21. Mallory #2
“Or persons,” she said with absolute certainty.
“Sienna’s the same age range as the others, all between sixteen and nineteen.
” Paisley minimized the video window and opened a folder on the desktop, one labeled “Research.” She pulled up a document, her cursor moving faster, clicking through tabs. “Look.”
Photos of the other missing girls filled the screen in a grid, six faces staring back at me, including the one I’d seen Friday night of Sienna. There was one photo with an X through it. I glanced at the name typed under the image. Kaylor Steele.
She was…stunning. Long, beautiful, silvery-blonde hair, high cheekbones, and startling light-blue eyes. Jealousy stabbed me. This was the girl Maddox couldn’t get over. The girl he was likely in love with.
Paisley bit her lower lip. “I’ve been trying to piece together a pattern for weeks, but I can’t figure out what any of these girls had in common.”
“Maybe they were just unlucky,” Atlas offered, though his tone suggested he didn’t believe it. “Wrong place, wrong time.”
Paisley shook her head, her recently dyed dark blue hair swinging.
“No. Predators don’t pick randomly. They pick deliberately.
There’s always a reason, always a type, always something that makes the victim stand out as vulnerable or accessible or—” She gestured vaguely at the screen, words failing her.
“If anyone knows anything, it’s her.” Paisley tapped on Kaylor’s face.
“Not only is she the only girl I know who’s come back, but she’s connected to the Ravens…
to the Corvos. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence she was saved.
I thought before they might be involved, but… ”
“But now you think they might have saved her,” I finished, guessing at where her train of thought had been traveling.
Paisley nodded. “It makes sense, especially since she is dating one of them.”
Atlas snorted softly. “And how do you plan to get past her bodyguards? We’ve tried this before. The Corvos have her locked down tight.”
Paisley’s mouth pressed into a thin line. “I’m not denying it’s a problem, but every problem has a solution. We just need to find the right one.”
I hesitated, an idea forming. “Have you tried asking Maddox?”
Both of them looked at me like I’d grown a third boob.
I shrugged. “Sometimes the simplest solution is the best. We could just ask him to talk to her or if he knows anything that might be helpful.”
“If only it were that easy,” Atlas mumbled, a finger tapping on the side of his thigh. “We’re the last people he or his brother would talk to.”
“She might be onto something. Maddox might not talk to us, but Mal…he might talk to you. You’re lab partners, right?” Paisley’s brows lifted as she waited for me to respond.
Heat crept up my neck, spreading across my cheeks. “Yeah. He’s actually coming over tomorrow to work on a project.”
She grinned. “Perfect.”
Right. Because nothing about being alone in my bedroom with Maddox Corvo while trying to pry information out of him about the girl he still had feelings for felt even remotely perfect.
I shifted in my chair, dragging my thumbnail along the rim of the table. “And just how am I supposed to bring up Kaylor?” The girl he had feelings for. She was the last person I wanted to be talking about when I was alone with Maddox.
“Seduce him with those big eyes of yours. Better yet, have a bottle of gin and rum on hand. That should loosen him up,” Atlas offered.
My brows shot up. “You want me to get him drunk.”
Atlas shrugged, completely unapologetic. “I’m saying the idea has potential.”
Paisley’s amusement dimmed. “It’s not the worst plan. Maddox is known to drink.”
That didn’t surprise me.
“But,” she added, her gaze lifting to meet mine, “it’s a risk. Trusting a Corvo always is.”
She wasn’t wrong. Nothing about Maddox felt safe.
And yet—
I couldn’t stay away from him.
The school bell rang, ending our lunch and giving us a few minutes to get to our next class. Paisley quickly closed all the files, ejected the SD card, and logged out of the school computer. “Do you mind if I keep this?”
“Of course,” I agreed, having no reason to keep it, not when the footage I wanted was at home, safely tucked away on my laptop.
We slipped into the current of students flooding the hallway. I was halfway to the door when—
“Mallory.” Paisley’s voice cut through the noise.
I turned.
She stood a few steps back, Atlas already drifting ahead. “Hang on. Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Yeah,” I said, stepping out of the flow of traffic and pressing my back lightly against the cool cinderblock wall. “What’s up?”
She hesitated, which wasn’t like her. “Confession. Maddox told me about the messages.”
My pulse kicked. “Oh.” When the hell had they had time to talk…and about me?
“Why didn’t you say anything?” she asked, searching my face.
“I don’t know. I guess…” I exhaled softly. “I thought they were harmless.”
Her expression didn’t soften. “And now?”
I ran my tongue along the inside of my cheek. “I’m not so sure.”
“Maddox thinks you have reason to be concerned.”
“I didn’t realize you and Maddox were so close.”
“We’re not. He had some questions and thought, as my friend, he was doing you a favor.”
“What did he say?”
Paisley leaned a shoulder against the wall. “He thinks they might be connected to the missing girls.”
Confusion clenched in my belly. “How?”
“That someone at school is using them to lure girls.”
“Seriously?” I exhaled loudly, my mind spinning.
Her eyes locked on mine. “Just promise me you’ll be careful, and if you get any more notes, tell me. This is something you don’t keep secret. We don’t want them to feel like they have any power. Not here. Not with us. We stick together.”
“Deal,” I said even though part of me already knew I wouldn’t tell them everything. Some habits were harder to break.