Chapter 16 · I know you well enough

"I know you well enough."

"From where? The arrest report?"

"From the way you kept your sister's broken vow under your floorboards for six years. From the way you lied to every Bureau examiner and never once lied about her. From the way you looked at that page like it could answer you."

My throat tightened.

"You read my file."

"I read everything they gave me."

"And you still came for me."

"I came because I was ordered to."

"There it is again."

"I came back because I chose to."

The page hit the lock.

The ninth groove opened.

A wave of black force slammed through the passage.

Dax twisted, putting his body between me and the blast. The impact drove us both into the floor.

The page split down the middle.

For one second, ink lifted from the paper in thin, glowing threads. Names. Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds.