“And they’ll crash into Butch’s shield when they do.” Ava rubbed her hands together. “We’ll take the war to them.”
“It’s our best chance of keeping The Hollow and its residents safe.” Sam rose to her feet. “Get a good day’s sleep, people. At dusk, the legion will be sent out in threes to pick off as many members of The Order as they can. The rest of us will go to the neighbouring island and familiarise ourselves with it.” She looked at me and Imani. “Before you two go and wind down, let’s find out who tried to kill Imani, shall we?”
“Ryder’s done with the suspects?” I asked.
“He should be by now,” replied Sam. “Jared and I just need to have a quick chat with Antonio. Then we’ll meet you at the entrance of the containment cells.”
“Who gets to kill the fucker responsible?” Paige’s tone said she’d be happy to do it.
Hell, no. “Who do you think?” She smartly didn’t fight me for the pleasure. In my eyes, she’d redeemed herself just a little by tackling—literally—a female Pagori for bragging that she’d had me before Imani and could easily have me again. Paige and the rest of Imani’s squad had also fiercely defended me against anyone who had doubts about my commitment to Imani.
“Ooh, can we watch?” begged Ava, eyes wide with excitement.
Smiling, Sam snorted. “No. Go play with Salem.”
Tugging on my hand, Imani got to her feet. “Come on. I’m ready.” And eager, going by the gleam in her eyes, to finally have the truth.
Leaving the conference room, we took the elevator to the ground floor of the building. Then we descended the spiral staircase that led to the cells, where we found a pale Ryder sitting on the bottom step.
“Hey, you okay?” Imani asked him.
Strain in every line of his face, Ryder forced a smile for her. “I will be once I’ve had some sleep. Man, I’m wiped after that. I hope I don’t look as bad as I feel.”
I decided not to tell him that, yeah, I was pretty sure he did. “You done with them?”
Ryder puffed out a breath. “Yes.”
“So you managed to get into Juliet’s mind?”
“Yes, Salem used his gift to put her unconscious,” said Ryder. “It stopped her from hurting me, but it also meant it took a while to scan her thoughts. It’s harder to read the minds of unconscious people. You can’t ask them to hold an image in their mind to lead you to the info you’re looking for.”
At our ‘I don’t get it’ expressions, he went on, “Minds aren’t easy to navigate. There aren’t separate compartments for memories, thoughts, personal details, etc. A mind is more like a road map. You have to get on the right road if you want to find what you’re looking for. A mental snapshot of a person or event is like a red cross on a map. It shows me which road to go down.”
“So, who was it?” I pressed, impatient. “Who hurt Imani?”
Ryder sighed. “None of them.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “You’re fucking kidding me,” I rumbled.
His expression said that he wished he was. “Tait hates Imani enough to kill her, but she fears Marco too much to attempt it. Juliet…she doesn’t care enough about Imani’s existence to be bothered whether she lives or dies. And Marco, well…let’s just say he wouldn’t do it.”
“You mean he’s too obsessed with her.”
Ryder’s mouth twisted. “Pretty much, yeah.”
Pacing, Imani bit her lower lip. “Do any of them know who did it?”
“Juliet thinks it was Tait, and Tait thinks it was Juliet. Marco believes he knows who it is, but he guarded that thought from me.”
I frowned. “Guarded it?”
Ryder nodded. “It was smart how he did it. He visualised a brick wall between me and the answer. That blocked the road on my map.”
Just then, Sam and Jared appeared at our side. “You look like crap,” Sam told Ryder, concerned.
“You’re not going to like what I have to say,” he warned them.
After Ryder repeated what he’d told us, Sam grumbled, “I’m not surprised Marco hid his suspicions. He believes Imani belongs to him, and he thinks he’s her protector. Since her life actually matters to him, he isn’t going to give up the opportunity to get vengeance on whoever harmed her.” She looked at me. “In his place, neither would you.”
She was right about that. “I can’t believe we have to fucking free them,” I growled. “Marco still has every reason to die.”
Jared nodded. “But I made him a deal. I won’t go back on my word, even though I wish I could.” He cast Imani an apologetic look.
My girl quickly assured him, “I wouldn’t expect you to. And to be fair, Marco has already been punished for what he did.”
Fair? Fuck fair. He didn’t deserve to breathe. But I couldn’t ask Jared to break his promise. It would make us both bastards. So, minutes later, we had to free the two smug-looking bunnies and escort them to Marco’s cell.
Ignoring the gasped greetings of his bunnies, he studied our expressions from behind the glass. “Joel gave you the information you needed.”
“Yes,” said Jared.
“Have you come to free me?”
“I gave you my word, didn’t I?”
Marco smiled, probably because Jared sounded pissed about it.
Having unlocked the cell, Sam told him, “Ian will teleport you all home.” The male was currently standing with the bunnies, appearing no happier about their freedom than I was.
Rolling back his shoulders, Marco left the cell. His consorts flung themselves at him, kissing his cheeks and petting his chest, telling them how they’d missed him and never once believed he could be guilty blah, blah, fucking blah. Their words cut off as Imani spoke.
“Who injected me with the serum?”
Marco turned to face her. “What makes you think I know who it was?”
She arched a brow. “Don’t you?”
“In my opinion, it can only be one of two people. I’ll find out which one.”
When he and his consorts moved to Ian, Imani demanded, “What two people, Marco?”
His face softened with what looked like sympathy. “Good people can do bad things sometimes—not just because they have the potential to do bad things like everyone else, but because they’ve found a way to justify it to themselves. Like someone who steals from their sibling, telling themselves it was okay because their sibling owed them in some sense.”