He winks, but I can sense his discomfort under the jovial tone. Mariana’s death hides in his shadowed eyes. The lines of age and worry in his face.
He glances down at his shoes as they clip along the sidewalk. Polished tan leather. “The people you worked for, they’re monsters. To bring Boswell into their ranks, they have to be.”
“I have no doubt.”
“Isabel must be protected.”
“That’s my purpose if I’ve ever had one.”
He slows. We stop walking and face one another.
He regards me quietly. “I feel that must be true. There can be no other explanation for how you’ve been reintroduced into her life this way.”
It was a matter of chance. An auspicious twist of circumstances as Jay already explained. But as Gabriel speaks, something inside me tries to believe that coming to Isabel’s apartment that night was more than chance. That it was destined. An offering from some unknown force, that if accepted, gave her life and me a soul. At least a chance at one. But there’s still more work to be done. More blood to shed…
I tense a little. “Part of keeping her safe requires neutralizing the threat. You realize that, right?”
He taps his foot absently. “I’m not a stranger to violence, though I prefer to avoid it. When it comes to Isabel, though, I want her nowhere near it.”
“I’m with you on that.”
“Then you must take her someplace safe, Tristan. Take her away from Halo. Martine…” He shakes his head, his face wrinkling into a pained grimace. “She’ll only use her the way she’s used Lucia. She is my daughter, but I can’t sway her. Her need to avenge Mariana fuels a hatred no amount of justice could possibly extinguish. But Isabel is innocent. She has hope.”
“I have no intention of staying at Halo. The situation is temporary. We’ll be out as soon as I can lock down a new place.”
His pained expression doesn’t ease. “I’m torn.”
I frown.
He begins walking again, back toward the house. I follow, waiting for him to elaborate.
“Martine’s likely talked of her reach. Her prowess and power. Never mind her mission.”
“She has.”
“She doesn’t exaggerate.” He lifts a finger. “Except when it comes to the mission. I fear that her motivations are primarily selfish these days. Time has changed her values. But Halo is very well connected. The information we’ve collected over the years holds even more value than the wealth she’s accumulated through sometimes questionable means.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Martine can fight this war for you. She could even win.”
“So you’re suggesting that Isabel and I lie low while she tries?”
He slows again, stops, and looks ahead at the mansion set off the street several yards down the block. “The father in me…and the grandfather in me…wants to believe that’s the answer.”
“But?”
He presses his lips into a thin line. “Only time will tell.” He withdraws a piece of paper from his pocket and hands it to me. “This is my number while I’m here in the States. Lucia says she can no longer reach Isabel through her phone. I hope you’ll trust me to keep me informed of her general whereabouts once you leave Halo. I care for her deeply, and I’m here to help in any way I can.”
I accept it and consider his words and the unselfish way in which he speaks about Isabel. I nod and extend my hand to his, grasping it in another handshake, one of unspoken commitment.
“I’ll be in touch.”
CHAPTER TEN
Isabel
Restless, I scroll through apartment listings on my phone while I wait for Tristan to return. What could he be discussing with my grandfather? My thoughts spin endlessly while my omissions from the conversation I overheard last night sit like a rock in my stomach.
Why did I lie to him when I’ve done nothing but campaign for his honesty?
Maybe because there was something I could relate to in Martine’s passion to take down the Company, even if she was almost unrecognizable in her expression of it. Even if she said things that struck at my heart when I wasn’t meant to hear them.
Her unapologetic desire to fight and win still resonates, even though I’m admittedly outmatched. I don’t want to hide and play it safe. Yet without someone like Martine or Tristan driving the mission and using all the things they know, how can it be possible?
I toss my phone aside and get cleaned up. As I dress, I check the clock, expecting to hear the usual morning breakfast ruckus begin any time. The growling in my stomach persists as I wait for the first hints of Martine’s signature cooking smells, but the house is oddly quiet.
I venture out, but there’s no one. Suddenly I hear feet rushing down the stairs. Skye appears, her bright eyes round with concern.
“What’s wrong?”
“Have you seen Jay?”
I still. “Not since last night. Why?”
She goes into the sitting room and circles back without making eye contact, heading straight for Martine’s office in the back. The front door opens, and I turn to see Tristan returning. He’s alone, which means my grandfather likely left after their walk. I’m eager to ask Tristan what they discussed and if he learned any more.
He frowns. “Everything okay?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean? Where is everyone?”
Just then Skye returns. “She’s gone.”
“Who’s gone?” Tristan asks.
“Martine. Jay too.”
An eerie silence falls between us. Though Tristan’s flinty expression barely changes, I can feel him go inward and his energy turn cool. He’s becoming someone else. Someone I’m afraid to know. Someone I’m not sure I can ever change when this side of him shows up. If he’s waded through ten thousand thoughts, I’m certain he’s now boiled them all down to one. A pure and fearsome malice toward Martine.
Skye seems to feel it too as she looks to me with more questions than answers in her eyes. Only then do I notice the letter in her hand. She follows my gaze and lifts it.
“This was tacked to Martine’s office door.”
I take it and rip open the envelope. It’s a handwritten letter. I read it aloud.
Friends,
After careful consideration, I have decided it is in the best interests of our newest guest to house her elsewhere. Rest assured, she will be safe. I will return once the matter is settled.
Give light,
Martine Benoit
Tristan rips the letter from my grasp and reads it over before crumpling it in his hand.
I’m in disbelief. Martine took her right from under us. Did Jay go willingly?
“What do we do?” I say.
Skye points to the letter. “If Martine said—”
“We find her.” Tristan’s voice is steady, void of emotion, uttering the course as if it’s law. He tosses the balled-up letter onto the counter and glances between us. “That’s what we do. We find her.”
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The Hacker Series
Hardwired
Hardpressed
Hardline
Hard Limit
Hard Love
The Bridge Series
On My Knees
Into The Fire
Over the Edge
About the Author
Meredith Wild is a #1 New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author. After publishing her debut novel, Hardwired, in September 2013, Wild used her ten years of experience as a tech entrepreneur to push the boundaries of her “self-published” status, becoming stocked in brick-and-mortar bookstore chains nationwide a
nd forging relationships with major retailers.
In 2014, Wild founded her own imprint, Waterhouse Press, under which she hit #1 on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. She has been featured on CBS This Morning and the Today Show, and in the New York Times, the Hollywood Reporter, Publishers Weekly, and the Examiner. Her foreign rights have been sold in twenty-two languages.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
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