Page 151 of The Thief
"Soon. He's going to take her, use her to break Henry's spirit before he kills everyone."
"How's he planning to get to her?"
"He hasn't figured that out yet. He's waiting for you to break the security around her."
"That's it?" I ask. That's nothing. That information is useless to us. We're not letting up the fucking security.
"That's all I know. Trace was careful, paranoid. He didn't trust anyone completely."
"Including you."
"Including me. But he trusted me enough to tell me about his plans for Alastríona."
Every muscle in my body goes tense. "What plans?"
"He's going to torture her, rape her, all while Henry watches. Then he's going to kill her."
That's never going to happen. He won’t touch her.
"Where's he planning to take her?"
"I don't know. He never told me that part."
Maverick's knife finds Jason's hand, sliding between his fingers until it reaches the webbing between index and middle finger. Jason screams as the blade bites deep, cutting through skin and muscle.
"Try again."
"I swear, I don't know! He said something about a house in the countryside. But no specifics, no locations."
"What else? What other details did he share?"
Blood drips from Jason's hand onto the concrete floor, each drop echoing in the empty warehouse.
"He... he knows about your relationship with her. With Alastríona. He knows how much you love her, that you'd do anything to protect her."
"How does he know that?"
"Because I told him. Because watching you with her, seeing how you look at her... it's obvious."
The admission hits like a punch to the gut. Jason's been watching us, reporting on our personal lives, cataloging our emotional vulnerabilities for Trace to exploit.
"You've been spying on us. On me."
"I've been doing my job."
"Your job was with us. With family."
"My family is dead. Murdered because of choices you made."
I study his face, looking for any trace of the man I once called brother. But all I see is hatred, grief twisted into something ugly and destructive.
"You know what the fucked up thing is?" I say finally.
"What?"
"If you'd told me about you and Ava, I'd have helped you get out of the country together."
Jason looks genuinely surprised. "What?"
