Page 117 of By the Time You Read This

“Psycho bitch.”

Delaney sat on the ground, her gun lost somewhere behind her because of the scuffle. “Let her go, Raisa.”

“What?” Raisa asked. Delaney wasn’t exactly in the position to give her orders.

“She’s not worth Kilkenny’s life,” Delaney said, meeting Raisa’s eyes.

They hadn’t worked together more than a few days two years ago, yet for some reason, Raisa was able to read her blank expression.

Because Delaney washers.

Family, whether Raisa loved that fact or not.

She hesitated a second longer for show, then stepped aside.

Gabriela glanced between them and then dashed toward the stairs.

They listened to the slap of her shoes against the deck and then the pier.

“You have a plan?” Raisa asked, reholstering.

Delaney grinned as she held up a slim, old-school recorder, the kind of tool journalists in the early aughts had used before smartphones.

“She’s not the only one with sticky fingers,” Delaney said. “I dropped that AirTag you put on me in her pocket. As long as you have the tracker, we’ll be able to find her.”

Raisa was already halfway up the steps, already dialing St. Ivany.

“Hey,” Delaney called, not following. Raisa paused, looked back. “Thanks for not killing me.”

Raisa laughed. “Hey. Thanks for not making me.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Raisa

Day Seven

St. Ivany ran toward her down the long pier, her phone held up to her ear even though she was close enough to hear Raisa in person. “What? What?”

Raisa shoved her phone back in her pocket as she took off toward where they’d parked their cars. “Call whoever is guarding Kilkenny and make sure the guard is on high alert.”

St. Ivany was keeping pace behind Raisa, running even without knowing why.

They really had become allies.

Raisa skidded to a stop beside St. Ivany’s SUV and held up her palm. St. Ivany tossed her keys toward Raisa, all the while on the phone with her guy at the hospital. Raisa slid behind the wheel and pressed the gas even before St. Ivany’s door was closed.

Gabriela had disappeared, and had the advantage in terms of local knowledge of the streets. But Raisa had ...

“Pull up the AirTag we dropped on Delaney,” Raisa said, and St. Ivany did so without question. The dot was moving fast.

“Is this Gabriela?” St. Ivany breathed out. Then without waiting for an answer: “She’s heading to the cliffs.”

Raisa’s heart thudded against her ribs as she thought of that look in Gabriela’s eyes when Delaney had threatened to pull the trigger. In this kind of light, it might have been mistaken for relief.

St. Ivany and Raisa glanced at each other, and then Raisa pressed her foot to the floor. There were coves all along the shoreline, but in between those were jagged rocks that dropped off into the ocean. They weren’t as dramatic as cliffs in other parts of the country, but they would absolutely offer a way out for a girl looking for one.

They found Gabriela’s car first, the driver’s-side door open.

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