Page 195 of Ink Deep Devotion

“O.B.?” Leo looks at Titan, who says, “Sometimes genius can't be interpreted.” He winks at Nova.

“O.B., Original Bitch,” Nova answers.“I wanna help.”

“You’ll help me.” Titan leans over and kisses her temple.“Dash and Mila want to help save others. You and I both know you’re much better at killing rather than saving.”

“True.” Nova pouts her lips,“but if you need me to kill someone, then I want to be the first person on your speed dial.”

“Your aim is shit.” Anders chuckles.

“My aim with an ax is shit, not with a gun.” Nova glares at Anders.“I can shoot you again if I need to.”

“She shot him?” I gasp.

“Missed my heart.” Anders nods.

“I wasn’t aiming for your heart because you don’t have one. Next time, I’ll shoot you in the balls. Don’t try me, Anders.” Nova warns as she pulls a lollipop out of her pocket and then shoves it between her lips.

“So it’s settled then.” Dante taps the table, calling our focus back to him.“We each have a task.”

“What about Damian?” I ask. He’s not here, and I know he won’t just sit back and let us do all the work. He’s the hero who will give his life to keep us all safe.

“We don’t tell him.” Titan solemnly says.The room goes quiet.

“But what if this girl he’s with is a traitor? How can we trust her not to slit his throat at night?”

“We don’t,” Titan says.“She hasn’t so far even after he took her.”

“He took Plain Jane?” I whisper to Dash.

“I have a lot to tell you.” Titan replies.“Damian is smart. He’s isolated her from us as a measure of safety. He’s keeping things from us, too. We will look into her, but we keep all these details quiet for now. I’m not going to shatter his happiness until we know if Plain Jane works for The Rites of Passage or not. It’s been years since I’ve seen him smile, and I refuse to take that away from him all on the whims of Camilla’s words. It could be another trap. We don’t tell him until we know all the facts.”

“Cillian and I will start checking in on Damian,” Dante suggests.“If you or Dash reach out, he’ll be too suspicious; he knows you’d put his safety first over the girl. He’d suspect Cillian to be more concerned about the girl’s welfare, but he’d expect me to weigh his and the girl’s both equally. We’ll start talking to him more.”

“But what if Camilla follows you to Aspen?” I blurt out.

Titan, Leo, Anders, Dante, and Dash all pin me with their stares.“How did you know he was in Aspen?”

“He…I didn’t tell her!” I look at Dash.“Damian mentioned it to me once. I didn’t tell Camilla.”

“When did he mention it?” Titan hisses.

“When he was driving me to the art gallery. I asked him if he could escape and where he would go. He said Aspenbecause it was his duty to see over King Corporation’s weapons manufacturing there.”

Titan looks long at Dash.

“I didn’t tell her!” I press.“Damian didn’t talk much to others. Camilla knew this, and that’s why she was cherry-picking those who knew him the best. I was the only person she could get close to. I doubt there is anyone else.” I suggest.

“I know, but if he let it slip to you, then we can’t risk it.”

“I’ll tell him to come to Italy. I can keep him safe.” Dante offers.

“He won’t do that because it would risk you. If I tell him his location is compromised, he will go silent and take her somewhere we don’t know.”

“But if you put more eyes on his location, Camilla might see. We’re playing into her hands.” Anders states.

“So maybe that’s what we do.” I suggests. “We put more eyes on him and wait for Camilla to make her move. We use Damian and Plain Jane as bait.”

???

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