Page 26 of Retribution

‘Okay,’ I whisper, letting the words calm my thudding heart.

They won’t just leave me here, abandon me like I was abandoned in The Heath. They wouldn’t do that.

‘Where are you? I woke up in the hospital and John told me I’d be coming here. They’ve locked me in. There’s some twisted nurse that Joe hired. She’s acting like she’s in charge of my life now. What am I going to do? How can I make Envy? I’m stuck here until they let me out.’

I’m rambling. I know I am, but I can’t help it. They’ve taken everything just like I was afraid they would. And it was so easy for them to do. A whim and a few words about me and no one even questions anything. I’m a prisoner in the Novelle house, and there’s no one with any real power who I could tell who would care enough to do anything.

‘I’m like a plaything,’ I say aloud brokenly. ‘A toy for Joe to amuse himself with.’

‘Don’t say that,’ I hear Blake say.

‘It’s true. All Joe had to do was tell John what he wanted, and all John had to do was tell the doctor. I’m a fucking adult, but now I’m in a locked room with windows that don’t open, and a woman telling me what I’m going to be eating for dinner and?—’

I break off before I can tell them that she threatened me with correction. They won’t know what I’m talking about, and I can’t open that can of worms right now. I sort of wish I’dtold them everything, but at the same time, they’d be a lot more worried than they already are if I had.

‘I’m scared,’ I whisper instead.

‘It’ll be okay,’ Shade says. ‘Daisy, I promise you we’ll figure something out. I’m sorry we weren’t there yesterday. We got picked up by Sauvage's men. He wanted a meeting. They took our phones. We were there waiting for hours. We couldn’t contact you.’

Something in my chest eases. Theycouldn’tcontact me; it wasn’t that they just hadn’t bothered.

‘What’s been going on?’ I ask.

Mav speaks first. ‘Applegate was in the hospital around the same time as you. He was lowkey freaking out. His hands were burned in the fire in the lab at the Novelle Center. He said it was the same kind that killed your dad.’

‘A…fire?’ I ask dubiously.

‘Avery specificchemicalfire.’

I feel my brows rising. ‘Could it really have been the same person who started both, almost fifteen years apart?’

‘It’s a possibility,’ Mav says. ‘That’s what Applegate was thinking. He said the way the fire was started wasn’t common knowledge and it was definitely the same. We feel like it’s too much of a coincidence for it to be a totally separate thing.’

‘Why did Sauvage want to meet with you?’ I ask, hoping they’ll talk to me about this, too, and keep me in the loop with everything because I really need something to focus on right now that’s outside these four walls.

‘He has a secret lab somewhere in Richmond. He’s pretty much making us use it. He also said he’s investigating the bombing of the club to find whoever did it and make them pay.’

‘Do you think he can?’ I ask, half relieved that they’re telling me what’s happening and half worried because they’ll be even closer to the French mobster they’re so wary of.

‘The French fuck has more resources than we do,’ Blake says. ‘If they’re findable, he’ll find them.’

I frown. ‘Will he kill them?’

‘Probably,’ he mutters.

My nose wrinkles at the thought. I want to know who it is. I want to speak with them, find out what they know about my mother’s death. My father’s death as well, I suppose, if the two fires really are connected.

But I don’t say anything. I have more immediate problems.

‘Can you speak to your dad?’ I ask Shade, changing topics again. ‘Maybe get Andy to speak to him? He listens to Andy, right? Maybe he could get your dad to ease up on me.’

‘I’ll try, Daisy,’ Shade says. ‘Until then, he’s told me you’ll be allowed to go to class, but he still thinks you’re on your old English Lit schedule. Only a couple of your actual classes happen at the same times, on the same days.’

Fuck!

I didn’t even think of that.

‘I won’t be able to get my work done under this nurse’s nose,’ I say quietly, my spirits sinking slowly like a punctured dingy. ‘I won’t graduate.’