NITA TOOK THE STREETCAR back to Adair’s place. About halfway, she realized she’d forgotten to get her passport from her mother, and she swore viciously at herself. But there was no helping it now. She would have to email her mom and set up a time to pick it up later.
She turned her mind to more immediate concerns: Fabricio. Adair’s words played over in her head, and she wondered: Why had Fabricio sold her out?
Vengeance? Then why not go after her mother?
Money? But as Adair said, he was the heir to a very rich, very powerful man.
Fabricio had said he wanted a new life, to disappear into INHUP’s protective program. At the time, she’d assumed it was a lie, meant to explain away his connection to his father, to make him seem like a good guy.
But again—why jeopardize everything with INHUP to sell Nita? INHUP would have taken care of him. He didn’t need money to gain their protection. Nita in a cage actually hurt his chances, if she ever got out, or if INHUP confiscated his phone.
So why?
Her mind circled around, and it stalled again for a moment on the Argentinian-Chilean hostilities. But she let it go quickly. If he’d done it out of hate, surely she’d have seen other signs of it. He would have made annoying barbs about Chileans like her father used to about Argentinians whenever the soccer games were on.
No, whatever reason Fabricio had for betraying her, it was something much more complicated and dangerous than that.
She remembered that moment in the car with Fabricio, where she’d said she’d do anything to survive, and he said he would too. He’d confessed to selling her then, but he’d also confessed to being desperate.
But again, the question was: Why?
Maybe Adair was right and she should ask Fabricio some questions before she murdered him and dumped his body in the Don River.
She got off at her usual stop and stepped into the cool night air. The light was fading, and darkness had begun to sweep through the city like a gentle cloak. Streetlights popped on, casting a too-orange glow on everything. The gray sidewalks faded until they looked like long strings of giant polished pebbles and the road was a great river of darkness between them.
She took a deep breath, and she could still hear her mother telling Nita she was proud. Words she never thought she’d hear.
For the first time, she really felt like she could do this. She could survive on her own, she could eliminate Fabricio, make her reputation so powerful she was untouchable, go to school and become the researcher she’d always dreamed of being.
She didn’t need INHUP. She didn’t need her mother.
She didn’t need Kovit.
Her steps slowed, and she let out a breath. Kovit.
She’d thought that the ache of his absence would go away, that she would remember he was a monster, that he’d made her sit in a barn crying while he tortured an INHUP agent. That she’d feel better, more stable, without him there.
But the pain still clung, squishy and sharp, stinging like a jellyfish and slowly poisoning her bloodstream.
She looked up at Adair’s shop and wondered if Kovit had come back. If he’d ever come back.
And she realized, no matter what, she didn’t want this to be the end.
She didn’t want him to go. Monster or not. He was her best friend. She trusted him more than anyone else in the world.
She wondered when being able to trust someone had become more important than whether they were a monster or not.
She took out her phone, but she couldn’t think of the words to text him, so she put it away again. Tomorrow. If he hadn’t come back by tomorrow, she’d text him. She didn’t know what she’d say yet, but she’d find a way to fix this.
She sighed, the cool night air misting her breath in front of her.
She unlocked the shop with Adair’s key. The lights were off, and neither Adair nor Diana were anywhere to be found. That was fine. Adair was probably pissed at the moment because of the whole police-in-his-shop thing he’d specifically told her not to let happen.
She wove through the messy shop, trying not to knock over anything. A purple glass chicken stared vacantly at her, and she shuddered and walked past. Old-times people had terrible taste.
She clopped up the stairwell and fumbled for the key to the apartment door. She opened it and flicked on the light.
Henry sat on the bed, fingers steepled.
“Welcome back.”