Page 181 of River of Deceit

“Yeah?” I find myself asking, my voice harsh. “After everyone on campus has seen them. We’re lucky she hasn’t gone to the cops.”

She’s been quiet, too quiet, and that isn’t like the Pandora I’ve come to know.

“What are they going to do?” River asks. “It’s not like they actually care about anything like this.”

“Besides, PandoraPavoneisn’t going to run to the pigs,” Blaze adds. “That’ll invite investigation into her family. They might pretend to be legit, but we know there’s plenty of dirt still to be found. And there’s no statute of limitations on murder. If even half of what I’ve heard about Giulio Pavone is true…”

“Then the cops won’t go after him either,” I say.

River laughs, though the sound is dark and bitter. “No. They’d never do anything more than a precursory sweep over what he’s doing and what he’s done. He’s got them paid off or too scared to say anything. Every once in a while, a rookie comes in and tries, but that never lasts long. The New Bristol PD is as corrupt as he is.”

Blaze waves dismissively. “The FBI, then. They’d probably love to take down the Pavones.”

“But you can bet the Bouchards would end up under investigation too, if Pandora comes to their attention,” I point out.

“So, a stalemate,” Blaze says. “Which means we don’t need to worry about authorities. Like I told you, Asch. Stop being a fucking worrywart over some shit that doesn’t matter.”

I don’t mention that the Pavones could decide to take matters into their own hands. Blaze doesn’t want to hear it. For someone slated to take over an entire criminal organization someday, he’s got serious blind spots, and one day…

One day they’re going to smack him in the face.

I don’t want to be the one to sayI told you so.

I watch River scroll through his phone, looking at the pictures again.

My stomach knots all over again. “Would you stop looking at those?” I hiss.

River looks up from his phone. “What? We did it. What’s the point of pretending we didn’t?” he asks, and his voice is flat.

“This is what you all wanted,” Blaze says coldly. “To hurt her. To punish her. To teach her a fucking lesson about what it means to piss us off.”

“No, it’s whatyouwanted!” I retort.

“She burned your trash!” Blaze argues back. “You were fucking upset about that. I got you closure for that!”

My trash.

I don’t think I’ve ever hated Blaze before, but right now? What I feel is pretty damn close.

“If by ‘trash,’ you mean everything I own, yes!” I shout. “You wouldn’t know what it’s like to lose everything. I was upset! And we did something I?—”

Something I regret.

Fuck, this is not the time to be havingregrets.

“Don’t tell me you havefeelingsfor her, Alvarado,” Blaze says,with cruelty I’ve never heard aimed at me. “You were the one who kept going on and on about how I had to take her seriously! Well, I did exactly that!”

“That wasn’t ‘taking her seriously!’” I reply, my hurt thudding in my chest. “That was just fucking stupid!”

“She deserved it,” River interrupts me, his voice savage. “After everything she’s done, she finally got what was coming to her, and she doesn’t have her Daddy and her Papa and her Uncle to do the dirty work for her.” He laughs again. “Congrats. You might both get to keep all of your body parts. You think she’d have kept it if it had been a whole hand?”

“She’d have kept it and made a whole fucking necklace out of it,” Blaze answers. He goes over to River, and now it feels like it’s the two of them against me.

“Let’s be real,” I say, “You didn’t do this to punish Pandora. You did all this because you were afraid Zayden would finally get to be in charge of something.”

Blaze’s eyes narrow. “I wasn’t afraid of anything.”

“Yeah? So you called your dad, and he didn’t give you your marching orders?” My heart is thudding in my ears. I can’t believe I’m arguing with Blaze like this.