Page 31 of Tattletale

“A tracker. Not poison,” Vesper explains. “Consider yourself on probation. I am so disappointed in you. I never thought you’d betray me like this.”

As rebellious as I am, Vesper’s words pierce me deeper than the damn needle did. My legs are heavy and shaking as themagnitude of what I’ve done sinks in. Luckily, my tears mix in with the rain, so I let myself cry.

We stand in silence until a dark sedan emerges from the only dirt road leading to the tarmac. It pulls up right next to us.

“Luca’s not coming, is he?”

Vesper holds my stare. “His flight changed.”

“You changed it.”

“To save you from yourself.”

In one instant, my entire life changes. The very core of my existence shatters as I realize exactly how Vesper pulled this off. She’s not a magical being. She can’t read my mind. No… Vesper had help. She was tipped off.

Vesper wasn’t the one betrayed…I was.

“Lance?” I can barely choke out. “He told you?”

“Lance did what was needed to keep you alive. He saved you. Now”—she nods over her shoulder—“get in the car. Time to go home.”

It’s another punch to the gut because I was hoping she’d deny it.But Lance did this. He ratted me out. Fucking little weasel tattletale. How could he do this to me?

“No.” I take a small step backward. The moment my heel hits the ground, the barrel of Vesper’s gun is pointed right at my forehead.

“Get. In. The. Car,” she says in the most menacing tone I’ve ever heard from her. I see a glimpse of the Vesper she’s always warning me about. The woman she was before PALADIN.

I blink the rain out of my eyes, trying to wake up from this nightmare. I can’t outrun her. There’s a tracker wedged somewhere in my body. I’d have to carve a tunnel in my neck to find and remove it. Vesper meant what she said—there’s only one way out of PALADIN. I can meet my end…

Or I can get in the car.

“Cricket,” Vesper says, lowering her gun. Her tone softens. “I love you. Please, for fuck’s sake, get in the car.”

I force my legs to move, my feet landing in heavy but wobbly steps. Vesper opens the back door of the car, and I trudge step by step to what I’m sure is about to be a new kind of imprisonment.

It’s only when I slide into the back seat that I notice the driver is the last man on earth I want to see at the moment. Lance turns to face me, but he can barely look at me. His eyes, like mine, are filled with tears.

“Cricket, I… I’m sorry. Let me explain. It’s going to be okay. There are bigger things going on. Vesper explained. I’m not supposed to say, but I’ll tell you everything.Everything.” Growing desperate, he reaches backward and holds out his hand for mine. “What I did was out of love.”

“You betrayed me,” I whisper. I look disgustedly at his outreached hand before turning away. Through the window, I see Vesper with her back turned. She’s still standing in the rain, probably to give Lance and me a moment alone. I wonder how much she knows.

Did she know I loved this man?

That I was planning to marry him?

“Try to understand. I couldn’t lose you, Cricket,” Lance pleads.

I refuse to look him in the eye.If I don’t look…it’s not real.

“You just did.”

EIGHT

CRICKET

Everything is pounding.Miserably.

I sit up in bed and hold my aching head with two hands. It’s like the drumline of a damn marching band is performing on my temple. It’s not from crying. It’s from days on end of not allowing myself to cry. All the anger, frustration, shock, and embarrassment are bottled up in me like rocket fuel. I’m counting down the minutes until I explode on someone.

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