Page 86 of The Sin

My fingers wrapped his around the bar. “You don’t always have to be so damn strong for me, Roman. I’m not that weak.”

His gaze sank into me. “I’ve had a lot of thoughts about you since I first lay eyes on you, not all of them good, but not one, not a single thought, ever came within striking distance of thinking you were weak.”

A smile slipped out. I couldn’t help it, not when he looked at me like that, and said things like that. “I’m getting you out of here.”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“Of course I’m worried about you.”

“No, I mean…” He dragged his other hand through his hair, the look in his eyes less stone-baked warm now, more guarded. “These Sisters…”

He didn’t seem to know how to finish that trailing thought, so I filled in. “The Sisters of Capra, and yes, I am part of them.”

I remained loyal to them, loyal to the bone, but the secret was out on the streets, shooting up generals in ballrooms and hijacking Capra’s communication network.

“I met with Geneva, she’s our matriarch,” I explained to Roman. “I told her everything, but I didn’t know she was recording the conversation. I had no idea she was going to blow that up all over town. I knew nothing about what they had planned.”

He studied me, his brow lowered. “And if you had known, would you have any regrets?”

My mouth opened before I realized I had no answer. Would I have regrets? Was I really so opposed to everything that had gone down tonight?

Noteverything.

“Ask me again after the rubble settles,” I finally said. “My point is, if Ihadknown, I would never have let you step blindly into the mess with me.”

He accepted that, and I hated that he had to ask, but I didn’t blame him.

“These Sisters of Capra are efficient and organized,” he went on. “It takes smarts and strategy to achieve what they did tonight. Your matriarch, Geneva, knows exactly how much they need the support of the wardens to keep the ground they’ve won, and to keep Capra on its feet. I’m not in any danger, and they won’t hold me for long, but I’m worried about Daniel and Julian.”

“I’m worried about Daniel, too,” I assured him. “I plan to get you both out of here.”

He pinned a soul-searching look on me. “When it comes to immediate risk, Julian is right up there, at the top.”

“You’re kidding, right?” I laughed.Laughed, because there was no way in hell this wasn’t a joke. “Julian deserves whatever comes for him.”

“Georga.”

“No, don’t Georga me,” I muttered. “Do you seriously need me to list all that man’s sins?”

“I know what he’s done.”

“Of course you do.” I shaved off the sharp edges of my tone, because even if he’d lost his mind, I wasn’t looking to argue. Not ever, and certainly not with him in his current state. “You gathered the blackmail on him. You literally just had to use that evidence to stop him and his cronies from sending me off to rehab for daring to speak the truth. Don’t ask me to feel a drop of sympathy for Julian Edgar.”

“I’m not suggesting you feel anything for him,” Roman said. “I’m asking you to think about what the Sisters of Capra might have planned for him, for any of the men on the council.”

I honestly didn’t know.

I honestly didn’t care.

Roman reached through the bars to cup my jaw, his thumb resting on the corner of my mouth. “The system is bigger than the individual, Georga. All that evidence I gathered against the councilmen? That was meant to be used to change the system from within, not to destroy the individual. I consider Daniel a friend, and I don’t despise his father.”

“Daniel is my friend, too.” That’s all I was prepared to give. I wasn’t hard. I wasn’t cold. I just didn’t know how to give more. “He does not deserve to be locked up. I will do everything I can to make sure he’s released.”

I didn’t stay much longer. The sooner I left Roman, the sooner I could return to get him out of this cell.

But I did take a small detour down the right fork of the passage to check on Daniel. He was in a similar cell to Roman’s, a large, dismal space with benches along the walls and fluorescent lighting that flickered with some sort of half-life nearing its end.

He wasn’t alone.

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