“Fucking hell!” Seven roars, grabbing the back of a chair before throwing it across the room in a fit of rage.
“Calm down, Seven,” I order.
“The fuck I will! If she’s with Valentine—if Luci brought her to him—then you know what this means, right?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Then why aren’t you angrier about this?!”
“I am.”
“The fu—”
I close the space between us, my vision turning red, slamming Seven back up against the wall as my lip curls up over my teeth.
“Iam, Seven,” I snarl. “Bloody hell! I’d tear them all limb from limb to get to her if I could, Luci included, but what good would that do us now? What good would that do Evi?”
Seven glares down at me, his nostrils flaring as breathes deeply in an effort to regain his composure.
“Fine, then what are we supposed to do?”
“The only thing we can do right now. Wait,” I answer, releasing Seven as I take a step back. “We’re going to wait for Luci to come back, and we’re going to pretend like we suspect nothing.”
“You can’t be serious,” Seven scoffs. “You can’t seriously think he’d dare show his face here again, can you?”
“I can, and I do. Whether or not he brought Evi to my father, he’s bound to come back here. Whether it’s because Valentine wants to rub it in my face, or to prove his innocence.”
Seven shakes his head in disbelief.
“I think we should go after him, and find out for ourselves.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Then you’d better be prepared to stitch him back together the moment he shows his face here.”
“You’re not going to lay a finger on him,” I hiss. “Not until we know exactly what we’re dealing with.”
“Give me one good reason not to tear him to pieces.”
“Because, like it or not, if he is working with Valentine … if he brough Evi to him, then he may be our only way in. Our only way to make sure she stays alive.”
“So, what? I’m just supposed to pretend that he hasn’t screwed us all over? That he hasn’t led her straight to the slaughter?!”
“Yes, for now.”
Seven scowls at me, his fingers playing at the handles of his blades.
“I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I, but our first priority has to be keeping Evi alive. Turning on Luci now would only make that task far more difficult, especially if what we believe he’s been up to turns out to be true … and worse still, if it isn’t.”
“How the hell can you still have any doubts about it?”
I walk back over to the large window behind my desk.
“Because I finally understand exactly how he felt about Anna. I thought I knew before, but with Evi … I’m certain.”
Seven exhales deeply, dropping into an armchair.