Chapter 25
Ember
Her mother. All this time, Billa’s been closer to the truth than any of us. And none of us knew. She didn’t know.
Luke’s the first to break the silence. “Then that’s our way in.”
Billa’s head jerks toward him. “What?”
“You don’t have a choice.” Luke leans forward. “She trusts you. You’re her daughter. If she’s in deep with Radley, she won’t see you as a threat. She’ll let things slip, maybe even bring you in closer.”
Billa pales. “You’re suggesting I should pretend… to go along with her?”
Luke doesn’t blink. “Exactly. Gain her confidence. If she thinks you’re on her side, you’ll learn what she knows.”
I see the fear in Billa’s eyes, raw and sharp. She looks like she’s about to shatter. “I can’t. I—”
“You can,” Luke cuts in. His voice is steady but hard. “If we wait around, more kids get hurt. Every day we hesitate, files vanish, evidence disappears. We don’t have the luxury of caution anymore. This is the only way.”
“Luke…” I start.
He shakes his head. “No. This isn’t about comfort. It’s about survival.”
I slide closer to Billa, my hand finding hers. She’s cold, trembling. “He’s not wrong about the stakes,” I say softly, “but he’s wrong about how to say it. You’re not alone in this. We’ll figure out the how together. No one’s asking you to walk blindly into the dark.”
Billa’s breath comes fast, shallow. “But if she sees through me, then what?” Her voice cracks.
My chest aches at the words. I squeeze her hand tighter. “Then you have the advantage. You get to choose how to respond, how to show yourself. That’s what makes you different. She doesn’t know you know.”
Luke leans back, his attention fixed on Billa. “Whether you like it or not, she’s the closest link we’ve got. If we want answers, it has to be through her. I’m not saying it’s fair, but it’s true.”
The silence stretches long and brittle.
Billa finally speaks, and her words are fractured. “I don’t know if I can.”
And in the pause that follows, I know Luke’s right about one thing. Whether she can, the choice can’t wait long.
“Let’s start brainstorming.” I gather some papers, then we sit in a tight circle on the floor.
After a while, the laptops, notebooks, and scraps of paper are scattered like fallen leaves. Every piece we’ve uncovered sits heavy in piles—Billa’s mother in the underground, Phoenix’s warning about the wings, Florencia’s survivors, and the support group whispers.
Luke rubs his temples, frowning. “Let’s put it plain.
We have four leads. Billa’s mom, who gives us direct access to Radley’s inner circle.
Phoenix and the survivor network—if Phoenix is even still alive.
The in-person support group, which is fragile and maybe compromised. And then…” He hesitates. “Graham.”
Billa stiffens at the name. “No. We can’t bring him in.”
“He’s already involved whether we want him to be,” Luke argues. “He’s in the orbit. And if your mom’s deeper in than you realized, we need someone with experience navigating those circles. Who better than a seasoned detective?”
Billa shakes her head sharply. “Graham will bulldoze in without thinking. He’ll treat it like a fight he can win by force. That’s not how this works. Kenzi’s involved, and he’s already on edge. He might hide it well, but he is. I promise you that much.”
“He has resources we don’t have access to,” Luke insists.
I raise a hand, trying to cut the tension. “Let’s not decide yet. We weigh the risks. If we bring in my dad, what do we gain? What do we lose?”
Luke ticks points off on his fingers. “Gains? Backup, muscle, someone who won’t hesitate if things turn physical. Lose? Subtlety, secrecy, maybe even safety if he decides he knows better or brings in bigger guns.”
I study him. “Wouldn’t that make it more safe?”
“Not with what we’re dealing with.” Luke shakes his head. “You saw what happened with Phoenix.”
“We have no idea what that was.”
Billa breaks in, her voice low and fierce. “If Graham learns about my mom, he won’t see her as leverage. He’ll see her as a target.”
The silence weighs heavily between us.
I glance down at Phoenix’s last message, still an open loop in my mind. The performance isn’t over. Watch the wings.
“What if that was the point?” I ask. “What if Phoenix was warning us about infiltration? Sleeper agents, plants, people waiting in the wings until they’re triggered?
If that’s true, then bringing in anyone new—even my dad, but especially Florencia’s people or the support group—could tear us apart from the inside. ”
Luke exhales slowly, frustration in his eyes. “So what then? Just the three of us against everyone else?”
Billa looks at him, her face pale but set. “Maybe that’s the only way to know who we can trust.”
Then there’s the angle we’ve barely mentioned—Kenzi’s role in all of this. Right now, she’s in a psychiatric hospital. Only my dad has seen her, and rarely at that. He says we need to give her the space to let her mind heal.
The stakes are too high, but we have to decide. Three of us in a mansion that suddenly feels too big, too exposed. With enemies we can’t see and allies who may already be compromised.
Even so, we sketch a plan. Billa will get close to her mother. Luke and I will keep in contact with the survivors, trying to decode Phoenix’s warning. Florencia and the others stay at arm’s length for now. Dad remains an option, not a certainty.
It’s a fragile plan. It might not hold.
But it’s all we have.