Page 121 of Atone

Searching for Torin brought her to Bristal, but he’s gone now.

Her gaze drops to the space between us. “The only reason I enrolled at Briar Academy was to get close toSigma House and find out who killed Remi. I guess I’ve done that.”

“You want to leave then?”

“What if I did?”

“I’d ask where you’re taking me.”

A proud smile blooms on her cheeks. “You really are serious about us?”

“Dead serious.”

“I don’t doubt that.” She huffs out a laugh. “But no, I don’t want to leave. I just?—”

She cuts herself off, her eyebrows furrowing.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was just thinking about last night. You said Torin was taken care of?”

“I did.”

Mila shakes her head, climbing off my lap to grab her phone off the dresser. “That’s not possible.”

“Talk to me, Mila.”

Nearly all the color has drained from her face.

“Did anyone else suspect why I came here? Why I’ve been looking into Sigma House?”

“No.” I made sure of it. I’ve been hiding her tracks since she first showed up at Montgomery and I learned she was digging into the fraternity.

“Are you sure Torin is dead?”

“I’m sure.”

“But the night of your trial was intense, and like you said, you were weak and exhausted. Are you sure he wasdeaddead, Alex?”

“Like there’s another version of being dead?” My eyebrow arches. “Why are you asking?”

Mila spins her phone around to show me a thread of text messages. “If Torin is dead, who is sending me these?”

I snatch her phone, my heart thundering.

The string of threatening texts goes back over the past couple of months. How could I miss this? I stopped monitoring her phone after I left Montgomery because I had other ways to keep Mila close, but clearly I shouldn’t have. Someone has been messaging her.

Threatening her.

And she’s right, it does sound like Torin, but that’s not possible.

“These can’t be from him.” My pulse hammers between my temples.

“Then who is it?”

“I’m going to find out.” I text myself the number, then hand her back her phone. “Don’t answer any of these texts.”

“I won’t.” Her eyebrows pinch. “I haven’t.”

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