness,andthe sole survivor? We have to check her out.”
Yasha pulls out his phone and opens an app. He inputs a fingerprint and facial recognition before a new phone screen appears on his. This one has a burgundy red background with a black rose in the center.
“This is a mirror of her screen,” Yasha explains. “Right now she isn’t doing anything, so it’s just—”
As he’s speaking, the screen changes.
A text thread appears. The number is unknown. A second later, words appear in the box below.
Ivan and Yasha in the building. They’re searching the rooms now. I told them I couldn’t save Cora and Jorden.
I see red. My vision pulses with rage. “She’s part of the plan,” I growl. “Shedid this.”
I fucking said it seemed unlikely anyone would be able to pull a plan like this off without someone on the inside. But I suspected Cora. Francia flew under the radar. She never stood out to me.
By design,I realize.
I thought she was Cora’s friend. Cora thought she was her friend. And she betrayed us all.
“What’s the plan?” Yasha asks.
I grab the handle and pull the door open. “She dies.”
I retrace our steps, turning down the long hallway where we left Francia. She’s still standing against the wall, but her phone is in her hand now. She lowers it as we approach, sliding it into her back pocket.
“Did you clear the building already?” she asks.
I shake my head. “Turns out it wasn’t necessary. We already found what we’re looking for.”
I pull out my gun and aim it at Francia, but she doesn’t blink. Doesn’t flinch. She stares down the barrel…
And smiles.
