I look at her, my heart expanding. “Why are you showing me this?”
She reclaims the laptop. “He deserves love, and he deserves for somebody to see him. All of him.” She closes it and shoves it into her bag. “Don’t tell him I told you. Please.”
“I won’t.” I push my hair over my shoulder. “That same night, Thorn’s knuckles were bloody, and he said he’d killed other people.”
Her sigh is heavy. “Yes. He killed two human traffickers before calling me to rescue many children scattered throughout a San Francisco alley in tents. They’re all at a safe place now. Because of Thorn.”
The car rolls to a stop in front of Nico’s apartment. “Thank you for explaining,” I say. “But he’s still a killer.” But he doesn’t kill the innocent. I’m pretty sure. My shoulders relax for the first time since I met him.
Her expression softens. “He’s what he needs to be. What we need him to be.”
I slide from the vehicle onto the chilly street, ducking my head against the pelting rain. What do I need him to be? Would I feel so connected to him if he suddenly turned that darkness into pure light? Not likely. “Bye, Mrs. Pendrake.”
“I’m sure I’ll see you soon.” The car drives away.
I hustle inside and up the elevator to Nico’s place where Nico and Quinlan wait in his breakfast nook. I walk inside, where they’re chomping on some pizza, before turning toward me in welcome. Dead silence immediately echoes through the place.
“What the hell happened to your face?” Quinlan asks, partially standing. Lightning zaps outside the window as if in tune with him.
My whole head aches. “I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
Nico’s chin lowers, and he glowers from the head of the table. “What do you mean you don’t want to talk about it? That’s a hell of a shiner, Alana. Somebody definitely punched you.”
I’ve thought about all the excuses I could give, mainly going back to my lie about taking a boxing class, but frankly, I’m just not up to it. My face pounds, my rib cage echoes the throbbing, and my ankle twinges, although it’s much better than the other two injuries. “Fine. I went on a date with Cal Sokolov and it went horribly south.”
Drawing out a chair at the glass table, I reach for a paper plate and pluck a slice of pepperoni free of the carton. After taking a couple bites, I give them the entire story. When I’m finished, Nico and Quinlan look ready to start gathering guns.
Nico looks at Quinlan. “We need to take care of this.”
My jaw hurts slightly as I chew. “Nobody is doing anything. I can handle my own problems.” I haven’t quite figured out what to do since I don’t want to press charges. Maybe I should revisit the idea. At least I would alert the public that Cal is a nut job.
Quinlan stares at me. “We should call the police.”
“I know,” I say, “but it’s his word against mine and I didn’t call them right away.”
“You have the evidence on your face!” Nico explodes. Apparently he has taken the place of my older brother since Greg is no longer with us.
I chew thoughtfully. “I know, but just think of the media circus that would ensue.”
Nico leans back. “We’ll get a lot of social media play if one of us punches him in the face tonight at the ball.”
“As well as satisfaction,” Quinlan adds, his brown eyes sparking.
“It’s too much,” I admit. “Not only that, people will take his side and then it’ll turn into a big old issue, and the last thing I want to do right now is help Hologrid. If we accuse him, he’ll deny it, and they’ll galvanize their influencers. This might even help him more than us.”
“We sure don’t want that,” Nico mutters. “All right. I’ll steer clear of him tonight.” He emphasizes the last word.
A knock sounds on the door. “Come in,” Nico calls out.
Ella bursts inside, her hands full of file folders and haphazardly organized papers. “Hey, sorry I’m late.” Her glasses are perched halfway down her nose. “I’ve been doing a deep dive and I think I’ve found something.” She stumbles inside and drops the papers on the table. “Ooh, pizza.”
I reach for a plate and give her a piece of the veggie pie. It’s her favorite.
“Thanks.” She pulls out the final chair and drops into it.
“What did you find?” Nico asks, his gaze warm.
She takes a big bite and chews before talking. “I hacked into Malice Media.”
“You did what?” My ears start to ring.
She flicks me a glance. “Whoa. What happened to your face?”
“Cal and I brawled. I’ll tell you all about it. But you first.” How in the world did she hack Thorn?
Concern darkens her eyes. “All right. I keep a running status on all the social media companies, even a couple of the up-and-coming ones, and someone attacked Malice the other night with malware, and while they were busy countering, I snuck in the back door.”
It’s a brilliant move, but I don’t know that I would want Thorn for an enemy. “Ella,” I say.
“I know. I know.” She reaches for another slice. “I still haven’t forgiven him for kidnapping you, but I can maneuver within other servers better than anybody else.”
She isn’t bragging. She’s that good.
“What does that mean?” Quinlan sits back.
She flicks olives off the slice. “The alexandrite crystals they now own have the ability to cut through data faster than any other gem.”
“Seriously?” I ask, my chin dropping.
