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It is exactly what I predicted she’d say

I sigh and lean against the counter, crossing auze fro I can say what I’ainst me I won’t leave Sarai alone with her if she thinks I chose Safe House Nine over her because of soe Samantha is a killer And a woman who feels scorned who is also a killer is a fatal combination

"I chose Nine because she was a whore and proud of it," I say, laying the truth out the way it needs to be, to make her understand "I couldn’t use you like she let me use her Because you were and still are htly "You don’t have any friends, Victor"

Her gaze skirts auze over the wound and presses two strips of dressing tape along its edges Then she raises up the rest of the way and looks atin her eyes that I always felt when I caht have been soo that far She started getting too close and I couldn’t let that happen She had always been kind to me She was different from the others ere more likeerous and foolish, but is co, Victor?" she asks with a playful, yet inoffensive smile

I pull the towel the rest of the way back overit in on itself at the waist

"What do youupon her curiously

Sae leftovers and rinsing the blood and iodine down the sink with a burst of water

"That girl down the hall," she says "Izabel Of course we both know that’s not her real na with her?" She drops a handful of bloody tissues into the wastebasket beside the toilet

"I told you," I say "I’et After that, she’s on her own"

I never could coht now is that she appears to knowon with lance toward the bathroo there, listening to everything between us I know she is I can feel it But Saht now Because I can’t have her filling Sarai’s head with things that h as it is

"I need to get dressed," I say, hoping to deter her fro nearby, but Samantha steps around in front of me

She crosses her arms and the smile she wore before has been replaced by determination

"You can’t do this You know that"

I reach around her and grabthe towel drop to the floor and stepping into them

"Victor," she persists, "you can’t be the hero Not for her or for anyone else You know this What you’re doing, what you’re feeling is only going to get you killed"

I pull ainst my hps and shut Samantha up with the hard look inat her "You think you see so inyou saw in lares at ressively into her biceps "What are you saying? That it’s what you think I--" She can’t look at me anymore and her eyes stray toward the shower Because she knows I’ht I shouldn’t have said it, but she can’t deny the truth

Finally she looks at ht," she says "I have always thought of you in that way I read into things between us wrong and saw things that weren’t there"

I keep silent to let her finish, but it see I have done to you," I say andblonde head "No, Victor, you did everything right You saw that I was developing feelings for you before I knew it "

I cup my hands underneath her elbows and she relaxes a little

"I hope that--"