Page 62 of Carved in Ice (Made of Steel 3)

“You’re not crazy. Trust me, I know how it feels when you think you’re losing your mind.”

She laughed.

For a moment I didn’t care about what Liza, Eli, or V wanted. Kins was on our side. And we were close. I knew we were close to solving everything. Bringing Kins into the loop wouldn’t put her in danger. Would it?

“Well maybe you can tell my therapist that,” Kins said and dropped her purse on her desk. “She thinks I’m a loon. You should come to my next session.”

I was barely listening to her. There was a row of prescription bottles on her desk that I'd never seen before. I remembered she used to take a multi-vitamin with breakfast, but that was it. “What are all those prescriptions for?” I asked.

“Anxiety mostly. And paranoia.” She shrugged. “After you left, I kept thinking some guy was following me.”

“Who?” It felt like my heart was about to beat out of my chest. “Did you recognize him?”

“This guy in a suit. But I didn’t recognize him.” She shivered. “Actually, I told my therapist that he looked like the mayor. You should have seen the look on her face when I said that. She doubled my doses. And I think it was the right call. Clearly I didn’t actually recognize him. Why would the mayor be following me?” She laughed and scratched the back of her neck.

I stared at her. For the first time, I noticed the dark bags under her eyes. Her normally tanned skin looked pale. She was thinner than I remembered, and not in a healthy looking way. The worst part is that she was in danger and no one was even listening to her.

“Pack up some things for the next few days. You need to come with me.”

She glanced at the pills on her desk.

“And you don’t need those, Kins. You’re not crazy.”

“Where are we going?” she asked as she looked back up at me.

I told her the one thing I knew would get her to follow me. “I’ve been staying with the NYC vigilante. I think it’s about time you met him.”

Chapter 26

Monday

“Can we backtrack for one second?” Kins asked as we climbed the emergency escape ladder toward my apartment.

I had caught her up on all the important things. The fake witness protection program. The fact that my name was actually Summer. And that the mayor wasn’t who he said he was. I’d tell her everything else soon. I needed to talk to Eli, V, and Liza first so we could figure out what else Kins should know. I was already looping her in on enough information without their permission.

My stomach churned. I had been allowed out of the apartment for hours now and I still hadn’t gone to see Eli. I needed to visit him. I’d just fill V in and leave him and Kins to get to know each other.

“Are you even listening to me?” Kins asked.

“What?” I stopped outside my apartment window and turned toward her.

“I don’t understand what the mayor has to do with any of this. You said I wasn’t crazy but you didn’t tell me why I wasn’t. Was it really him following me?”

“I’m going to fill you in on everything soon, I promise.” I typed in the code on the keypad and there was a whirring noise. The window slowly rose.

“But the mayor has to be who he says he is. He’s literally the mayor…” her voice trailed off. “Holy shit,” Kins said from behind me.

And I knew she didn’t say it because the apartment was amazing. We had made the entranceway look as normal as possible. Not that entering your home through a window was normal. But we tried. She had said it because V was standing there with his arms folded across his strong chest. And he was staring at me like I was the plague.

“Come in,” I said, trying my best to ignore him.

“Sadie, can I talk to you in private?” V said. He had formed it like a question, but there wasn’t a hint of a question in his tone. And he didn’t even ackno

wledge Kins.

“I thought you said your name was Summer,” Kins whispered.

V disappeared into his bedroom.

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