“I’d never have done that. How can you even believe— They caught us. Right outside the facility while we were waiting for you. We’d done everything according to plan, but they must have known and been prepared…”
“Why don’t you tell us what exactlyyouclaim happened that night?” Andreas says, still unusually terse.
I drag in a breath. Are we going to get somewhere now?
“Griffin used his ability to make one of the guardians want to open his door and then mine, just like we discussed. I knocked the guy out, but he didn’t have keycards for the other floors. So we went up to the control room and opened all of your cells.”
Zian nods slowly. “They opened.”
Jacob flicks his glare toward the other guy before aiming it back at me. “And then?”
“Then we headed out to make sure the front yard was clear. We thought it was at first. Griffin couldn’t sense anyone nearby, and I didn’t see or hear anyone. It must have been a sniper who shot him.”
A lump of grief blocks off my voice for a second before I recover it. “And then a bunch of guardians all rushed in, and they shot me too, and zapped me with tasers so I couldn’t move…”
One of my hands lifts to my shoulder instinctively, but I know before I say anything more that they won’t find my scar convincing—not if they’re doubting everything else I said.
The guardians patched me up well before delivering me to the boss of the arena as merchandise. The remnant of the bullet wound looks more like it was a shallow stab mark, not a shot.
“That’s all that happened?” Dominic asks.
My mind flits momentarily to the kiss—that giddy, glorious,stupidact that might have cost us everything. Every nerve in my body balks against admitting that one factor in my carelessness.
It doesn’t make a difference… other than making me look pathetic.
“That’s all,” I say. “Obviously I wasn’t alert enough—you have no idea how much I wish I’d picked up on the threat in time—”
Jacob folds his arms over his chest. “And where did you supposedly go that’s kept you away for four years?”
I grit my teeth at the “supposedly” and force them to relax. “The guardians sold me to some crime boss who ran underground cage matches. I became his star fighter. It was either fight or they’d kill me, and if I was dead I wouldn’t have been able to come back for you. He kept me under tight security. I never left my room there except for the weekly fights.”
A ragged laugh sputters out of Jacob. “Such a fantastic sob story—and how perfect that you did it all forourbenefit. How long did it take you to come up with that script? What a load of absolute bullshit.”
I stiffen against a flinch. “It’s not bullshit. It’s what happened.”
There’s a stretch of stony silence between the guys. I can’t tell if any of them are even really considering that I might be telling the truth.
Whatever story the guardians beat into their brains, they must have framed it awfully well. But still.
These were my guys. We were all each other had—we were in it together until the end.
We are blood.
They should know I’d never have turned on them.
Zian glances at Andreas, the tarp warbling against his hands as the truck sways around a curve in the highway. “Can you check her memories? That’d give us a quick answer about what really happened after.”
Andreas grimaces. “Not particularly quick. There isn’t much science to it, remember. I don’t have much to narrow it down.”
He lifts his chin toward me. “Do you have the name of anyone who was at this cage-fighting place—this crime boss and his goons who made you fight?”
I wince inwardly. “No. They barely talked to me, and I didn’t get much chance to overhear anything.”
Jacob shifts his weight with a shudder of the truck bed. “Isn’t that convenient too?”
“Not really,” I retort. “Since I’dliketo be able to prove to you that I’m not some kind of murdering traitor.”
Andreas’s mouth has remained twisted. He clasps his lean hands together in front of him. “I’ll try. Maybe I’ll find something.”