Page 79 of Burned

She’s snappy this morning. Maybe there was a pea under her mattress.

“No,” I say, taking my old seat. “You can ask me if you want to talk to me.”

“Are you up for a chat?” she asks.

“Sure. I’m always up for a little girl time.” I gesture to Lucian. “But he stays.”

Lucian slides into the seat next to me.

“I’m going to be really honest here—” I can’t make myself use her name, “I’d like to get through this as quickly as possible. My boyfriend here bought me a brand-new library, and I’d like to read. And I believe my sister is baking muffins.”

“Funny you said sister,” Isobel exhales slowly. “Carlos has connections to someone very close to your sister.”

The room goes very quiet. Too still. My blood turns cold.

“Cass?” I ask.

“Yes,” she says. “Caleb.”

“Caleb…” The name makes me go from cold to hot at once. “What does any of this have to do with Caleb?”

“Someone from his past is connected to Carlos.”

My past. And England. The life we ran from. The people who watched and whispered and did nothing while Caleb destroyed my sister’s spine and took pieces of all of us.

“Name,” he says.

Isobel shakes her head. “I don’t have the name. Marina does.”

“Your cousin,” I say.

“Yes.”

“The one who helped Carlos?” I ask.

“Yes.”

I ask, “So why tell us this now?”

“Because this is when Carlos sent me.” Isobel’s gaze lifts to mine. “Because, with all my careful planning, I still had to wait for him to send me here. If I had tried to leave on my own, he’d have killed me.”

“What did he want you to tell us? How did he plan on getting to Erin?”

“He has files on your entire family,” she stares at me.

“What kind of files?” I ask.

Isobel’s hands curl in her lap. “The kind of files that make people do what he wants.”

My stomach twists. Blackmail. Men like Carlos and Caleb collect pain like currency.

“Did he send you to say this?” Lucian asks. “How can we possibly trust you?”

Amen, Lucian.

“I told you,” her voice shakes. “I came to help you. I want to stop him.”

“Why?” I ask. “Really. Why?”