“Do you want to go?” Maddie asked. “I sent Mom in the car, but we can get a cab.”

  “I’m fine if you are. We just got here.”

  She looked relieved. “OK. Good.”

  We walked out of the bathroom. I took a quick glance around, but didn’t see Julian. The ballroom had filled up even more, fancy dresses and glittering necklaces everywhere I turned.

  “Hey, do you know a girl named Scarlett? She dated Julian?” I asked Maddie.

  “Yeah.” She gave me a confused look. “How do you know her?”

  “She was just in the bathroom. Crying.”

  Maddie stopped and turned to me. “Crying?”

  “Why do you say it like that?”

  “I can’t imagine Scarlett crying. She’s so . . .” She made a face. “Uptight.”

  “She was upset about seeing Julian. Which she mentioned before recognizing me.”

  “Oh.” Maddie’s expression softened. “Yeah, I guess that . . . makes sense.” She scanned the room, her gaze settling on something behind me. I turned to see Scarlett standing with a handsome man who looked older than her. He was in his late twenties or early thirties, probably, and I’d have put Scarlett at closer to my age. She caught us staring and pointedly looked away.

  “How long did she and Julian date?” I asked.

  “Six months? Maybe longer. I don’t know her super well. I wasn’t exactly . . . friendly to her.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because she was dating Julian. She’s a couple years older than me, and this was back before Julian and I dated, when I was, like, fifteen. I made a habit of being a bitch to all of Julian’s girlfriends.” One side of her mouth quirked up. “You remember.”

  I gave her an amused look. “Vaguely.”

  The man with Scarlett said something, and she frowned deeply and shook her head.

  “Who is that with her?” I asked.

  “Her brother, Brian.”

  Brian motioned for Scarlett to follow him. She gave him an exasperated look, but trudged along behind him. They weaved around a few tables and came to a stop in front of Julian. I winced, watching as Scarlett crossed her arms over her chest. Brian greeted Julian with a hug.

  “Brian and Julian are friends?” I asked.

  Maddie looked surprised. “Not that I know of. Brian’s a lot older.”

  They both smiled as they spoke. Brian laughed. Scarlett smiled stiffly and said a few words to Julian.

  “Looks like they’re friends now,” I said.

  Roman Mitchell and a familiar gray-haired man joined them. The older man put one hand on Julian’s shoulder and the other on Brian’s.

  “Isn’t that one of the MDG dudes who’s always on television?” I asked. “The older guy with Roman Mitchell.”

  “It sure is. That’s the vice president of MDG.”

  “Are Brian and Scarlett invested with MDG?” I asked.

  “Not that I know of, but they sure look chummy.” Maddie tilted her head. “Well, Brian looks chummy. Scarlett looks ready to hurl.”

  The men were all talking to one another, completely ignoring Scarlett. She leaned back, as if looking for an escape route.

  Maddie and I glanced at each other, and I could tell we were thinking the same thing. If this group of men hung out together often, maybe they’d spilled some MDG secrets while she was standing right there, invisible to them.

  Scarlett said something to the group and practically bolted away from them. She made a beeline for the door, holding her dress up as she walked. She was impressively fast in heels.

  Maddie grabbed my hand. “Come on.”

  We hurried across the ballroom, nearly breaking into a run as we followed her.

  “Scarlett!” Maddie called.

  She stopped halfway down the stairs and turned to look at us. Her expression tightened when she caught sight of Maddie.

  “Hi,” Maddie said breathlessly as we came to a stop.

  Scarlett crossed her arms over her chest again. “Hello.” Her eyes were watery, and she looked down at the lobby below instead of at us.

  “Uh, I . . .” Maddie glanced at me. She clearly hadn’t thought this part through.

  “Listen, I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m having a really bad night, and I just want to go home.” Scarlett’s eyes caught on something behind me, and she swallowed.

  I turned to see Julian.

  He stood at the top of the stairs, hands casually slid into his pockets, staring at me. He raised his eyebrows, taking one hand out of his pocket to gesture up and down my body. He approved, apparently.

  I rolled my eyes and turned away. Scarlett was already at the bottom of the stairs, moving swiftly. Maddie made a move like she was going to follow, but I caught her arm.

  “I think her brother might be involved with MDG,” she protested. “Maybe she’ll help us.”

  “I know. But she’s clearly upset. We should let her go.” I glanced back at Julian, but he was gone.

  “No, let me just—”

  “Maddie, please,” I snapped. “Just slow down, OK?”

  She blinked, clearly surprised by my tone.

  “Sorry,” I said, my voice softening. “I just . . . know how she feels. Let’s give her some space, OK?”

  She nodded, reaching down to squeeze my hand. “Yeah. OK.”

  “Do you have her number? Maybe you could text her tomorrow, ask if we can meet up.”

  “Yeah, I have it.” She looked back at where Julian had been. “Ready to go back in? We could talk shit about Julian to my mom’s friends. They would love that.”

  I hooked my arm through hers. “Ready.”

  * * *

  Hannah and Victor were in the media room watching a movie with Edan when we got back.

  “Wow, you guys look hot,” Hannah said. She was sitting on the couch next to Edan. Closer than was strictly necessary, in my opinion. They weren’t touching, but she could have given him a little space.

  His gaze moved from the television to me. He looked quickly away, grabbing the remote next to him. He dropped it and had to lean down to grab it before he could pause the movie.

  “Yes, you both look lovely,” Victor said with a smile.

  “Thank you,” Maddie said, flopping down in a chair. I lowered into the other one.

  “How’d it go?” Hannah asked. “Find out anything useful?”

  “Yes. We ran into Scarlett Wilton,” Maddie said. “She’s Julian’s ex-girlfriend. Edan, did you ever meet her?”

  Edan shook his head. He was barefoot, wearing jeans and a teal sweater that made his eyes look even greener. The sweater was old—I could see a tiny hole at the collar and the ends of the sleeves were worn—but somehow that made it look even better on him. It was very distracting.

  “Well, Julian was there. And Scarlett was pretty upset about it.”

  Edan looked at me quickly. “Julian was there?”

  “We avoided him,” I said.

  “He stared at her all night, though,” Maddie grumbled. “It was creepy.”

  He had stared at me all night. I tried to ignore it, but every time I let my gaze wander, there he was, watching me. Once he’d even tilted his head toward the door, subtly asking me to go outside with him. He wanted me alone, apparently. I hadn’t left Maddie’s side all night.

  “Why was Scarlett upset about him being there?” Hannah asked. “Was Julian a jerk to her too?”

  “I don’t know her well, but I’m sure he was,” Maddie said. “But the interesting part is, she was there with her brother. Brian Wilton. Brian and Julian looked very chummy, and they were talking to Roman Mitchell and the MDG vice president.”

  Hannah pulled her phone out of her pocket and frowned as she scrolled. “I don’t think I have Brian on my list of possible investors.”

  “He may not be invested yet. But he is in real estate investment, so there’s a definite possibility that he’s been approached. Grayson tried to get him to invest in the teams, actually, and Brian told him it was a stupid idea. So, I think it’s worth talking to Scarlett, see what she knows. Maybe see if she’s willing to poke around, find out where Dust Storm is.”

  “Do you think she’d really be willing to help us? Wouldn’t that sort of be betraying her brother?” Victor asked.

  “We can frame it as saving her brother,” I said. “Tell her to get Brian as far away from MDG as possible and screw Julian over in the process.”

  “I like it,” Hannah said. “Though we have no guarantee that she won’t turn around and just tell Brian you’re trying to find out where Dust Storm is, and you were trying to use her to do it.”

  “I’m pretty sure that Julian and everyone at MDG is fully aware that we’re trying to find Dust Storm. Subtlety is not our strong suit.” I gave Maddie an amused look.

  “You have a point.” Hannah laughed. “And, hey, you can start a club! A Julian’s ex-girlfriends club.”

  “The most depressing club of all time,” I said dryly.

  “I’ll text her tomorrow,” Maddie said. “Or maybe Clara should text her. She seemed to like you much better.”

  “Yeah, I’ll do it. Send me her number.”

  “Well, you guys did excellent work and got to wear fancy dresses,” Hannah said as she got to her feet. “I’m very jealous. I want the gala assignment next time.”

  “You got it,” Maddie said with a smile.

  Hannah walked with Victor to the elevator. “We’ll see you guys later. Text us tomorrow to let us know how it goes, OK?”

  “Will do,” Maddie said, hopping up from her chair. She walked out of the room as the elevator door closed.

  I looked at Edan. Our uncomfortable silence was back. He leaned forward, running both hands down his thighs. He seemed to be avoiding my gaze.

  “It was really OK?” he asked the floor. “Seeing Julian?”

  “Yeah. There were a lot of people around, and Maddie and I stuck together all night. And . . .”

  “What?”

  “It sounds sort of horrible.”

  His lips twitched into a smile as he finally looked up to meet my gaze. “Tell me anyway.”

  “It was actually sort of a relief to see Scarlett so upset about being in the same room with Julian. Made me feel less . . . crazy, I guess.”

  He cocked his head. “Do you feel crazy?”

  “Maybe that’s not the right word. It’s just upsetting to see him. And it was nice to have it confirmed that I wasn’t overreacting.”

  “I never think you’re overreacting, for the record.”

  “Thank you, Edan.”

  He stood. “I’m going to bed. Good job tonight.” He headed to the stairs, pausing to look back at me at the bottom of them. “You really do look beautiful.”

  14

  I texted Scarlett the next morning.

  Hey, it’s Clara, from last night. Maddie gave me your number.

  It was almost an hour before she replied with one word: Hi.

  I was wondering if you had some time to talk today? Maddie and I will come to you. We can meet wherever you want.

  It only took a few minutes for the second response to come through.

  Fine. Come to my place around two.

  She texted the address, which I sent to Maddie.

  We headed downstairs and outside about an hour later. Maddie said Scarlett’s apartment was only a few blocks away, so we could walk. It was a cold, sunny day, and I buttoned my jacket as we started down the sidewalk.

  “So I’ve been working on new training plans, and I’ve been thinking about the possibility of adding a noncombat option for the teams. Do you think you’d be open to that?”

  She looked confused. “What would recruits do if they’re not fighting?”

  “There are some different options. Scrabs leave a huge mess behind after they attack. People lose their homes or their businesses, they need medical care, they—”

  “We’re not equipped to do any of that,” she interrupted.

  “We could be, if we explored some different options.”

  “Wait, did I know you were making new training plans? I thought you were mostly working on how to boost recruitment.”

  “I’m working on both,” I said, trying to hide my annoyance. “Recruitment is important, but I think we need to address training too, especially if we can’t expand beyond combat. We might need to be a little more selective. And maybe have some sort of test they have to pass before being allowed to fight? Because I nearly got an ax to the head in that last scrab battle, and—”

  “Jesus, really?” She grimaced.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, weapons do go flying sometimes, if they hit the scrab in the wrong place.”

  “Right, and we can prevent that by—”

  “Fine, fine, tweak the training if you think we need it. But focus more on recruitment. We’re going to need more people once we’re out there.”

  I opened my mouth, and then shut it. This was probably the wrong time to really get into all of this. I could tell Maddie was nervous about seeing Scarlett. And it was hard to get her to listen to me about this on the best of days.

  “We’ll talk about it when I’ve worked on it a bit more,” I said.

  Scarlett lived in a fancy building with a doorman, and we walked into the lobby and waited while he checked his list and then pointed us to the elevator.

  She opened the door as soon as we knocked. She wore a soft pink sweater and skinny black pants, her makeup perfect. Her casual elegance reminded me of Maddie.

  Her expression was not friendly, but a hint of curiosity softened it when her eyes landed on me.

  “Hi, Scarlett,” Maddie said. “Nice to see you again.”

  “Uh-huh,” she said, with a hint of skepticism. She stepped back, holding the door open for us.

  We stepped inside the apartment, which was smaller than I’d expected. It looked like it was just one bedroom, with a tiny kitchen, a small dining area, and slightly larger living room.

  She gestured for us to sit on the couch, and I lowered down next to Maddie. She sat in the chair across from us, crossing her legs and her arms, like she felt the need to defend herself.

  “I think that I should say, right off the bat, that I’m sorry about that time I called you a frigid bitch,” Maddie said. I looked at her quickly, surprised. “I was just drunk. And also jealous. And I’m sorry for deserting you at that party in Brooklyn because I hooked up with Logan.”

  “Derek,” Scarlett said.

  “What?”

  “You deserted me at that party in Brooklyn to hook up with Derek, not Logan.”

  Maddie squinted. “Oh yeah. Either way, I apologize. And I’m sorry I slept with your brother and then made a really tasteless joke to you about it.”

  I turned to Maddie, horrified. “You slept with her brother? He’s, like, thirty.”

  “My other brother,” Scarlett said flatly. “The younger one.”

  “Obviously,” Maddie said.

  “Oh my god, Maddie,” I said, pressing a hand to my forehead. “No wonder she hates you.”

  I heard a laugh, and I looked up to see Scarlett covering her lips with her fingers, like she was trying not to smile. She failed.

  “I feel like there’s more,” Maddie said. “I’m just sorry for being awful in general. I was jealous you were with Julian, which is incredibly fucking stupid, in hindsight.” She shifted in her chair. “Also, I feel like you should know that he was going around telling everyone that you were a crazy bitch, and I realize now that he was probably the only crazy bitch in that situation.”

  Scarlett laughed again softly. “A friend told me a while back that he was telling everyone that. Julian really did make me feel like I was losing my mind, though. I was convinced that he was somehow reading my texts and emails, but he always denied it. I’d end up crying and yelling at him about it, and he’d act like I was being totally unreasonable.”

  “He gave me a phone specifically so he could spy on everything I did with it,” I said. “So, I’m sure you were right. He’d probably found a way to read them.”

  She stared at me for a moment, and then blinked. “He . . . really?”

  “Yes. It was obvious, and he admitted it when I confronted him.”

  She took in a long, shaky breath. “Jesus. That makes me feel so much better.” She leaned forward, pressing her palms to her forehead. “My therapist kept telling me to trust my instincts, but there was always this nagging doubt that maybe I was just crazy and paranoid, like he always said.” She looked up at Maddie. “He really did kill Grayson, didn’t he?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  She leaned back on the couch again. “What do you guys want? I’m not investing. I’m sorry about Grayson, but my answer is the same as it was when he asked me. Those teams are stupid, dangerous, and shortsighted.”

  “We don’t need money,” Maddie said. “We need to know where MDG’s facility is in the US, and whether they’ve been shipping scrabs there.”

  Scarlett’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”

  “It’s a facility called Dust Storm, and we can’t figure out where it is. Julian said the middle of nowhere once, which really isn’t a lot to go on. There’s a lot of nowhere.”

  “MDG said that facility didn’t exist. They’re working with the cops to figure out who was even trying to train scrabs.” She stared at us. “Right?”

  “They’re lying,” I said. “Julian told me there were facilities here. MDG is just trying to cover their asses.”

  “Even if they cleared it out and all the scrabs are gone, we want to find where it was,” Maddie said.

  “Why?” Scarlett asked.

  “Because Julian is getting away with everything,” Maddie said. “He killed Grayson, three of our team members, and two cops and still walked away scot-free. Now he’s partnered with the people who are trying to normalize trained scrabs. If we don’t stop him now, there’s no telling what he’ll do next.”

  The room went quiet for several seconds.

  “You’re telling me that you think Julian—and MDG—is building an army of trained scrabs,” she finally said.