Page 93 of Revere

Of course he did.

Last, I look at Mila, and my heart softens the slightest bit. She’s clearly still on the mend. Her face is pale, and there aredeep bags under her eyes. She’s been out of the hospital barely enough time for color to return to her face.

“Alex explained everything to me at the hospital.” She frowns.

“Wonderful,” I groan.

Mila reaches for my hand. “How bad was it?”

I want to kick my friends out and tell them I don’t have anything to say to them after they hid this from me. But I don’t have any fight left. And even if my friends knew about Jacob, I don’t blame them for not telling me. I’ve been so shut down and angry for so long, would I have even listened?

“Bad.” I bury my face in my hands. “I slept with my professor. And then he turned out to be the enemy. Worse than the enemy, in fact. He’s the enemy thatmy enemyis scared of.”

“Is he really that terrible?”

I crack my fingers to glare at Mila.

“I’m just saying, Alex told me Jacob was the one who saved his life during his trial. He brought him to the hospital.”

“Alex is a liar who does nothing but keep secrets from me.” I throw my hands off my face and sit up. “And it doesn’t matter anyway. Even if I could forgive that Jacob is Sigma Sin, there’s still the fact that he only let me into the program because he was planning on using me to get to my father.”

That much, I put together on the plane. Anson said all the right things to make it clear that Jacob was originally in on what those men did, but he changed his mind.

If only having a change of heart could fix what came of it.

“I was a chess piece to him. He never even cared about me.”

“He sure looked at you like he cared, Patience,” Violet says.

I want to ask her how she could know what caring about someone looks like when she fell in love with a psychopath, but I manage to hold my tongue.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s over. What happened in that basement—” I shake my head, swallowing down the emotion before the tears start to fall again. “He might have stopped those men, but he was the reason I was on their radar in the first place. I can’t forgive him for that.”

“No one will blame you if you never forgive him.” Mila squeezes my hand. “And we support whatever decision you make. You’re our friend, and we just want you to know that we’re here for you.”

“Even if your boyfriends all decide I’m being ridiculous because they’re all Sigma Sin?”

“Even then.” Mila gives me a sad smile. “All we want is for you to be happy.”

Happy.

Do I even know what that is? I thought I felt it with Jacob, but that was all a lie.

How am I supposed to be happy if he’s the closest I’ve come to it?

“Maybe that’s just not in the cards for me.” I frown. “Not if it’s going to come with all this.”

“Did Jacob make you happy?” Teal asks.

“Before he tried to ruin my life… maybe.”

Her nose scrunches. “I guess that’s something.”

“It’s huge,” Mila declares. “Him being a horrible liar aside, you let someone in, Patience. You had a little fun. You lived your life. Ignoring all the mess that came with it, that part is a good thing.”

“The messis a lot to ignore.”

“I get that. But you did something foryou.” Mila smirks. “I say, forget the professor—or interrogator—or whoever he is. You enjoyed yourself. You got laid. Good for you.”