Page 61 of Uncontrolled

“Don’t.” It’s a plea to spare me, but Talia shakes her head and continues anyway.

“He wanted to lure you to a house. He said to bleed you dry and be done with you. He said it. I couldn’t make out anything else.”

My head starts a slow shake.

I rip the phone from her and scroll back, starting over at the beginning. I can’t come up with an excuse for what he’d be doing with them before the screen goes black. Something in my brain clicks. On this device is a picture of Christopher with the hunters trying to kill me. Enemies. All of them.

No, I think desperately. No, no, no, no. Not him.

Not again.

I clasp a hand to my chest as I suck a sharp breath and my heart breaks, tendons ripping apart, snapping loose. It hurts.

Because Talia’s always been right, I think.

“What do you want to do?” she asks.

“Give me a second.” I drop my hands to my hips as I go over the conversation Christopher and I had after the bus ride. He’d made a casual suggestion he infiltrate the hunters. Is that what I’m seeing here? Or has he been with them the whole time? Two days ago, he quizzed me on what happened to the hunter in the cabin. Was he finding out for them? Puzzle pieces shift into places they don’t quite fit. Nothing comes together in a way that makes sense.

“Allie?” Talia says.

“Something’s not right.”

He wouldn’t do this to me, I think. He wouldn’t.

I know it in my soul. Not despite the pictures, but because of them. There’s something I’m missing. I told him if anyone found out about him and Jamison, they’d put him to death. I explained to him that Talia and I could be held responsible for lying for him. He could get us all killed. Why would he risk that?

“Okay. We’ll handle this like we planned last time. I’ll play dumb,” I say. “I’ll hack into his phone. Put in a tracking app. He’ll lead us right to them,” I add when she’s still wearing an uncertain expression, like she’s expecting me to shatter.

The determination in my voice seems to catch her off guard. If he betrayed me, I’ll kill him myself. I won’t be broken. Not over a guy. Not over anyone. I’m stronger than this.

But he wouldn’t… I silence the thought, but it refuses to die. I’m not wrong. He wouldn’t do this. Never.

My throat tightens. At the least, he’s exactly what Talia promised me. A liar. If I can’t trust him, we’re done.

In the blackness behind my eyelids each of my heartbeats thumps white. I want to throw up, scream, claw through his ribcage and rip loose the heart I brought back to life.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t handle this?” Talia offers. “Because I can. I will.”

“Thank you but no,” I croak. “We both know it’s got to be me. Otherwise you’ll never trust me again when I take over the cluster.”

The words hang there between us. She’s still holding the notebook and folder. Her tongue wets her lips before she hands me the packet. “It’s your mother’s. The other stuff is info on the cluster you should have.”

“Thanks,” I say as I take it.

“I read it. All of it,” she says, and I don’t understand why it sounds like an apology until she goes on. “It’s not just cases and notes on clients. A few of the entries are more personal.”

“Such as?”

“Things about you,” she says quietly. “When your mom stepped aside and had Sarah take over, your mom was adamant you be next in line. Once your parents died, Sarah wanted you to have a say in your future.”

“She never said anything,” I say, mystified.

“You always took it for granted that leading this cluster was what you had to do. I did as well,” Talia says. “But I never asked you. Not in any actual way. Allie, you never wanted this at all, did you?”

My can of Coke’s on the end table beside me. I thumb the tab. “You should take off before Ploy gets here,” I say. I swallow the thickness threatening in my throat. “I’ll be in contact.”

“Okay,” she says finally.

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