But no one was looking. The two people closest to us had their headphones on.

“Let me tell you something about guys like Nick, though.” She folded her hands around her cup, and all traces of her earlier lightheartedness disappeared. “It’s okay to lust after them. It’s even okay to sleep with them. But a girl, in a situation like this, has to protect her heart with everything she has.

“If you just want to have a good time with someone so gorgeous it hurts the eyes, then Nick is your guy, but you do not, under any circumstances, give him your heart. A boy like that will break it in a million pieces and leave it on the side of the road for the scavengers to pick at.”

I let her warning settle in. In some ways, I believed she was right. Someone as handsome as Nick couldn’t possibly settle down. Not that I was looking to settle down with him, or anyone. But I was also convinced that there was more to Nick than what Chloe saw on the outside.

“But,” Chloe went on, “if it’s love you’re looking for, then Evan is the one. Evan is someone you can love.”

I took a sip of my latte and tried to think of anything other than boys. Two weeks ago, all I’d wanted was to catch Evan’s attention. Now I had two guys and no idea what to do with either one.

I glanced out the window again, watching everyone who passed by the coffee shop. A woman crossed Washington Street heading toward Merv’s, her back to me. She was tall and thin, shoulders board straight, feet moving quickly. She carried herself the way my mother had, as if she always had somewhere to be, somewhere important.

The woman had the same dark wavy hair as my mother, too.

When I was first rescued, I used to see my mother everywhere, in every female face. Once, when I was shopping with one of my foster families, I chased after a woman who I thought was my mom. I followed her out of the store and to her car, where I banged on her window screaming for my mom.

When the tinted window rolled down and I saw the woman’s face—fearful, and concerned about the hysterical girl at her door—I realized she didn’t look anything like my mother. I could see my own hysteria reflected back at me.

That was the first time I truly felt aware of my sanity, or rather the crumbling of it.

Since then, I’d learned that if I saw someone who looked like my mother, it was better to ignore it. If she returned, I’d surely hear about it before spotting her in a grocery store or crossing the street.

“Lissy?” Chloe said.

“What?”

“I said, so which guy are you going to pick?”

I sighed. “Nick is going to leave town eventually anyway. So he’s not even a choice.”

“Good girl,” Chloe said, but there was no hint of humor in her voice.

If only she knew how badly I wished he’d stay.

29

NICK

I RAN FOR MILES AND MILES UNTIL I had no clue where I was. I brought up the GPS on the phone and navigated back toward town. When I was a few blocks from Arrow, the nightclub where I’d met Chloe, Trev called me.

“Where are you?” he asked.

I gave him my location.

“Good, you’re close. Can you stop by my hotel room? We need to discuss something.”

“Sure,” I said, and hung up without saying good-bye.

Fifteen minutes later, I was slumped in one of the chairs in the corner of Trev’s room. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”

There were weapons everywhere. Two Glocks on the nightstand, a knife in between them. There were full clips on the table in front of me and more in an open bag on the floor. I saw the unmistakable curve of the mattress that indicated there was something shoved between it and the box spring. Probably more guns.

“Yeah, well, after you blow up the Branch, you realize there’s a permanent target on your back.”

“Technically Anna blew up the Branch. She was the one who hit DETONATE.”

“True, but the Branch doesn’t care who did it exactly. Only who was involved, and I was the one who planted the bombs, remember?” He sat in the chair across from me. “Anyway, I have bad news.”

I folded my arms on the table. “When do you ever have good news?”

Trev ignored the jab. “My contacts in the Coats lost track of Riley yesterday.”

I ran a hand through my hair, pushing it back. It was still damp with sweat. My shirt, too. “Where did they lose him?”

“Near Milwaukee.”

I let out a string of curses. “What time?”

“Around five p.m.”

He could already be here by now. Milwaukee was only a few hours north of us.

“Is he coming here for me? Have you been able to verify that?”

Trev shook his head. “He’s not coming for you. The Coats think he’s coming back to reestablish the old program here. He’s going to open up the lab.”

“Son of a bitch.”

“The Branch is broken,” Trev went on, “and Riley is scrambling. If that Angel Serum does what we think it does—reanimate the dead—then it’s worth a lot of money. And money is what the Branch needs in order to get back up on its feet.”

I lurched from the chair. “I have to get Elizabeth out of here.”

Trev nodded. “I thought you’d say that. Meet me back here with her in an hour. One of my Coat contacts can help talk her into leaving. I doubt she’ll just skip town with you without a good reason.”

There was something Trev wasn’t telling me about this contact, but at the moment I didn’t care.