Chapter Twenty-Seven
“I didn’t think that you’d come,” Everett said.
She raised her chin an inch, taking him in.
His boy-next-door good looks were bedraggled.
His chestnut hair was mussed, one eye swollen, blood dribbling out of a cut on his lip.
The clothes they’d given him didn’t quite fit.
His frame was swallowed by the oversize T-shirt and sweats he wore instead of his crisp valet uniform.
And yet…he wasn’t downtrodden. His spirits were high. His smile was the same friendly grin she had known for so long. The one she had foolishly trusted. That had backfired in her face.
“Yes, you did,” she finally said.
His lips quirked downward. “I wasn’t sure.”
“Don’t try this act on me. I believe we’re past that.”
“It’s not an act.”
She laughed brusquely. “Everything about you is an act. So, let’s skip the pleasantries. I’m here. That’s what you wanted. Why don’t you tell me the information you’re withholding?”
Everett straightened in his seat. “Why don’t you take these handcuffs off me?” He held his hands out in front of him. “Then we’ll chat.”
“Yeah. Not happening.”
“You don’t have to be afraid of me.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” she spat. Her anger was fuel to a fire.
“If you’re not afraid of me, then I don’t need these.”
Reyna rolled her eyes. “Okay. So, you’re not going to tell me. I guess I don’t need to be here.”
She turned around and started toward the door. Her palm was on the handle before he called out, “Wait.”
She stilled. Forced herself to wait. To draw out his unease. Then she faced him once more. “I’m not here to play games with you. I’ve done that enough.”
“Okay,” he said evenly, leaning his elbows on his knees. “Can I start at the beginning?”
“Start wherever you like. Just get started.”
“Will you sit?” He gestured to the seat before him.
She wondered if Gabe had done the initial interrogating. She knew he was good with his hands. A fighter at heart. It couldn’t have been Beckham—he didn’t want Everett to know he was part of Elle. Plus, Everett wouldn’t just be bruised; he’d be bloody.
She swung the chair around on its rear legs and straddled it with the back as a barrier between them. Then she sat with her arms resting across the top. “I’m sitting. Get started.”
Everett grinned. “You always were a surprise.”
She sighed as if she were totally bored with him. “Let’s start with—how long have you been a spy? Is that a good place to start?”
“A while,” he said with a shrug. “Long enough.”
“Do your friends know?”
“No. They are exactly as they seem.”
“Why were you spying on me?”
“Well, I wasn’t spying on you,” he said nonchalantly.
“You didn’t spy on me? Explain that.”
“I didn’t have to spy on you, Reyna. You were so desperate for someone to notice you that you would have made the easiest mark in the world.”
She flushed. That was true. She had been that girl. Out of her depth and in need of a friend. No wonder he had been so kind to her. The only person who had been.
“But you weren’t the mark,” Everett added calmly.
“You turned me in to Harrington, and I wasn’t the mark?” She had to fight to keep her anger in check.
“Why would Harrington give a shit about you?”
Reyna bit the inside of her cheek. “Then why did you turn me in?”
“Because Beckham was the mark.” His handcuffs jingled as he pointed toward the door. “He’s out there, isn’t he?”
“Then why did you turn me in?” she repeated, ignoring his question.
“I did what I was told. I was supposed to report on anything interesting in Beckham’s movements, changes in his demeanor, differences in his schedule. That sort of thing. He’s a rather boring and predictable person, to be honest. Until you came along.”
Reyna swallowed. “What changed when I showed up?”
Everett cocked his head to the side. His eyes were bright, as if he found the question interesting or maybe hilarious. “Everything.”
She knew she shouldn’t feel excitement at that thought, but still it curled inside of her.
“Didn’t you ever wonder why I never turned you in for all your obvious rebellious behavior?
That camera?” He laughed. “If I could figure out that you were behind the Perspective website in a half second, did you think no one else was going to find out? Do you know how many times I covered your tracks?”
Reyna sat motionless. He was manipulating her.
He was trying to get to her, like Beckham and Gabe had said he would.
There was no way to know whether he had covered for her.
Beckham had set up the website, and he knew what he was doing.
Everett didn’t have enough power to do more than Beckham had.
She wouldn’t sympathize with him because of this.
“So?” She narrowed her eyes. “Do you think that absolves you of your part in my kidnapping?”
“Reyna, I didn’t even know that was going to happen to you. I called in the bite because it was out of character for Beckham,” he informed her. “I thought Beckham would finally be arrested. Even though I was spying on Beckham, Harrington somehow trusted him against all reason. Until you…”
“Yeah, well, he didn’t come for Beckham. He came for me.”
“And now you’re out,” he said breezily. As if this whole thing had been a walk in the park.
Reyna jumped up from her chair and kicked it to the side.
She stormed toward him, grabbed him by the collar, and bent down low into his face.
“Do not ever talk so flippantly about what happened to me. You have no idea what I went through. The fact that I’m out doesn’t make it better. Nothing is better.”
Everett’s eyes widened in shock at her aggression. If he thought he was going to get the naive girl she once was, he was sorely mistaken. He’d played his cards wrong. She might have once been that girl, but now she’d grown teeth.
He held up his hands in supplication. “What did they do to you?”
She threw him away like a piece of trash. “Ripped away my innocence.”
She prowled back to her overturned chair. She righted it, adjusted her dark hair, and took a seat. “Now…about that information?”
“They have someone I love, too.”
Reyna wanted to not care, but between her and Jodie, she didn’t have it in her. “Who?”
“My brother, Edmond. We were in the same program. He washed out, and they kept him as my collateral. I haven’t heard from him in three years.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too, Reyna. When I called it in, I thought it was for Beckham. When they said they were coming to get you, I didn’t know where they were taking you. I just knew I was protecting my brother.”
“I really don’t want to hear your tale. It seems everyone has someone. This world hasn’t been kind. But it didn’t turn us all into sniveling snitches.”
“No, but it seems to have done its damnedest to harden even the best of us.”
Reyna ignored his comment. Was she harder?
Sure. She had to be. Part of that was his fucking fault.
If she hadn’t gone through what she had at Visage, she might still be that daydreamer.
She might still be looking for the good in everyone.
Hoping she could right the world through her photography and helpful programs for the poor.
Visage was a last resort for a lot of people, including her.
She knew there should be some other way.
She just didn’t know if she believed it was possible any longer.
“Why did you want to talk to me?” she asked.
“Because you know me, and I thought you would understand.”
“No, when you saw me at Five Points, you saw the same frightened girl you thought you knew. I was so shocked to see you that I freaked out, but I’m not afraid anymore.
So, if we’re going to keep going around in circles, then I’ll leave.
” She flung her hand toward the door. “There’s someone else out there who will be happy to get the information in a different way.
I’d think it’d be much less pleasant, but hey, that’s your call. ”
Everett’s eyes dropped to the floor. All the bluster and bravado slipped right off him. She saw him for exactly who he was and not the person he had always appeared to be. Broken. Kicked down by the system, just as she was.
Her heart went out to him. She had seen that same expression from Jodie time and time again. From everyone Visage had hurt. Even herself.
Yet, she guarded herself against it. Everett was a spy. It was his job to manipulate people like this. His first tactic hadn’t worked; maybe this one would.
“You do realize I’m risking Edmond by telling you this.” His eyes slid up to hers, piercing and terrified. The eyes of someone who was putting their life on the line…and the life of everyone they cared about.
“You haven’t told us anything yet.”
“I’m risking it all just by being here. By talking to you and admitting there’s even something to talk about.”
“Then why are you here?”
A chill ran through her at the haunted look in his eyes. “Because I couldn’t ignore what I discovered.”
“Then spit it out.”
He shook his head. “I need some assurances.”
“What kind of assurances?”
His eyes shifted to her chest, where the microphone lay against her bra strap, even though there was no way he could see it. “Did they get that? I want assurances for my safety. That I’m not going to be killed off as soon as they get what they want. That they’ll find Edmond, too.”
Reyna bared her teeth. “I don’t even know what you have. It might not be worth my time.”
“It is.” His confidence was unwavering. “Go talk to them. Get my assurances, and…and I’ll start from the beginning.”
“Fine.” She vaulted out of her chair and burst through the door.
She slammed it shut behind her, frustrated by the entire ordeal.
She’d naively thought she’d be able to walk in there and he’d tell her everything she wanted to know.
Fuck, she should have known better. Nothing ever went her way that easily.
Gabe rounded the corner and dragged her away from the door. “Great job so far.”
“What? He hasn’t told me anything.”