My old friend has been replaced by a woman I don’t know. A woman I’ll never know.
“It’s really important that you tell me these things, Autumn,” she says, cutting through my thoughts. “It’s the only way I can keep you safe.”
“How exactly can you do that?” I sip my coffee, ready to end this. “You’re just a regular citizen like me who can sneak into databases with your father’s info. What else could you possibly do to help me?”
She swallows, stalling for the first time tonight, silently searching for a way to slide out of the twisted web she’s woven.
“You don’t have to answer that, Kylie.” I slide a hand into my pocket, pulling out the tracker she gave me and placing it on the table. “I know who you’re working for, and how much you’ve been fucking lying to me.”
All the color drains from her face, and her lips part in shock.
“It’s okay, though,” I say. “I’ve accepted it, and I think—once whoever is listening to this hears how much of a lying, traitorous bitch you are, they might reconsider that promotion you just got for selling out your best friend.”
“Ex best friend.” She hisses. “We haven’t been real friends in years.”
“Good to know that’s how you feel,” I say. “So, from the moment I called you about him, you just used that as a way to move your way up?”
“Where is he?” She narrows her eyes. “Tell me where the fuck he is right now.”
“You didn’t tell your bosses you were coming here, did you?” I look over at the two men who followed her here. “You’re just trying to move up the ladder at all costs, no matter the casualties, right?”
“You’re not the one who should talk about casualties, Autumn.” She leans forward. “You gave up all your friends and family for a cheating asshole, and then you traded him in for a fucking mob boss.”
I arch a brow. “Good to see how you really feel.”
“Where is he, Autumn?”
“Tell me you’re trying to arrest him to get all the credit and glory first.”
“I’m trying to arrest him because he’s a fucking criminal and he deserves to be in prison.”
“With you in the headline as the arresting agent.”
“I’m just a junior agent, Autumn.”
“Until you get him?”
Her silence tells me all I need to know.
I down the rest of my coffee and slide the cup to her. “He’s already back in Seattle. He would like to tell Miss Poole—your boss—that she’ll need to send a crew of at least twelve ambulances to the address on the bottom of that cup.”
“So, he’s admitting to murder?”
“I don’t know what he’s admitting to.” I stand to my feet. “But I’m admitting to you that I never want to hear from you again.”
“As if that matters to me at this point.”
“You’ll regret running low on friends after they fire you, I’m sure.”
“Fire me, for what, Autumn?”
“Wiretapping,” I say, pointing to her device. “I’ll be pressing charges the moment I get back.”
“What are you even?—”
“Don’t worry.” I smile. “The man you called a monster managed to dry out the wires and pull out all the data to prove you were spying on a private citizen. With no real cause… That’s a felony, right?”
“Autumn…”
