Page 36 of The Silent Note

Zane looks back at me. He pulls out the chair across the table in a gentlemanly sweep, as if he’s showing me to a table in a five star restaurant.

I walk forward stiffly.

“Who’s this?” Slavno eyes me down.

Of course he wouldn’t know me.

Not the way I know him.

His birthday.

His hometown.

His family.

His army service.

His gambling problem. Drinking problem. Drug problem.

This man collected vices like Pokemon cards.

“She’s here to ask you some questions.”

“A reporter?” Slavno pulls his mouth in. “You did all this for nothing, Cross. I’m not saying a word.”

I look at Slavno.

He’s bruised and bloodied, but he’s here.

He’s alive.

Breathing.

Moving.

Laughing.

Unlike Sloane.

My innocent best friend never got the chance to live past sixteen.

I feel my breath catch.

Slowly, the fear and sorrow and grief churn into something else. Somethingmore. I funnel those painful emotions into a boiling rage.

Slavno can’t hurt me if I’m angry.

Like a new convert to a cult, I baptize myself in that madness.

More.

More.

I paste the anger all over myself. War paint.

He doesn’t deserve to see how fragile I am, how broken. Even if he did break me. Even if he took my best friend from me, he won’t take anything more.

“You bastard,” I hiss.

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