Everything worked out for the best. That’s pretty fucking ironic. I bought Sloane. I bought her and I took her virginity because I thought I was protecting her, and it was the shittiest thing I’ve ever done. She would have been better off if I’d just let Rebel take her.

“Oh,” Sloane whispers.

I feel like I’m dying on the inside.

“So please, feel free to slap me as hard as you like, Doc, but maybe we could do it later? I have something I’d like you to deal with first.”

I put Sloane down. She gives me a conflicted glance over her shoulder, tucking her hair behind her ears. “What do you want me to deal with?” she whispers.

“Michael tells me you’ve had some run-ins with a friend of mine? Denise Lowell?”

Sloane hugs her arms around her body, suddenly focused on Rebel. “You could say that.”

“She made you a deal, right? She said if you handed over information about me and my crew, you’d get your life back. Clean slates all round?”

“She didn’t offer it to me directly, but yes. That’s what I was told.”

Rebel clenches his jaw, a set look forming on his face as though he’s resolving himself toward something. “Good. Then I need you to call her. I need you to call her and tell her you want to make the deal.”

“You sure you know what you have to say?” Michael’s prepping me like I’m about to go live on air, defending myself against spurious murder charges. I feel dizzy and my palms are sweating like crazy, but I know what I’m supposed to say. I nod, and he hands me over his cell phone. “Remember. Keep it short. The movies are hardly ever realistic, but they can track you if you keep the line connected for too long.” I nod again—yes, I’ve got it—and my eyes meet Zeth’s. His jaw is set and his eyes are distant, and for once I know exactly what’s going on in his head. He’s reeling from Rebel’s little revelation. Rebel the fucking superhero, not Rebel the rapist. He may not have done the awful things Zeth and everyone else in the underground crime syndicates believed he did, but he still kept my sister away, and I still don’t like him.

Everything just got so confusing. I have to sit here and make this call, now, with the three men staring at me, and all I want to do is crawl into a corner and mull over the complexities of my situation from the start.

Rebel clears his throat. “It’s the middle of the night, so this will actually work in our favor. She won’t be expecting a call from you at all, let alone one this late. You’ve got the number?”

I hold the card up. “Let’s just get this done.” Zeth, Michael and Rebel have their arms folded across their chests, frowns on their faces, and their own brand of tense energy pouring off them. And they’re all staring at me. Jeez. I twist on my seat so that I don’t have to look at their stern expressions. I make the call.

The line rings four times. Five. I get to the seventh ring and a wash of relief overcomes me. She’s not going to pick up. She’s not going to pick up, which means I’m not going to have to do this.

“Lowell,” a hoarse voice says into my ear.

Damn it.

“Detective Lowell,” she says again clearing her throat, sounding minutely more awake. “It’s you, isn’t it? Dr. Romera?” She knows it’s me. So much for not expecting me. Maybe I’m way more predictable than Rebel thinks.

“Yes,” I say. “Oliver told me what you said to him about the deal. Is it true?”

The line’s quiet for a moment while I hold my breath. “I told your colleague that you had a way out of this if you wanted one. I can make sure you’re safe. I can make all of your problems disappear, Dr. Romera, but this is a two-way street. You have to give me what I need, too.”

“What do you need?” My heart is contracting too painfully in my chest—too much adrenaline assaulting me all at once.

“I need your sister. I need Rebel. I need his whole crew. I need all of it.”

Even though Rebel’s standing in front of me, nodding at me to say yes, I still feel weird about this. “What’s going to happen to Alexis?” I ask.

Lowell’s answer is immediate. “If she cooperates, nothing bad will happen to her. I know you might not believe this, Sloane, but I’m actually trying to help your sister.”

“That’s why you shot her in the back, right?”

Michael makes a hurry up motion with his hand. I’m almost out of time. “I did my job, Dr. Romera. I’m counting on the fact that you can be reasonable and see that. And I’m counting on the fact that you want to get back to your job. You do want that, don’t you?”

“Yes. We need to meet then, and I want this on paper. Our agreement, for me and for Zeth.”

Silence. If she refuses to clear Zeth of any and all charges against him, related to whatever it is she’s working on and unrelated, too, I am hanging up this phone. But then she says, “Fine. I’ll have the paperwork drawn up.”

“Have it ready for tomorrow. I’ll call you with a meeting place.”

“I’m going to need some assurances that—”

I hang up the phone, cutting her off. Michael takes the cell and switches it off, and Rebel slumps down beside me onto the beaten old leather sofa that I’ve been sitting on.

“That’s that, then,” he says. “Now we just wait for tomorrow.”

******