Cam was out of the question, of course, so that only left…Cavazos, who stood waiting for me to come to that realization. “After you.” He gestured toward the hall, and I sucked in a deep breath, then reluctantly led the way into the shadows.

Twenty-Eight

In the dark, with the door closed, I sat on the edge of the tub holding a roll of duct tape in one hand and my phone in the other. Cam had left the tape on the counter when we’d taped up the window earlier. “Here.” I handed the roll to Ruben when he sat on the tub next to me, his thigh and shoulder touching mine. “Tear off a strip to go over her mouth.” That way she couldn’t ask me or Anne for help, which would ruin our entire plan.

“My pleasure.” His voice resonated with sincerity, and I hated him a little more, having heard it. “If she’s smart, she won’t come,” he said, as he ripped a length of tape from the roll. “Tower will kill her for this, when he finds out.”

“She doesn’t know what we’re planning,” I whispered. “But she’d come even if she did, if she could possibly find a way. She feels bad enough about giving Hadley to Tower, and she wants to make it right.”

“That sounds more like you than Kori.”

“You don’t even know her!” I snapped, my thumb hovering over the text-message icon on the disposable cell phone I’d borrowed from Cam. I couldn’t use mine, because I’d already texted from it, and she’d recognize my number.

“But I know you.”

I looked up at him, wishing he could see in the dark so he’d know how thoroughly pissed off I was. “You don’t know me. Don’t ever think you know me. The only things you know about me are the things you made me do, and that illustrates your character, not mine.”

Cavazos laughed softly. “I didn’t make you take the mark on your thigh. That bond was your idea, to free Caballero. And I didn’t make you risk my anger and your own life by bringing your friends here, even before you knew Hadley was mine. You did that on your own, to help a child you barely know.”

“Shut up.” I didn’t want to hear his assessment of my character.

“Your hard shell protects some very soft innards, Olivia. That’s what makes you so much fun to play with. If that shell had cracked, even just once, I might have been done with you then and there. Well, I would have fucked you first, then I would have been done with you. But the more I poke at your armor, the stronger it gets. Just like Michaela. Only there might be just a bit too much pressure on her shell,” he admitted, finally.

“I don’t think you give a shit what’s behind my ‘shell,’ Ruben. I think you just want to crack it for your own amusement.”

He laughed again. “Isn’t that what I said?”

I closed my eyes, trying to mentally block him out and concentrate on the task at hand. Then I opened my eyes and started typing, which was a real pain in the ass in the dark, on the new phone’s numeric-only keyboard.

It’s Cam. New phone. Need to see you at Liv’s love nest. now.

I17;d hesitated to tell her Cam got a new phone, even though I was impersonating him on my own, because she might have to tell Tower that before she came over. But then I realized Tower had probably already figured that out, when Cam stopped answering his old number, which had surely been called after Kori brought Hadley in.

“Not sure how long this’ll take,” I said, flipping the phone closed, suddenly acutely aware of how cold and hard the tub was. But that was better than Ruben’s evil warmth any day.

“Olivia—” he began, and he sounded so serious I was sure I wouldn’t want to hear whatever he had to say.

“Shh. If she hears us talking when she gets here, she’ll just walk straight back through the shadow and we’ll be screwed.”

Cavazos made no reply, and I attributed his uncharacteristic moment of cooperation to the fact that he wanted his daughter back.

We sat like that in silence for several minutes and by the time my eyes adjusted to the tiny crack of light bleeding beneath the door from the hallway, each breath either of us took sounded like the hiss from a closed air vent—intrusive, harsh and obvious. The wait was excruciating.

Then, all at once the air felt different. A silhouette stepped into existence right in front of us—a darker, human-shape among the shadows. Tall and slim, long hair that would have been pale and straight in the light. Definitely Kori—as if I’d had any doubt.

Cavazos was off the tub before I even knew he was going to move. He grabbed her arms and Kori grunted in surprise as I lunged past them both to flip the light switch on the wall. When I turned, Cavazos held her from behind by both elbows. White-blond hair had fallen over her face, but her dark-eyed gaze was still piercing through the pale strands of hair.

“We got her!” I pulled open the bathroom door, belatedly hoping that Cam hadn’t heard me through whatever music he was playing. He needed plausible deniability, or he’d have to turn himself in to Tower. And probably take Kori with him.

“Liv, what the fuck?” Kori demanded, tossing her hair to clear her line of sight.

“I’m sorry.” I snatched the strip of tape Ruben had left hanging from the counter and slapped it over her mouth, catching a strand of hair in the process. Then I reached for her front pocket as footsteps headed toward us from the hall. Yelling something unintelligible from behind her gag, Kori threw her hips back to avoid my hand and nearly knocked Cavazos off balance, but he recovered quickly and tightened his grip on her arms. Kori groaned when he wrenched her shoulders, glaring at me wordlessly.