Page 142 of Ricochet

CHAPTER FIFTY

Under the cover of a plant that had likely had a nicer upbringing than Adelia had, she hid and watched the lobby, rolling the heavy weight of the pen between her palms. What would she say to Colin? Why would it even matter at this point?

“You know what matters?” Her fingers wrapped around the pen. “We mattered.”

“Pardon?” The concierge leaned from his desk, pulling back theprotective barrier of thick, green leaves.

“Oh.” She hadn’t realized that thought had been out loud, much less loud enough to pull a man from his desk. “Nothing.”

But her thoughts hadn’t been nothing. She had no idea if she’d given Colin anything, but since the moment their puzzle pieces connected, he’d done nothing but made her question every decision she’s already made and certainty she alreadyunderstood. Some hadn’t changed while others shifted, and if it hadn’t been for his light shining in her shadows, she might never have given herself permission to sparkle.

The plant leaves still swayed as Adelia uncapped the black pen and stared at its white cap, and then she scrawled Colin’s name, wondering if she’d ever written with a pen that flowed like a river waiting to be used.

Otherthings mattered too. Adelia hadn’t attacked Gloria, instead searching for a reason. It terrified her to understand she wasn’t driven by just greed or power but so corrupted by her presumed godliness that she didn’t see she’d become the devil.

That story mattered, and it needed to be told.

Adelia made the comma after Colin’s name and decided that even if she could scale the amount of pleasureshe found in the simple act of writing on this thick paper with luxurious ink to exponentials heights, that she wouldn’t find it in her to sacrifice another person.

There’s a recording in the stairwell, and you’ll hear everything you need from the monster. I’m sorry I put you in a position where you felt you had to choose between me and your team, and I see that I did the same thing with Mayhem.I’m going to find Hawke now. I’m not giving up on a future like I had before, but this may be the last thing I say to you.

Her hand pulled back as she readied to sign off, and her eyes filled with tears.

Love, Adelia

Two words, none were more truthful but apparently, none were more heart wrenching to write. A heavy tear slid down her cheek, and she swatted it away.

P.S. I loveyou. I’m glad I took off my armor for you.

The tears streamed, and Adelia didn’t bother to wipe them away as she folded the thick card into the envelope. Finally, she wiped her eyes and took a deep breath, then sealed it.

With dried eyes, she brought the card back to the concierge, who took it without the smile she’d just seen minutes ago. Worry creased the corners of his eyes, and distractionmarred his smile that he pushed into place.

“Thank you.” He cleared his throat. “Will he be expecting this?”

She hadn’t thought that far. How would he even know to ask for it?

The concierge flicked a quick glance to his computer screen, and the professional caretaker who had doted on her minutes ago seemed distressed. “Is everything okay?”

His professional bluster faltered. “I just listenedto something I shouldn’t have?”

Panic jumped in her throat, but there was no way he meant her audio recording. She pressed her lips together and tried to come up with a reasonable response that wouldn’t make her seem sleep deprived and running from groups who wanted her dead. “Happens to me all the time.”

“Do you ever listen to podcasts?”

She hadn’t seen a cell phone with a live battery thatshe could call her own in days. “Not recently.”

“News from Around the World,” he said like an announcer. “Mostly it’s the normal stuff that will get you in the gut. War, famine, genocide.”

She rounded her lips. “Oh, the usual death and destruction.”

“This last one was about cargo liners the locals call the ghost fleet.”

Her skin crawled as she went cold. “Why?”

“No one sees it. Everyone hearsabout it.”

“What does it do?”

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