Page 92 of The Masks She Wore

?“You can’t kill him, he’s the captain of the fucking police,” she said again as if that would make me change my mind.

?“As if that means anything in our world. If you’re going to Viv’s, ask questions. If you feel like you’re in danger, run, call me, I’ll be there. Luckily for you, our next assignment is twenty minutes from Viv’s place.”

?She glared at me. “You’re going to kill someone.”

?“And you were going to run away and get yourself into some deep shit like you did in the shipping yardafterI told you not to do anything stupid.” I clicked my tongue, watching as her pupils widened at that. “Do as I say, Princess. Tomorrow, you move in.”

?“I’m not going anywhere,” she growled, despite the way her thighs clenched together.

?I smiled back at her, knowing her dirty little secret as I shoved my gun into my belt, Zo joining me. “That’s cute that you think you have a choice.”

~~~

“You’re going to push her into breaking your rules,” Zo pointed out as we rolled into an alley a few blocks from the police station.

?I had already called Brett, had him pull some people to block off the streets for us, and I shut off all of the cameras in the area, making it look like a technological issue. Whatever happened, nobody but the Initiates would know.

?“That’s the point,” I replied, replacing my helmet with my mask. No paint this time, but it wouldn’t matter. The captain liked to turn his cameras off, just as most of his cops did. A corrupt station through and through. If I didn’t have a world of other things to do, I would have shut the entire station down.

?“You want to punish her?”

?“We pick the girls who will accept us as we are, Zo, not the ones who fear everything about us.”

?I loaded my weapon and headed for the mouth of the alley, pulling up the street cameras on my phone as I did. He was just now leaving the precinct. He looked scared.

?Good.

?“You pick the girls who like getting hurt,” she stated coldly. “You’re not looking for love.”

?“No one ever said we were. I don’t need love to have a good fuck.”

?“Does she know that?”

?His car pulled away from the curb.

?“She knows what she needs to know to remain where she is. You sure changed your tune when I brought her back out,” I pointed out, shoving my phone away. “Did Malachi call you and threaten your status?”

?She laughed. “Malachi wouldn’t dare.” Zo slid her own mask on. “I heard her crying,” she confessed, walking to the other side of the alley, mirroring me. “She said she didn’t know who she was anymore. I know you boys won’t admit how you felt when Malachi brought you to that building, but I can admit without shame that once I started that training, it was the first time in my entire life that Iknewwho I was. I knew what I was meant to do. Who I was meant to be. Maybe I haven’t been in a closet, sobbing to a serial killer about my identity crisis—”

?I glared at her.

?“—but I do know what it feels like to have no idea who you are or where you belong. It’s hard. So, while I’m not saying go easy on her, just…just try to have some sympathy to her position.”

?I studied her eyes, her mask covering the bottom half of her face. Rae didn’t need a program to remind her who she was, I’d get the answers for her, whatever it took. “She’ll be fine.” She didn’t need coddled. She needed pushed and shoved right off the cliff.

?Over and over again.

?Until she was begging for me to stop.

?“I never said she wouldn’t be. Says a lot about you though, that your mind went straight to that.”

?My lip curled.

?She gave me a look.

?I rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone, watching the cameras I hadplaced on the buildings lining his route. “Thirty seconds.”

?Zo cracked her neck. “Here we go.” She walked out into the street like a cat challenging a bear.

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