is my final offer. Take it or leave it, Lennox. I am no longer interested in babysitting, and she must be detained.”
She. My blood ran cold. They weren’t talking about Knox—they were talking about me.
“And what happens if I don’t take it?” said Knox. I began to slide backward. Detained meant one of two things: it meant Elsewhere, or it meant death. And Knox had promised me months ago that he would kill me before he would let Daxton send me to be hunted by the very VIs who would have happily watched Lila burn.
“You know what happens then,” said Daxton, his voice fading. I didn’t care. I had to get back to Benjy before they found me, and we had to leave. Free or not, I had every intention of waking up the next morning as alive as I was today.
Once I’d cleared the office, I didn’t bother trying to keep quiet. I crawled as fast as I could back to the sitting room, where I dropped to the floor and raced into the hallway. I took the corners half blind and oblivious, but once I was clear of Daxton’s wing, the guards were at a minimum.
I reached my suite in record time. Bursting inside, I grabbed the duffel bag from underneath the sink and ran back into the hallway. I tried the knob to Knox’s suite, but it was locked. Swearing, I fumbled with my necklace, yanking the chain over my head. My fingers trembled, but I managed to unfold the lock pick and make quick work of it.
I nudged open the door and tugged the necklace back around my neck. Benjy had to be packed by now. If he’d stuffed his bag full of books instead of clothes—
I stopped cold. Benjy stood in the middle of the room, but he wasn’t alone. Knox stood beside him, and at first glance, it looked completely innocent. Benjy was pale and his shoulders hunched defensively, however, and his expression silently begged me to turn around and run. I opened my mouth to say something, but instead I spotted the glint of steel pressed against Benjy’s spine, and my stomach nearly turned inside out.
“Knox—what—” I began, but a cold hand settled on my shoulder, and I froze.
“Hello, my dear,” said Daxton, and my throat swelled. Shit. Shit shit shit.
“What’s going on?” I managed to force out. “Is everything okay?”
“You know it isn’t, Lila,” he said, tracing the three ridges on the back of my neck. “Tell me where you put the file.”
“What—what file?” I locked eyes with Benjy, and my heart raced. It would be okay. It had to be okay. This was not going to be the end.
“You know exactly what file I’m talking about,” said Daxton. “Guards—check her bag and search her suite.”
Half a dozen guards appeared from the fringes of the room, and while five of them marched out into the hallway, the last one ripped through my bag. Jewelry glittering with diamonds spilled from the pockets, along with the clothes I’d stuffed inside. My airway threatened to close up. That alone was worth an arrest.
“Knox, tell him it wasn’t me,” I said, but he didn’t move. “Knox.”
“He won’t lie for you,” said Daxton. “Tell me the truth, Lila.”
I searched Knox’s expression for any sign he had a plan, but instead he held my stare blankly, as much of a challenge as it was a surrender. There wasn’t a plan. This was it. We were the pawns, and Knox was making the necessary sacrifices to win the game.
Screw the game. If he wanted to play, then I’d play. “Knox stole that file, not me,” I spat. “He’s hiding the one on you, too. How do you think he got the first one? Do you really think I’d willingly hand it over to him?”
“Yes,” said Daxton smoothly, “because that is exactly what you did. Will you be honest with me, Lila, or do I have to bleed it out of you?”
“I am being honest. Knox is trying to frame me. He’s the leader of the Blackcoats—him and Celia. All this time, they’ve been working together to destroy you.”
A strange sound emanated from deep within Daxton, and it took me several confused seconds before I realized what I was hearing. He was laughing. “Wrong again, my dear. You’re on quite the roll tonight, aren’t you? Knox has been working for me—reporting back on Blackcoat activity, telling me their next moves. How do you think we’ve been ahead of them the whole time?”
“I—” I faltered. Knox didn’t meet my eye, and his grip on Benjy’s shoulder tightened.
No. Not possible. After all this time and everything he’d done to help me—not possible.
“He’s lying,” I said, the words tumbling out of me in a rush as I tried to convince Daxton as well as myself. “He might be feeding you tidbits to make it look like he’s on your side, but he’s really telling the Blackcoats everything he knows about you and—”
“Everything I tell him to say,” said Daxton. “Why do you think the Blackcoats haven’t gotten any closer to their goal? Why do you think tonight’s raid failed? Why do you think they’re cut off at every turn before they can find their footing? No one, not even my sister, is that incompetent.”
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