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Nowas useless I focused on Henry--and the unalterable fact that I was screwed

From the second I saw the set of Henry’s features--the tense jaw, the down-turned lips, the eyes that betrayed thein his chest--I knew that I wouldn’t be able to lie to him Henry wasn’t a problem He wasn’t a fire to be put out, or a situation to be handled

He had a right to know

"So assurip on the wheel, his eyes locked on the road "So you’re not going toto tell , or if Asher"

Was telling the truth My brain finished his sentence as if it were o," I said quietly, "Vivvie Bharani told randfather" Henry’s Adah he wasn’t looking at hly "Every detail, every suspicion, every single thing you know, Tess"

The phone The voice on the other end That voice’s identity I told Henry everything Not just for hiun to his te his blood splattered on a wall

Secrets came at a cost

So I told Henry Maybe a part of er I wanted him to lash out I wanted him to blame me, the way I blamed myself

"Asher knew?" Henry allanced back at Asher--self-destructive, loyal Asher, who’d been Henry’s best friend since they were kids

"He wanted to tell you"

I could see Henry thinking, But he didn’t "I don’t suppose it occurred to any of you--or to your sister, for that matter--to take this to the police" That wasn’t a question It was an accusation

"Ivy’s working on it" That was all I could say, all she’d told ht trust your sister to work on this," Henry said, his voice soft, with a lethal thread of steel "But Iof whatHenrya car Henry despised Ivy’s occupation He believed that when she "fixed" things, she left destruction in her wake I’d known he wouldn’t be able to sit on this infor anyway

Because I had to

"Do what you have to do," I told Henry, "but remember that if it wasn’t for Vivvie, none of us would knohat really happened She’s the only reason there’s anything to work on, and it cost her everything"

Her father Her home The naive certainty that there were people in this world that you could count on not to blacken your eyes

I leaned forward, so that I could see all of Henry’s face, so that out of his peripheral vision, he ht catch a hint of mine "Whatever you do with this information," I told him, "whoever you trust with it, you better make sure they can protect her"