Bitter Bite (Elemental Assassin #14)(97)

weak, understanding hug before my own strength deserted me.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay,” I whispered, trying to soothe him. “Everything’s

going to be okay.”

But things were anything but okay right now, and the tears kept streaming down

and freezing on Finn’s face.





27

Once they made sure that Bria was okay, Owen and Silvio ran upstairs to the

lobby, but Deirdre was long gone, along with a couple of duffel bags full of

cash.

Of course the bitch had escaped.

But she wasn’t going to be able to hide for long.

Not in Ashland. Not from the Spider.

Silvio called Jo-Jo, who rushed over to the bank. Silvio and Owen had carried

Finn and me upstairs, laying us both out on desks. Jo-Jo took one look at the

Ice burns on Finn’s body, slapped her hands down onto his chest, and blasted

him with her Air magic. I rolled my head to the side and watched her work, too

cold and exhausted to do anything else.

Once Jo-Jo was finished with Finn, she repeated the process on me. It hurt

more than usual, since the dwarf had to slough off all the dead layers of skin

that Deirdre had frozen solid with her Ice magic, but I clamped my lips shut

and swallowed down my snarls. My pain was nothing compared with what Finn was

going through right now.

When I was healed, Jo-Jo helped me sit up. Owen, Silvio, and Bria were still

in the lobby, going through the thieves’ pockets, looking for clues, but I

didn’t see Finn.

“Where is he?”

Jo-Jo jerked her thumb at the door that led downstairs. “Back down in the

vault, darling.”

She stayed with the others, but I trudged downstairs. I found Finn sitting in

the middle of the ruined vault, picking through the rubble, scooping up the

loose, bloody diamonds, and arranging them in a neat little pile.

Jo-Jo had healed all those ugly blue-white burns on his skin, but he was still

a mess. Blood, dust, and other filth covered his torn clothes, which were wet

in spots from the elemental Ice that had melted and soaked into the fabric.

His dark brown hair was rumpled, his shoulders slumped with exhaustion, and

dried blood speckled his face like freckles. Finn looked nothing at all like

his usual slick, charming self, but the thing that worried me most was the

dull hurt shimmering in his eyes—the sort of soul-deep, heart-rending, bone-

weary hurt that you never quite got over.

The same sort of hurt that Deirdre had inflicted on Fletcher all those years

ago.

Finn sighed. “What a f*cking mess. Mosley and the rest of the higher-ups are

going to have conniptions when they find out about this.”

“They don’t have to know anything,” I said. “Everyone who saw us here is

dead, except Deirdre. We could just walk out of here and pretend we didn’t

know anything about what happened.”

“I can’t do that. Not when this is all my fault. I’m the one who helped

Deirdre get inside the bank. She told me that someone had tried to rob the

exhibit and that the insurance company was moving the jewelry here.” He

picked another diamond out of the rubble and placed it on his stack. “So I

hurried over here like her little lapdog and let her waltz right into the

lobby with Santos and his men. I knew all the guards they killed. Every single

one of them. Nice guys. They didn’t deserve this. Neither do their families.

”

“Deirdre and Santos storming in here and killing the guards, that’s not on

you. None of this is on you. It was their plan, not yours.”

“Of course it is.” His mouth twisted. “It’s all on me. And do you know

what the really sad part is?”

I shook my head.

Finn picked another loose diamond out of the rubble. “Deep down, I knew that

you were right. That Mama—” He stopped and cleared his throat. “That

Deirdre was up to something. She was just too good to be true, but I ignored

it. I ignored your warnings, my own gut instincts, everything.”

“It’s not your fault,” I repeated.

“Yeah, it is. Because I knew that she was up to something. I just didn’t

care what it was.”

“We’ll find her,” I said. “Deirdre won’t get away with this. Not what she

did here at the bank and especially not what she did to you. Not the torture,

not the lies, none of it. I promise you that.”

Finn gave me a distracted nod. “Yeah. Sure. Thanks, Gin.”

I laid my hand on his shoulder, letting him know that I was here for him. He

smiled at me, but his heart wasn’t in it, and he went back to picking through

the rubble. I looked at the diamonds that he’d already gathered. I didn’t

know if he’d done it subconsciously or not, but he’d arranged the loose,

bloody stones into a familiar shape.

The diamonds formed a jagged, shattered heart, just like Finn’s.

*

Finn picked up a few more diamonds while I fished my knives out of the rubble.