Page 14 of Raze
She’s doing it again.
It’s what I tell myself, anyway, but I also know better than to believe any of that was fake. There was so much conviction in her tone and truth in her eyes that I’d be fooling myself to say that she was lying. It’s a jarring difference from how I’d imagined her after Vera died. When I’d pictured her as a traitor or one of the Gifted Enterprise members all along.
She’s acting just as she had when we’d been together on the island. When it had been all for one and one for all between the five of us.
She still killed Vera.
Even if it was an accident or her attempt at saving my life. Those reasons are much better than the original ones I thought she’d done it for, but it doesn’t change the fact that she took my sister’s life away.
“You shouldn’t have made that call on your own. You should have let whatever happen to me happen, and then we would have figured it out together. You should havetoldme what was going on with mysister.” My tone is steady, belying the storm of emotions raging in me at this conversation.
Raegan huffs and gives a slight shake of her head. “Letting whatever happen to you was letting you die. There wouldn’t have been a figuring it out together later.”
“I can’t believe that Vera would have let me die. Maybe if you had waited a little longer—”
“No!” she shouts, then she shoots me an apologetic look and softens her tone. “Sorry, but no. Waiting as long as I had and trying to get her to stop was already too much. Your monitors were all beeping and going off and no one was coming to your rescue. Either I did something or it would have been too late.”
I still can’t believe it. I won’t. My sister isn’t a monster. We cared about each other and looked out for one another.
“Anyway, I was going to tell you about her and Gordon, but she made me promise not to, so she could tell you first. I gave her a week to tell you on her own before I stepped in. And then…well, she died before that happened.”
I nod slowly. This part is also hard to believe. “So, she was sleeping with the enemy, huh? That Gordon guy you kneeled for at the Tower?”
Rae makes a face and looks away so I can’t read anything else on her expression. “She told me she was in love with him. But I think” – she chews her lip and flicks a brief glance my way to gauge my mood before she continues – “maybe she was…coerced or groomed or whatever into it. GE made out too well under that arrangement. And when he was with her…it didn’t look like he cared much forher.”
My hands clench and unclench with restless energy and the need to beat the living shit out of this Gordon guy. If any of that is true…I won’t need any gift or weapon to destroy him. I’ll do it with my bare hands.
“I’m sorry about everything, Dane. I wish I didn’t have a gift that killed so easily and that I could have found a better way to stop her. Even if I stopped her without killing her, though, I’m afraid it would have happened again when I wasn’t there. So long as we were on that island and she was being controlled by Gordon, she was a danger to you and everyone else.”
I sigh and run my fingers through my hair, tugging at the ends that are dyed blond for Vera. Before, it was in remembrance and because I couldn’t let go of the past. Now it’s something that ties us together again. Makes us look like siblings, because otherwise, it wasn’t always easy to tell.
“If she wasn’t my sister, I would get it. But she was—is,” I correct myself. “I’m not ready to forgive you and I don’t know if I ever will be. But none of that matters to me right now. All I care about is getting Vera back and saving her.”
Raegan nods. “I promise that I’ll do whatever it takes to get her back and save her this time.”
We both share a tenuous smile and nod, then fall back into silence.
The sound of something against metal grabs my attention from whatever thoughts I’d been lost in. A quick check on Raegan shows that she’s fallen asleep. I’m not sure yet what I heard, maybe something from down below on the streets, so I don’t wake her just yet. We’ve been up here for hours and the sky is lightening. If Vera doesn’t show by the time I can see the sun, we’ll head back.
Then I hear the slide of a gun.
I dive over Raegan, knocking her to the ground beneath me just as a gunshot sounds. She moans under me and then curses. “Dane?”
I ignore her and look over my shoulder, my pulse racing with hope.
It’s her. Vera.
“Vera, don’t shoot. I want to talk.” I keep my body covering Raegan’s while the gun is still aimed our way. I still trust that she wouldn’t shoot me. It’s Raegan she’s after.
“Why isshehere, Dane? Why are you still hanging around the girl who killed me? She’ll probably try again now that she knows I’m still alive.”
“She won’t. I made her promise she’ll never try to hurt you again. I swear to you, you’re safe. You can put the gun down.” Raegan makes a noise of disapproval under me, but tough shit. I know it puts her at a disadvantage for Vera to know that, but I need my sister to feel safe more than anything when she’s with us.
Vera laughs, but it’s nothing like the one I remember. It’s cold and sends a chill up my spine. “And you actually believe her? I love you, but you’re an idiot, little brother. The only way I’ll stop pointing my gun at her is if she’s already dead. So how about you move aside and I take care of this little speed bump, and then we can catch up like old times?”
Raegan stiffens. Her eyes are wide with fear when she looks at me. She’s looking at me like she thinks I’m going to do what Vera wants. I mean, I did say I’d do anything to get her back. Her big blue eyes look up at me and my gut reaction is to hold her tight. My arms tense with the urge, but I don’t move to console or touch her.
“No.” I look back at Vera. “She’s under my protection while she’s here. No one is killing anyone tonight. I just want to talk. She can go on the other side of the roof so you can pretend she isn’t here, but you have to put your gun away.”
