Page 61 of The Verdict

I tensed. Of all the things she could’ve said…Fuck.They were a lie. They had to be.Everything else about her was.If she hadn’t wanted to hurt me, she would’ve told me the truth.

But even though I fought to cling to the surge of anger, it floated through my grasp like the string on a balloon.

“What happened in Barcelona, Merritt?”

She was silent—still for a long time—as I covered her wound with fresh gauze and tape.

“We had a plan to steal the uncut diamond, and… things didn’t go according to plan.”

“Because the police showed up?” According to Ty’s deeper dive on the Cosmos Gang’s last hit, the working theory was that the police had caught up to the thieves, acting on an inside tip, and surprised them; that was when things went south.

“Yeah.”She shivered as I ran my finger along the edge of the tape, sealing it to her skin.

“Tell me what happened.” I should’ve stopped when the bandage was secure, but I couldn’t. My finger moved around the perimeter again and again, itching for the slightest touch.

“The police arrived faster than we’d planned. Jupiter and Neptune were on the ground floor keeping an eye out; Mars was waiting in the car outside. I left Mercury—Sergio to… finish in the vault?—”

“Stop,” I ordered and righted her shirt. “Why do you hesitate? What was he doing?” She tore her gaze to the side as I stood, adding slowly,“The diamond cutter and the security guard were found dead near the vault.”

Her head snapped back, nostrils flaring. “No one was supposed to get hurt.”

“So, why did Sergio kill them?”

“I don’t know.” Her throat bobbed. “But you saw him. He’s…”

“Insane.”

She brushed her hair back from her face. “After he killed them, he went in the vault for more diamonds.”

“And what did you do?”

She dragged her tongue over her lips, and it took everything in me not to follow its path. “I tried to stop him but couldn’t. So, I went downstairs to tell Jupiter, but when I got there…”

“The police had arrived.”

“Yeah.” Her voice cracked, something flickering in her eyes—the end of a string I needed to pull.But not yet.

“So, you ran—everyone ran. And in the aftermath, one of you?—”

“Neptune.”

“—got killed.”

“Yes.” Her throat bobbed. “Neptune was shot, and we all went our separate ways.”

“So why come here looking for the diamond?” I grabbed the trash and crushed it in my grasp. “Was this part of the plan? To flee to the States?”

“No.” Her answer was fast—too fast to be anythingbut honest. “There was no plan after selling the diamond and splitting the cut; it was every man for himself. But when the heist went off course, I just wanted to get out of there. I’d never worked with them before, and when they started killing people, I wanted to get away—from the police. From Jupiter. I came here to start over.”

“And the party that night?”

“I didn’t know they’d be there,” she hissed, exasperation bleeding into her tone. “Dios mío,I told you, I didn’t know who Wheaton was. I didn’t know the kind of surgeries he performed. I had no idea that there was any connection to Les. I thought it was just… bad luck that they’d found me. Les was only ever a student’s father to me, and believe me, I was just as unpleasantly surprised by Mars—Alvaro at the hotel.” She heaved a sigh. “The last thing I wanted was for my past to catch up with me.”

Real.

Surprising, but real.

“Did you find him at the apartment? Jupiter?”

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