I gulped, looking around to see if anyone else caught it.
No.
No.
No!
We were in the clear.
All cameras were on us. Well, they were on Matt, then to me, and back to Matt.
I gulped again. It couldn’t be that easy. Could it?
I kept looking, even to the people lining up on the sides of the hallway. All eyes were on us. I looked up, seeing security cameras up there, but no way. No way could they have gotten Tony on there. I looked, checking the group of people surrounding us, and we were encased. Quinn, too.
Crappity crap crap. Looks like the plan worked.
“—ley!”
“What?” I yelled, out of reflex, jerking at Matt’s sudden shout in my ear.
But he wasn’t in my ear. He was standing a normal distance away and he had been trying to get my attention.
I flushed. I was always flushing. “What? Sorry.”
He was fighting a grin, but one of his eyebrows was arched up. He nodded to Quinn. “Now’s your time. Say your piece to her, to the woman who tried to have you killed.”
At his words, a new buzz went through the hallway. The press got excited. That sound bite was going to be played on repeat over the next few weeks.
I stifled my groan but looked at Quinn. I made eye contact with her, and the hatred that I expected to feel…
It wasn’t there.
It wasn’t there!
Why wasn’t it there?
A burning was in my chest instead, and it was spreading. Growing. It was filling up my throat, tunneling down into my stomach.
No. I didn’t feel hate for her anymore.
I smiled at her instead, and a few people in the crowd gasped, as if a smile was worse.
Quinn frowned, but she was waiting.
Everyone was waiting.
“I know the government cares what you tried to do to me, but right now, I don’t care about me. I care about Seraphina and Curtis. They’re the real victims here.”
Quinn blanched. A sheen came over her eyes, making them glisten. I wanted to believe those were unshed tears, but knowing her, dust might’ve been thrown in her eyes.
“Stop hurting them. Do what’s right, for them.”
Then, turning, grabbing Matt’s arm, I pushed him out of the building. He resisted, but I dug in. We were done. Show was over. And after a slight pushing match, he yielded. He led the rest of the way. Fitz was ahead of us, Drake right behind us, and the car pulled up.
Once we stepped outside, a guy was coming at us fast. Really fast.
It was Tony.