I need to get out of here.

I throw the covers off me, put my clothes back on from yesterday, and then head downstairs to the kitchen. It’s still dark outside, but I can feel the dawn creeping up over the horizon when I look out the eastern windows.

There’s a light on in the kitchen and the sounds of someone doing dishes.

We forgot to clean up our mess last night. We never even finished our waffle. I walk into the kitchen expecting to see the maid, and then stop dead when it’s Vincent placing the dishes in the sink.

He looks at me and smiles. I can’t manage one myself.

“Someone got hungry last night.” He shoots me a good-natured grin and I stop in my tracks.

“What?”

“This,” he says, pointing to the mess. “If I knew you were a cook, I’d have asked for something special already.’

“What?” I can’t breathe.

“Are you OK, Harper?” He turns to look at me for a moment. “I’m sorry I never showed for dinner. I just didn’t feel well and ended up going to bed early. But it’s OK,” he says, fanning his hand at the flour and eggs that were left out on the counter. “This is your home too. So help yourself if you get hungry. You don’t have to wait for me to feed you.”

I can’t breathe.

“So what did you do last night?” He turns the water on and lets it run in the bowl that’s still half full of unused batter. “Besides make a mess in the kitchen?” He smiles at me over his shoulder.

“What time did you go to bed?”

“I was so sick. It must’ve been the seafood I had at lunch yesterday. It’s a good thing I didn’t bring you along or we’d both have been sick last night.”

Is he joking?

“You look tired, baby. You should go back to bed. People won’t be arriving until tonight.”

“What?” Oh my God, it’s like I’m in an alternate universe.

“Harper,” he laughs. “What’s gotten into you? The party is tomorrow, baby. Nick said he’ll be here tonight. That should make you happy.”

“Nick is gonna be here.” I do a little jump and clap my hands, the weirdness forgotten for a moment. “I can’t wait!”

“That’s better.” And then he walks over and kisses me on the lips like we’re a married couple and we meet in the kitchen every morning before he goes to work so we can talk about our upcoming day.

The weird is back. But Vincent is already walking away. “Be good, Harp.”

And then I’m alone.

I walk quickly back to my room and shut the door as I try to fit the pieces of this puzzle together. Did I imagine last night? No! Surely not. The mess was right there in the kitchen.

Did he forget? Was he so sick that he forgot I sucked his dick in the hallway?

But then the bathroom door creaks as someone pushes it open. “I thought he’d never fucking leave,” the deep voice rumbles and makes my whole body tingle. “I told you. I’m gonna fuck that pretty little pussy and take your ass too.”

I’m too stunned to move, but the man in my room isn’t. He walks towards me like he owns the entire world and stops when he’s close enough to force me to look up to see him properly.

“I told you I’d come back.”

James did say that.

But this isn’t James. I can see the difference in his eyes.

This is Tet.

PART THREE

Chapter Twenty-Five

Sasha

I don’t think it’s possible to bite my fingernails down any closer to the quick, but my mouth doesn’t seem to notice as we pull into the Cabazon parking lot, home to Interstate 10’s larger-than-life resident reptiles.

I was just here a few days ago and it seems like my life is moving in circles.

“That’s them,” I tell Merc. “In the red truck.”

Merc mutters under his breath. “Fuck.” He turns into the parking lot and two men exit the red truck and start walking to the underbelly of the brontosaurus.

“Park close, so I can hear. Like right up next to it.”

Merc does not park close. Instead he drives past the two men and stares them down. Then he pulls into a spot a good hundred feet from where they are meeting.

“Merc.”

“Shut up,” he barks at me. “Sit your ass in this truck and do not move, do you hear me?”

“I’m the one who knows them.”

“I don’t give a fuck. I’m the one who’s doing business. Little girls do not cut deals with international street gangs. I don’t care how fucking tough you think you are, Cherlin, you’re still Zero to me. So shut your mouth and do not even think about getting out.”

I cross my arms over my chest and huff out some air. “It was my idea.”

“Yeah, well, an idea doesn’t keep you alive when you’re double-dealing with scumbags like these guys. And when I tell them what we’re offering, they are gonna jump on it, Smurf. So this is your last chance to call it off. Because once we have a deal, there’s no turning back. People will die tomorrow. You got that?” He waits for me to answer, but I don’t. I just swallow it down. “Do you understand that?” he asks again, this time grabbing my arm and squeezing tight.

“I get it, OK? But what other choice do we have? We need firepower. We need boots on the ground. We need them to kill if we want to have any chance at all of getting Harper and Nick back.”

“Look, Sasha, just because you said you want Nick and Harper to get out alive doesn’t mean they will. These guys know who they are. They know who their father is. They know their connections. So they might just double-cross us and kill everyone. Including you and me. Or maybe, and this is far more likely, they will take us all prisoner. And then we’ll all get to experience what James went through down in Honduras twelve years ago. So I’m gonna ask you one more time. Do you really want to give James up to save your boyfriend? Because they want him, Cherlin. They want him bad.”

“I told you. He’s not gonna get caught. James will never get caught. They want One too, so they’ll be happy to get him. James will get away, I know it. He’s so much smarter. So much more lethal. If anyone can pull us through this plan, it’s James.”

“Not James, kid. Tet. I don’t know why the fuck you can’t see him for what he is. A messed-up dude with questionable loyalties.”