Chapter 16 · The Loser Has a Real Name

The fake cops were still following us when Lin pulled into a parking garage three blocks from the hospital.

I didn't ask why. Didn't look at him either. Just sat there with my hands in my lap, blood dried under my nails, that transfer authorization burning a hole in my coat pocket. Claire's signature. Eight months ago. Three million to a Cayman account.

My best friend.

The woman who held me when I cried after Dad's first stroke. Who helped me pick out my wedding dress. Who swore she'd help me burn Lin's world down.

She'd been burning mine the whole time.

"Stella." Lin's voice was careful. Too careful. "We need to move. They'll find the car."

I finally looked at him. Really looked. Same cheap jacket. Same messy hair. Same concerned expression he'd been wearing since the hospital, like he actually gave a damn whether I lived or died.

The dying man's hand gesture flashed through my mind. The sign for Pacific Capital.

Lin was one of them too.

I'd known it last life, in those final seconds before the fire took me.