“M.S.,” I said.
Theo leaned closer to the screen.
Marina did not move.
“That could be anyone,” she said.
“No,” I replied. “It couldn’t.”
Her associates looked between us.
“Lexi,” Marina said carefully, “let’s not jump.”
But the room had already chilled.
M.S.
Marina Shaw.
My attorney.
My protector.
My friend.
The woman who knew everything.
For the first time all day, I felt something sharper than fear.
Betrayal has a temperature. It is not hot, as people imagine. It is cold. Clean. Almost clarifying.
Marina closed the exhibit packet.
“I will investigate the source immediately.”
I watched her hands. Steady. Elegant. No tremor.
“You do that,” I said.
Her eyes lifted to mine.
“Lexi, you can’t think—”
“I don’t know what I think.”
That was not true.
I knew exactly what I thought.
I just did not yet know whether I wanted her to hear it.
