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“No,” Mrs. Graves says sharply, and Lyssa turns to her in disbelief.

“Do you have any idea what she’s done?” she demands. “She’s a killer, Mrs. G. If you knew?—”

“I do know. Just as I know you, Lyssa. Please, let the girl save her parents. We can go now and bring them down with us?—”

“Absolutely not. You are my priority—and Hadria’s, for that matter. I have my orders,” Lyssa goes on sharply, as Mrs. Graves tries again to argue. “I find you, bring you down. Then I come back and…” She looks at me. “Clean up.”

“She protected me from this—this Grandmother,” Mrs. Graves says. “Lyssa, we can trust her. And don’t you think, if we have her parents with us, she’ll fight hard for their lives as well as mine?”

Lyssa stares at me. “But she…” She trails off.

Mrs. Graves interjects, her voice filled with quiet authority. “Lyssa, enough. We need to trust her—for now, at least. We get her parents, and then we head down.”

Lyssa sighs, re-tightening her ponytail with a frustrated expression. That little gesture, so familiar, makes my heart hurt.

“Please,” I say again. “My parents are innocents. Doesn’t the Syndicate have rules about that?”

For a moment, I think I should have kept my mouth shut. But at last, Lyssa snaps, “Fine. But again, my priority is getting Mrs. G out of here safely. You understand?”

“I do,” I say quickly. “My parents are on the floor just above us, behind Grandmother’s bedroom. She has a…a special room there…”

“I’ll bet she does. Don’t suppose the old lady will conveniently be there, too? Two birds, one stone?”

I shake my head, uncertain. “Maybe?”

“Well, we’ll deal with…everything else later. Come on.”

I’m already moving towards the door. “Did you—did you see Ariadne out there?”

Lyssa tilts her head to one side. “Still want your vengeance, Scarlett?” she asks, in a tone I don’t like. I say nothing, and she goes on, “I did—but way down below. She was trying to slow me down.”

“Did you kill her?”

I’m looking out the cracked-open door, but I turn back in time to catch the small face Lyssa makes. “She pulled that damn smoke bomb trick,” she admits.

I stare at her for a second. “Well, you should’ve seen that one coming.”

“Yeah, I should,” she agrees stiffly. “There are a whole lotta things I should’ve seen coming. And next time, I fucking will.”

I look down, unable to keep her gaze.

“Now let’s move,” she says. But then she leans in and drops her voice so that Mrs. Graves can’t hear what she says next. “And Scarlett? If you make any move I don’t like, I’ll open your throat. Understand?”

I give a small nod, and motion Mrs. Graves forward.

We head out into the deserted hallway: me first, then Lyssa, then Mrs. Graves. As we pass the open elevator doors, I glance over my shoulder at Lyssa, who shrugs in confirmation.

“It’s another option if we need it,” she murmurs.

“It most certainly is not,” Mrs. Graves says stoutly.

I smother a smile, surprised I can find humor in the moment. But it’s all a part of the confusing tangle of emotions I feel towards Lyssa.

I know she wants me dead. But I still feel a glimmer of hope, even as I accept that not both of us will leave this high-rise alive. I just want a chance to prove to her that I’m not a monster. That I could have chosen better. That we could have been…

We could have been good together.

We’re at the fire door now that leads into the enclosed stairwell. “Ready?”