Good.
I can’t take sympathy right now. Sympathy feels too much like hands holding me back.
I type with thumbs that want to break the phone in half.
Tell her I saw it. Tell her I’m not coming because I promised. Tell her every word I should have said before, I will say when she lets me.
I stare at it.
It ain’t enough.
Nothing is.
I send it anyway.
Then I type one more line.
Tell her I’m going to make the people who did this regret learning her name.
I send that too.
Darling’s answer comes after ten long seconds.
She said she doesn’t need revenge. She needs truth.
I close my eyes.
Lady’s voice fills my head.
Bring better answers next time, gringo.
I open my eyes and look at Diablo.
“Truth first,” I say.
He nods once. “Now you’re learning.”
“Don’t sound proud. Makes me want to relapse.”
Magic clears his throat. “Into murder?”
“Among other hobbies.”
Vice picks up my chair and sets it upright. “Sit down, smartass.”
I sit because if I stand, I run.
Alpha turns the tablet toward us. “The leak is coordinated. Carmen’s people are pushing the emotional angle and nightlife pages are amplifying Lady as the scandal.”
“Can you kill it?” Diablo asks.
Alpha’s smile is thin. “No. But I can make it bleed a different way.”
“What way?” I ask.
“Truth, selectively deployed.” His eyes land on me. “But not without Lady’s consent.”
Consent.