Page 78 of Fracture

“You tell me. What would you do?”

Nina looked out the window. “He has to go, doesn’t he?”

“Say it, Nina.”

“He has to be killed,” she said, her voice soft and unsure.

“Why?” the boss asked.

Nina looked up at her. Her lower lip wobbled. “Because he can ruin everything.”

The boss nodded. “We can’t risk that, Nina. We can’t risk anyone who can destroy everything we’ve worked so hard for. And he knows too much.”

Nina nodded, but she didn’t look too happy about it.

It didn’t matter. She didn’t make the decisions. No one but the boss decided who lived.

And who died.

17

Lorelei remembered more and more about her life over the next month. The attack was still a mystery, but the events leading up to it and the other Curvy Vigilantes were people she had both old and new memories of.

The more Lorelei remembered about who she was before her abduction, the less she wanted to go back to being that woman. Alone and fiercely independent. She didn’t trust anyone, including her own partner.

Lorelei never wanted to be that alone again.

And it seemed Vinnie was happy to help her with that.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked as he drove her to Dawn’s house for a party.

Lorelei’s cast was coming off the next day, and Karli and the others insisted on celebrating the night before with a party.

“I’m just thinking I don’t want to be who I used to be. I like having people I can count on. People I can trust.”

Vinnie rubbed his hand over her thigh. “It sounds like you’ve always had people you can trust, you just didn’t let them in.”

“That’s true. I guess that’s another thing I want to change.”

“In what way?”

“I’ve made mistakes. The way I’ve treated people. I don’t want to be that person anymore.”

“Then don’t be.”

She laughed. “Just that simple?”

“Why not? You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met. If anyone can do it, it’s you.”

She breathed a laugh. “I wish I had that kind of confidence in myself. That I could just decide to change and it’s done.”

“Why can’t it be? It might take some getting used to, but it sounds like the old you never would have done something like this.”

“A cast party?” Lorelei asked with a laugh.

“Yep. You’re an amazing person. What you’ve been through and the way you took it and turned it into something positive… Most people couldn’t do that.”

“I hope most people don’t have to.”

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