I gave them a chin lift and left the room.
“Wait up!” Angel called as I walked down the hall to grab the keys to my car. I paused and glanced over my shoulder.
“Yeah?”
“Korrie is making dinner tomorrow night. She wants to know if you want to join us. I’ve invited Phoenix, Sabre, and the other brothers that aren’t hooked up. Korrie thought you might enjoy a home-cooked meal at the house.”
“Yeah, that sounds good. Thanks, bro.”
“No problem.” He looked like he wanted to say more but bit his tongue. Then he blurted out, “Are you okay? You’ve seemed off. I haven’t heard you give anyone shit all day. It’s weird, dude.”
“I’m… I don’t really know.” I wasn’t ready to discuss things with anyone. Facet knew by default, but not because I wanted anyone to know.
Lila was alive and had been hiding for over eleven years. It didn’t make sense. At least not until I remembered the details of the murder
I went in my room, snagged my keys, then knocked on Facet’s door.
“Come in!” he called out.
When I stuck my head in, he was at his desk, staring at his multiscreen computer.
“Hey. Do you think I could get Laila’s address? If you can find it for me?”
He choked on his energy drink. “CanI?”
I almost laughed at his affronted expression. “Okay, sorry… I mean, would you? I know you have a lot going on with this new job we got.”
“Yeah. I will. But do you wanna tell me why? It’s been eleven years—you don’t know her anymore.”
Not meeting his gaze, I scratched my chin. “She used to be my girl.”
“That’s kinda what I figured after reading Lila Kellerman’s story, but that doesn’t tell me why you want to see her now?”
I scuffed my shoe against the concrete floor, then looked up at him. “It was before I went to prison. I ditched her when I found out how long I was going away for. Didn’t want her wasting five years of her life waiting on me. Then I read she was murdered with her parents when I was in. I’d never felt so helpless. You can’t exactly grieve in prison. Then I ended up getting out early, and I regretted ending things with her. I kept asking myself if things could’ve played out differently if I wouldn’t have broke things off.”
“Damn. But bro, you have to know that it wouldn’t have changed anything. You couldn’t control what happened back home, when you were in prison.”
“It was when I was in prison that I found out I could become a ghost. I thought she was dead.”
“Double damn.”
“So, um, could I have her address?”
“Do you think that’s a good idea? Until I know more about her situation, it might not be a good idea for her to be seen with you. She’s in WITSEC for a reason. What if the US Marshals or the feds are watching her or some shit?”
“I’m not going to talk to her. I just need to….” What did I need? I had no fucking idea. My head was reeling. My thoughts were an emotional jumble that I couldn’t seem to organize.
He sighed but clicked a few keys, then scratched out something on a Post-it Note. He handed it to me with a frown. “Be careful. I already got my ass chewed for looking into her for you. Venom would have my ass if he knew I hacked into secure government servers. I’d get center punched if he thought I sent you into danger.”
“How much danger could one woman be?”
He arched a brow.
I had no idea how much I’d rue those words.