Page 11

JUST FOR HER

ALEX

The forest that surrounds Montgomery sings in the middle of the night. Crickets chirp. Animals seek out their prey. I stroll through the courtyard in nothing but darkness, and moonlight reflects off the dew from this afternoon’s rain.

Declan is right on time, as usual. He sweeps like a phantom through the gate at the side of the building. His fingers drag his black hair off his forehead, and his cold blue eyes are clear and icy as he stalks toward me.

Visiting hours ended a while ago, which is why he waited until now to show his face. Some things are better dealt with when there aren’t eyes to account for your actions. Things better left in the shadows.

I shoot my hand out the second he stops, handing him a flash drive.

“Right to the point?” He snags it from my grip. “No hello, how are you, what’s new? And here I thought we were friends, Alex. ”

His dark grin widens as he meets my gaze, and he chuckles when I offer him nothing in return.

It’s not like he expects me to actually respond. No one does, and that’s for the best.

Declan is one of the few people I bother interacting with at all, and that’s more out of loyalty to him and Kole at this point than friendship. We might have grown up together, wreaked havoc together, and pledged Sigma House together, but I’m not that person anymore.

“Did you find everything I asked for?” Declan asks, pocketing the thumb drive.

I nod, knowing I just handed him the key to dismantling the Sigma House Council.

While on the surface, Montgomery is a psychiatric ward, it’s also a storage place for the most confidential Sigma House records.

They were transferred here to be protected by one of the House’s legacies when he sat on the board, and they’ve remained in the basement ever since.

The Council probably assumed this was a safe place to store certain pieces of information because no one would know to look here.

But they didn’t consider the implications if someone like me ended up locked within these walls.

Someone with all the time in the world to dig up dirty secrets.

“Have you considered my offer?” Declan tucks his hands into his pockets, watching me. “Once the Council is out of the picture, we want you back. I still can’t figure out why you continue to stay.”

No one can.

That’s the point.

I shrug my answer. Noncommittal. No one needs to know what I’m planning. Not until I’ve made a final decision .

Besides, Declan is still reconciling his reasons for taking on the House in the first place.

While he says it’s because they’ve strayed too far from their twisted values, Kole and I both know this is about his obsession with Teal and getting revenge on the people who hurt her when we were younger.

Declan wants to make them all suffer, and I’m not one to judge.

In fact, I’m happy to help.

What I’m not prepared to do is draw attention to myself yet. Which is why I’ll let Declan and Kole take this on without me for now.

“Well, the offer stands. There’s a spot at the table if you want it.” Declan pulls something out of his other pocket. “The payment you asked for.”

He hands me a different flash drive than the one I handed him, and I tense just thinking what I’ll find when I watch it.

“Care to explain why you’re digging into video footage from the carnival?” Declan juts his chin at the flash drive in my hand. “Specifically, the parking lot?”

I don’t answer, but I meet his gaze, and he knows me well enough to read what I’m thinking.

“Let me know if you need any help.” Declan smirks, turning his back to walk away. “Always good chatting with you, Alex.”

Asshole.

I’d laugh if I had any amusement left.

Pocketing the flash drive, I turn to leave, considering what Declan said. I know he’d help if I needed it, and it’s one of the reasons I’m still loyal to him after everything that happened. But in this case, the task is mine.

She is mine.

And I’m looking forward to letting my monster out just for her.