Page 139 of These White Lies

To my immense relief she waves him off. “Not yet. We’re still having girl talk.” She winks at me. “I don’t get to brag about what I’ve created, and since you won’t be able to tell anyone, I think I’ll indulge myself.”

“Like a Bond villain?” My mouth hurts to form the words.

Anna’s brow wrinkles and then clears before she lets out a tinkling laugh and claps her hands in delight. “Exactly! Everyone knows the villains are the most interesting characters. Now where was I? We call ourselves the Lapidarists,” she says, her voice taking on an instructional tone. “We’re a selective group. Do you know what a Lapidarist is?” She doesn’t wait for me to answer, continuing to circle around me, her voice behind myhead, chilling in its nonchalance. “Just as a lapidarist shapes a raw gem, we shape the world. Cutting away what doesn’t serve us. Polishing what does.”

She stops in front of me, sipping the wine.

“The necklaces are a record. Each one has a number etched beside the clasp to identify the owner.”

My pulse pounds higher in my throat.

“It’s our insurance,” she explains. “A form of mutual destruction. Imagine Carrow’s horror when he learned his necklace was gone. Poor Natalya. Claimed she didn’t know hers was a fake. Maybe she didn’t. She certainly seemed motivated at the end to give us any information we wanted.”

Bile rises in my throat as Anna sips her wine, chuckling at the memory of Natalya’s torture. “And then we found out about you.” She sets her wine down and purses her lips. “You are an intelligent woman. Tell me what I need before Worthington contacts us, and I promise I’ll make it quick. I value efficiency after all.”

My stomach rolls, and I feel the cold sweat slipping down my hairline.

I want to break.

But I can’t.

I won’t.

Not because I’m brave—because I’d give her whatever she wants to avoid being tortured—but because giving her what she wants means handing Rhodes, Vincent, Finn, and Sera over on a platter. People I barely know, but who’ve already risked everything for me. People who chose to stand in front of me when they didn’t have to. Selling them out isn’t an option.

Brady. For him I can be brave.

I force myself to breathe, to try and calm the shallow pants barely bringing enough oxygen in. As if, maybe I can trick my body into thinking this isn’t happening.

Every second I hold on is one extra second for Brady to find me.

Because he will come.

That certainty is the only shield I have left, and I wrap it tight around me, bracing for whatever’s next.

“So, Ms. Gowan, let’s try this again. Where is the necklace? And who else has seen it?”

I stare at her, willing myself to hold my nerve.

She waits five seconds, then shrugs.

“Have it your way.”

Her man steps forward.

The back of his hand cracks across my face. My head whips sideways, and burning heat sears my cheek. Another blow and my lip splits. I can taste it in my mouth. The third catches me in the temple. My teeth rattle together and my ears ring. The zip ties keep me upright when my body sags.

Anna sighs. “I did hope we could keep this civil.”

I bite back the scream when her guard breaks my finger.

I think of Brady. His voice when he says I’m not alone. His hands on me, holding me close when I’m afraid.

I trust him.

More than that.

I love him.