Page 26 of Tattletale

“I still want the truth,” I remind her.

Her shoulders rise, then fall as she lets out a heavy exhale. “The man who killed my family has finally resurfaced. It’s been almost ten years, and he’s been nothing but a whisper in the wind. Last night, Rossi accidentally tipped me off.” Cricket points to a small black phone resting on the nightstand, arm’s reach from where she slept. “I have a location.”

It takes me a minute to understand what she’s saying. “Please tell me you want to confront him with handcuffs.”

Cricket’s eyes go hazy and glacial, looking like a swamp that froze over. “No. I made a promise to him a long time ago that I need to fulfill.”

“That promise being?”

“That I’d dance on his grave one day.”

“Cricket—”

“Don’t try to talk me out of it.”

“You took an oath,” I say. “If he’s not an assigned mission, you can’t do this.”

“Vesper will understand.”

I shake my head, and she drops her hands. “She won’t. Vesper will forgive a lot of things…not this. Ask Rhodes, Blain, or Frankie. Oh, wait.You can’t.Because they paid with their lives when they broke their oath.”

Vesper saved us all, and in return, she asked for our loyalty and obedience. We aren’t senseless monsters. We don’t kill for pleasure…or revenge.

“Then don’t tell her,” Cricket whispers.

I fuck up a lot. I’ll admit that. I’m far from Vesper’s golden child. That’d be Linc. But Vesper gave me a second chance. She could’ve turned me away the night Linc brought me to her like a stray puppy. She adopted me, andprotectedme, the way my mother never could. Vesper taught me everything I value today. I may make jokes at the wrong time, and I refuse to wear a tie, but in all other things, I’m obedient.

“I can’t lie to her,” I say.

“You don’t understand, Lance.This is worth my life. If killing him is the very last thing I do, so be it. I’ll leave PALADIN if I have to. This is my duty to my family.” She studies my pained expression. “Myotherfamily.”

“Cricket? What are you saying right now? There is no leaving PALADIN.”

She presses her finger against my lips. “Let’s not talk about it anymore. Stay as innocent in this as you can. My burden to bear, not yours.Go home, Lance.I’ll meet you there tomorrow. I need to do this to be free. And when I marry you, I want to be free from the demons of my past.Please.”

Her eyes are watering, her cheeks flushed red. Never did I think I’d have to choose between Cricket and Vesper. We’re a team. Same purpose. Same goals. But this…

“Who is this man?”

“Lance—”

“Tell me, and then you have my silence. I promise.”

“Luca Accardi.” She says his name like the words taste bad. “Fourth son of the most powerful don in the Italian mafia.”

Accardi…Yet another woman seeking revenge. “Odd, the woman at the bar—she was looking for him, too. She said it was a personal vendetta.”

“Hm,” Cricket says. “Well, let’s pray I find him first.”

SIX

LANCE

I drovefrom New York City back home to D.C. with a sinking feeling in my gut. For two main reasons: one, I didn’t want to leave Cricket behind. Two, I stole Rossi’s phone as a contingency when we left the hotel. I’m not sure where she’s headed—she mentioned a safe house for ammo and supplies, but I don’t know where it is. Any minute, she’s going to realize that Rossi’s phone isn’t in her bag.

Maybe she’ll think I grabbed it on accident, mistaking it for my own burner. Not likely, they are very different shapes. My burner looks like a Jitter Bug phone for the elderly. Rossi had the latest iPhone. But either way, maybe not having the location on hand will deter her.

Who am I kidding?

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