“Wasn’t us,” he says, sounding bored. “We don’t kill girls.”
“So she’s alive?”
“Haven’t you heard?” he asks with a smirk in his voice. “Humans are the new diamonds. You’re more valuable than drugs or guns.”
I shiver and fight the urge to shrink back, behind the curtain, where he can’t see me. I don’t like his mercury eyes on me, even though I can’t see them in the dark. I can feel the assessment in them, like cold beads of poison rolling down my back.
“The body they found wasn’t her,” I say, forcing my voice to remain steady. “She just… Disappeared.”
“We’ve made lots of girls disappear,” he says. “We’re magicians, baby.”
My fist clenches so tight I can feel the ends of the cross breaking the skin, blood oozing between my fingers.
The Sincero boy takes another drag, then tips his head back and blows smoke into the cold, wet night above. I don’tknow his name, can barely see his face in the dark, but I will never, ever forget him.
“It was you,” I whisper, cold rage rolling in waves over me.
He shrugs. “Could have been. Could have been someone else. Lots of people take part in the skin trade. Where there’s a demand, someone will step in to provide a supply. If not us, someone else.”
“You’re a monster,” I say, my voice sharp with fury.
“Maybe I am,” he says. “Maybe I’m not. But riddle me this, princess. If there’s a market, who brings the goods? Someone brings the lambs to the slaughter, and it’s not the butcher.”
He flicks his cigarette butt over the railing, then steps forward onto the creaking, rotted wood. “Now, if Nate let you up, he told you the rules. You get what you come for, and you leave when we say so. You got your answers. Time to give the demons your pound of flesh.”
twelve
The Saint
“Looks like our lamb strayed from the herd again,” Heath announces as he marches into my room.
“What?” I demand, sitting up and grabbing my phone. I check her location and curse under my breath. “Why the fuck is she at Sinners Tower?”
“She could be in trouble,” Angel says with a rare frown. “Let’s go.”
I roll off the bed and grab for my shoes without arguing. Whatever she’s doing there, she shouldn’t be alone. Last time she slipped away, she got herself stabbed, for fuck’s sake. Rage billows in me at the thought. If one of the Sinners touched her, I won’t stop at a tongue this time. I will take everything that every one of them holds sacred, and I’ll burn it all to ash. I won’t stop until the only thing they have to hope for is death.
“Maybe she went there to defy us,” Heath says.
“We went too easy on her last time,” I agree. “She owes us answers. And more than just that she got randomly stabbed by a junkie. I want to know why, and why she’s stupid enough to go back for more tonight. You know there will be Disciples crawling all over Sinners Tower.”
“Our little lamb needs to learn obedience,” Angel says, turning to Heath. “How’d you know?”
“I went to her room to pay her a visit,” he says, flashing that unhinged smile that we all know and love. But I’m not playing games tonight. This is my sister we’re talking about,and she might be in danger. If she’s not, she’ll learn her lesson tonight. We’re done playing nice.
On our way across campus, I check my phone again. Her location remains. She hasn’t called or texted.
Ronique has, though.
I thought I’d ask her out to get under Mercy’s skin, but that’s been a disaster. The chick is clingy as fuck and has zero chill whatsoever. Not only has she double texted, but she’s quadruple texted.
UniqueRonique: Going 2 party! Sending pic *three blowing kisses emojis*
UniqueRonique: Wish u were coming
UniqueRonique: Totally cool doing my own thing tho
UniqueRonique: hope u have a good nt 2
