“Do you even know what you’re going to do tomorrow?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “I have a dress hidden in the greenhouse, and my phone is in my pocket. I’m going to sneak into the event with live camera rolling, and I’m going expose everything they say along with whoever their secret new Headmaster is. It’ll go viral, and they’ll all go to jail.”
“And if somehow you miraculously manage to do all that without getting killed in the process, are you going to be satisfied that you’ve avenged your mother then?”
“Of course, I will be. I’m surprised you even need to ask that.”
“No, you’re not,” he said. He paused and squeezed my hand. “I get you, Lisette, in a way that the other two guys sometimes don’t. Getting those people put behind bars isn’t going to be enough. You and I both know that. They’re filthy rich. How long do you think it’ll take before they buy their way out of prison and right back into their seats of power?”
He was right. I hadn’t really given that much thought, but in the back of my mind, I think I had already known that.
“Then what are you suggesting I do?” I asked. “Kill them?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
I laughed. “You can’t be serious. You guys didn’t even think I was capable of fighting off a few Lineage goons alongside you at Julian’s apartment, and now you suddenly think I can assassinate a room full of people?”
He snickered. “Not a room full, just one: the Headmaster.”
I looked at him, thinking he would start to bust out laughing at the joke he was making, but he wasn’t joking. He was dead serious.
“I don’t know who this guy is,” Adam said. “I tried to get Michael to tell me, but he wouldn’t.”
The sound of Michael’s name caused a twinge of pain behind my ribcage.
“But,” Adam continued, “there’s something about the way Michael talks about him that makes me think it wouldn’t be impossible for you to get close enough to kill him. You kill this guy; the whole thing is going to crumble down around them. He’s been running the scene for years, and without him, the rest of them will scatter like roaches.”
I sighed. “But how would I even—”
Adam pulled a large steak knife out from out of his sleeve. “I stole this off one of the tables.”
He handed me the knife, and I took it from his hand with a healthy dose of skepticism.
“Why are you helping me?” I asked. “Why aren’t you trying to find me and bring me back like I’m sure Julian and Michael would do?”
“I did find you,” he said.
However, as soon as the words came out of his mouth, the stairwell door swung open, and Michael and Julian stood in the doorway. I looked back over at Adam, who was wearing a mischievous smile as he dangled a set of aquarium keys in the air along with his cell phone that showed he had texted the guys where I was.
“Ugh,” I groaned.
“Sorry,” Adam said. “But you didn’t actually think we were going to let you do this alone, did you?”
Julian ran up to me and gave me a hug as I was getting to my feet.
“I’m sorry for being so mad at you,” he said. “I’m not mad at you anymore, I promise. We can work all of this out together once this is over. We can get out of here after tomorrow, even all of us if that’s what you want, and we’ll get away from here and then figure it all out.”
I could tell by how fast he was talking that I had scared him and that he felt like my leaving was his fault. It wasn’t. All of this was my fault, all of it since the very beginning when I didn’t go check on my mother in time to save her, has been my fault. I looked over Julian’s shoulder as he squeezed me so hard that my shoulders hurt, and saw Michael standing in the same spot at the doorway. I couldn’t read his expression, but from what I could tell, it was stoic and emotionless. He was mad, and I didn’t blame him. When Julian let go of me, I gave him a kiss on the cheek and apologized.
“None of this was your fault, Julian. I should have told you what happened. I should have been honest with you right away instead of being scared that I would lose you if I told you.”
“You’ll never lose me, Lisette. No matter what happens, we’re in this together always.”
I smiled and squeezed his arm. Then I let go and walked past him over toward Michael.
“Thank you,” I heard Julian say to Adam. “You’re a much cooler guy than I gave you credit for at first.”
I heard Adam laugh behind me as I walked away. It was good to see them getting along, even if it wasn’t going to matter anymore after tomorrow.
I stopped walking when I reached Michael. His hands were halfway tucked into the front pockets of his jeans, and he was looking up at me through half-lidded eyes. I expected outrage to come out of him at any moment.
“I’m sorry I left without saying goodbye,” I said as I braced for whatever awful thing he was going to say to me. “I know you were probably really mad when you saw that I had gone.”
He made a face as if I had said something devastating.
“You think I felt mad?” Michael said as he gently shook his head to the side.
Here it comes, I thought. At least the other two guys were here to keep him from trying to throw me off the rooftop again.
“I didn’t feel mad, Lisette. I felt like I had died.”
And in that moment, as I gazed into his eyes, I didn’t give any shits as to whether or not Julian and Adam could hear him. All I cared about was the selflessness behind his words. That tender look wafting behind his eyes.
And the way he said my name that made me feel as if I were an angel sent from heaven.
Yeah, an angel with a death wish.
21
