Chapter 19 · Blood on the Ledger

The phone buzzes in my purse while Lin's hand rests on my knee in the back of the car.

I don't look at it. I smile at him instead, the same smile I gave him in the elevator when he said he loved me. The same smile I've been wearing since I watched that security footage of him standing in my father's garage while two men cut the brake lines.

"You're quiet," Lin says. His thumb traces circles on my thigh through the silk dress. "Tired?"

"Just thinking." I lean into him, let my head rest on his shoulder. The perfect girlfriend. The perfect fool. "About what you said. In the elevator."

His hand tightens on my leg. "I meant it."

"I know." I close my eyes so he can't see what's in them. The video loops behind my eyelids. Lin in that garage, phone to his ear, watching. Just watching while they worked. "I meant it too."

Liar. We're both liars. But I'm better at it now.

The car slows. I open my eyes and sit up. We're not heading toward my apartment or his penthouse. We're in the warehouse district near the port. Empty streets.