Page 85 of Lethal Deceit

Adena unscrews her water bottle cap. “He’s trying to save you too. Don’t forget that.”

My shoulders tense, and my pulse speeds at the suggestion. “Butwhy?”

She pulls out a chair and settles into it. “I dunno. I barely know the guy. But if I had to guess, I’d say it was for the same reason he saved your life the first time. It’s who he is.”

“I can’t let him do that for me.”

Adena rolls her neck until it pops, her eyes narrowing. “You won’t get a say. It’s already in motion.”

The words tumble out before I can stop them. “I have a better plan. They won’t expect it. Put a camera on me. You’ll be able to see how many are inside and what condition Brooke is in.”

Her head jerks back, body rocking slightly in the chair. She’s not the only one caught off guard.

My chest tightens, breath shallow, heart pounding. I don’t even know where the idea came from—just that it burst out like it had been waiting, buried somewhere beneath the panic and guilt and desperation. My voice shakes, but I don’t try to take it back. It’s reckless. Probably stupid. But it feels right.

I can’t watch Mick sacrifice himself for me.

“What makes you think you’ll get inside?”

The plan comes together so rapidly in my mind that my mouth struggles to keep up. “Someone is in charge over there. It isn’t a solitary guy with a gun. I’ll show up and tell them I have information the leader needs to hear.”

“It’s a nice idea, and kudos for having the best of intentions, but that doesn’t mean they won’t shoot you and then Brooke.”

Oh. Crap. This is the part that’s going to be tricky.

“I need Mick’s phone. They’d need to receive a text from me saying I’ve escaped.”

Her cheeks puff before she blows out a breath. “You’re not just gambling with your life. You’re gambling with Brooke’s.”

“Isn’t this all a gamble? We both know she could already be dead. There is no sense in everyone risking their lives for a dead woman.”

Adena purses her lips and fixes her gaze on a spot on the grimy Formica table. “How long have you been thinking about this idea?”

I brush her question off. I can’t tell her it formed out of a deep panic that Mick was going to die. “I can get Mick’s phone off him and make the call, but I’ll need your help to leave.”

Adena’s eyebrow arches just slightly, her mouth curling at the edges. “There are easier ways to prove you want to change, you know.”

I toss my hair over my shoulder and shrug like it’s no big deal. “Maybe. But this will work. I know it will.”

She grimaces. “Why? Because you’re in love with him?”

The words stop me cold.

I laugh—too quick, too forced—but it dies halfway out. I start to deny it, but nothing comes. The silence stretches. My chest tightens.

Love?

No. That can’t be right.

“Are you going to help me?”

She rises slowly, walks around the table, and plants her hands on my shoulders with a solid thud. I flinch, but hold steady.

“You, Samantha Duke, have ovaries of steel,” she mutters. “But you’re running on pure emotion. No one’s signing off on this just because you’ve fallen for Mick.”

My stomach sinks. “You have to let me do this.”

“No, I don’t.” Adena crosses her arms. “For some reason I can’t explain, you’re growing on me. And I don’t send my friends off to die because they think that’s how they earn a man’s love.”

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