Page 22 of The Devil We Know

I nod, hugging my legs a little tighter as I try not to think about losing anything. Then I say, “I think he’d be fine. He might be alittle annoyed to start with and curse me a bit, but at the end of the day, he’d be fine.”

Tony turns wide eyes on me, his jaw a little slack, and then he mutters, “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“What do you mean?”

“Matt would not be okay. Why would you think he would be okay?”

“Why wouldn’t he be okay? We’re friendly and all, but it’s not like we have any grand romance from which he’d have to recover.”

The laugh that comes out of Tony’s mouth is almost bitter. He looks around the room for a few minutes before turning his gaze back to me. “You don’t know Matt as well as the rest of us, but you should at least know him well enough to know that he’s not just ‘friends’ with people. You’re either an acquaintance, an enemy, or family.”

“So, I’m an acquaintance then. Even better.”

“If you were an acquaintance, you wouldn’t fucking be here. Stop lying to yourself.”

My lips curve up in a small smile. I know I’m more than an acquaintance, but I’m not so sure I really want to talk to Tony about it. Though, from this entire interrogation, I’m getting the idea I’m going to have to spill something to make him satisfied enough to allow me to continue with this mission.

“Do you think of Matt as an acquaintance?” he asks seriously.

I don’t answer for a moment, and it must be a moment too long because he adds, “You’d go risk your life in a den of vipers for an acquaintance?”

Finally, I shake my head, but I don’t say anything.

“You’re going to have to tell me, Jessica. If you can’t tell me why, then I can’t let you go in.”

I sigh, shaking my head and releasing my grip on my legs as I shift back around, placing my feet on the floor. I sit beside him,nearing his position. We sit there in silence as he waits for me to answer.

Finally, I say the only thing I can think of. “He’s mine.”

Tony looks over at me, his eyes searching mine intensely for a few long moments. Then he gives a nod, reaches his hand out, and grips mine to the point it’s borderline painful.

I don’t flinch or pull away.

I grip him back just as tightly, and he leans in and whispers, “Then let’s go get him.”

9

Playing Dumb

Jessica

Well, I am officiallyfucked.

It seems our training time was short-lived, and now, here I am, on my way down into what appears to be a viper’s nest.

Yes, I’m being overly dramatic, but in my defense, the whole idea that I accidentally found myself in the facility of the enemy is rather preposterous, given the lengths we had to go to get me in here.

This means I’ll have to try playing the ditzy trick until what could possibly be my dying breath.

The odds of me not being found out before finding Matt are slim to none, given the amount of activity in this shit hole.

Of course, calling it a shit hole seems even more preposterous, given how lavish this fucking place is. The original structure is obviously old; the large black stone blocks that make up the floors, walls, and ceiling are shiny with polish. There are few windows; instead, faux windows have been added down the hallways, and heavy draperies surround the glow of light emitting from them.

It reeks of money and power and I know exactly what kind of chaos can be reaped from money and power.

I already had to do a quick turnabout when I accidentally entered what appeared to be a large functional room overflowing with people, and luckily, they were just busy enough that they didn’t notice me in the brief second that I was in the doorway. As it turns out, the blueprints of this building they had me study were complete bullshit because so far, none of these rooms existed. Which means I’m fucking lost.

I appeared to be rather put together when I burst out on this venture, but I now fear that I look a little worse for wear. I’m sure my hair is in tatters, and I’m sweating profusely. It’s going to be rather difficult for me to sell any type of nonchalance when I’m finally found out because I am feeling anything but nonchalant.

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