Page 84 of Help Me Remember

“Wow, Eric’s right. I’m good at inspiring confidence and hope in people,” I snorted, leaning back in my seat.

Ivy sighed, shaking her head. “Thankfully, we have a few feelers out in the family, and we heard about this up-and-comer who had made an impression on the people who mattered. That’s when we learned that you were hell-bent on doing exactly what you said.”

“Or I just wanted to strangle the boss with my bare hands,” I muttered, thinking of how easily I had killed Patterson when he’d shot Eric. If my feelings for Katya had been anything like they were for Eric, I could only imagine how much I wanted revenge. “I held her as she died. I found out about the hit on her and was willing to blow my cover to get to her in time.”

“I…suspected as much,” Ivy said slowly.

“And you didn’t force me out?” I wondered with a frown. “If you thought I was a danger to the operation, you should have stepped in.”

“I nearly did. But despite being told I needed to, and reason telling me it was the right decision, I held back. My gut told me to keep faith, so I did, and up until recently I thought I had more than enough proof to show my faith wasn’t misplaced.”

“You mean the part where I, from your eyes, disappeared and then started popping up all over the city to start chaos seemingly everywhere I went.”

“Truth be told, my faith wasn’t tested so much as my reason. Your disappearance was troubling, but it wasn’t the first time you’d been delayed in giving a signal you were safe and we could move to a drop point. Mostly, I was baffled as to what you were doing or attempting to do.”

“And then you got the police report from Ana.”

“Which did little to clear the muddied waters.”

“Trust me,” I said with a snort. “The waters have been muddy as hell in my head, so I don’t blame you.”

“Still, we’ll get there,” she said, tapping her jaw. “You had one more thing to ask me?”

“I lied,” I said without a shred of guilt. “Two more things.”

“Fine,” she said with a slow smile. “But you’re not allowed to add any more after this.”

“Deal. What are you going to do with Eric?”

“Do?” she asked, a crease forming in her brow. “We have questions for him, obviously, though those will have to wait until he’s stronger. Other than that, I don’t see what else we can do with him.”

“You’re interrogating me as either a member of the Mafia or a rogue agent,” I pointed out. “And he was aiding and abetting everything I did, at least from your view.”

“And you disagree with that view?”

“He was as ignorant of all this as I was.”

Ivy chuckled, clasping her hands in front of her and resting them on the table. “You’re not being treated as either of those things. Remember, this entire operation was strictly under the table and with a minimal, easily destroyed trail.”

I blinked. “Which meant, if I were caught, there would be no connection between what I was doing and the government.”

“Precisely. Which, I’ll point out, you agreed to from the onset.”

I waved her off. “I figured as much. It just…explains some things, is all.”

“I would not want to live in the scattered jigsaw that is your mind,” she quipped, and I thought the sympathy on her face was genuine.

“So what, you’re going to question him, and that’s it?” I asked, getting back to the topic at hand.

“Precisely. We need the perspective of everyone we can safely and covertly question,” she said with a shrug. “Which makes it simple, as we can treat it as the FBI interfering with catching a high-profile member of the Mafia. And don’t worry, his involvement will be left out of the press, and any documents will be treated as anonymous.”

“Good,” I said, settling back in my seat. “But let’s not pretend that doesn’t leave him vulnerable.”

“True, but I have a few ideas,” she said with a smile.

“Such as?”

“Is that your final question?”

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