CHAPTER 74

CHAPTER 74
Chapter 74:
Gina’s POV
"How long are we going to keep pretending like we trust him?" I asked flatly, arms folded, eyes fixed on the screens in Diane's room.
Diane didn’t look up from the blueprints she was scrolling through. “Long enough for him to hang himself.”
“Jayson doesn’t hang,” I muttered. “He cuts others down.”
She smirked slightly. “Then we sharpen our blades before he reaches for his.”
I paced the room. Every step echoed in the cold silence. My thoughts wouldn’t sit still.
“I know he’s not Jayson,” I said.
Diane looked up slowly, her face unreadable. “You’re not supposed to say that.”
I stopped. “But you think it too.”
She sighed. “I think a lot of things. But it doesn’t matter. He wants Kane. We want Kane. Until our interests split, we smile, nod, and feed the devil sugar.”
I swallowed back the bile in my throat. “Caroline doesn’t deserve what’s coming.”
Diane’s voice sharpened like glass. “This again?”
“She’s not the enemy.”
“She’s with Kane,” Diane said. “That’s enough.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “I used to be her best friend.”
“No. You used to orbit her.” She stood, her red hair catching the dim light like fire. “And she never looked back.”
“I’m not doing this for jealousy,” I said coldly.
Diane walked up to me, stopping just inches from my face. “You’re doing this because Kane ruined our lives. He turned the people we loved into corpses and traitors. He made me a joke. And now he walks around with a pretty girl like he’s forgiven.”
My hands clenched. “I don’t want revenge. I want justice.”
“No, Gina.” She leaned in. “You want meaning. And I’m giving it to you.”
I didn’t respond.
She stepped back, turning toward the monitors again. Kane’s penthouse glowed faintly on one of the live drone feeds.
“I want in,” I said finally.
“On what?”
“The infiltration. You said Phase Two starts now. Let me do it.”
She glanced back. “You sure?”
I nodded. “Caroline might still pity me. She’ll let me close.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
“I’ll fake it.”
Diane walked over to the glass table and tapped a case. It slid open to reveal a silver pen. Sleek. Ordinary-looking.
“This is a transmitter and signal jammer. Plant it in Kane’s main room. It’ll kill his surveillance grid.”
I picked it up slowly, feeling the weight of it. “You’re trusting me with this?”
She smiled faintly. “I’m trusting you to choose your side.”
I slid the pen into my coat.
“What happens if they catch me?” I asked.
Diane shrugged. “Then scream loud enough for me to hear.”
She turned back to her monitors.
I lingered.
Just for a second.
“I still don’t trust him,” I muttered, arms folded as I leaned against the wall of Diane’s private suite.
Diane didn't look up from the files spread across her glass table. "You don’t have to trust him, Gina. You just have to use him."
“You act like that’s so easy.”
“Because it is.” She finally raised her eyes, those sharp hazel irises pinning me down like I was one of her little tasks to organize and cross off. “You’ve played sweet with Caroline before. Play it again.”
I scoffed, jaw tightening. “She’s not stupid. Not anymore.”
Diane smiled, slow and bitter. “Everyone’s stupid when they believe someone still cares.”
I swallowed back the lump in my throat.
She wasn’t wrong.
But that didn’t make it hurt less.
Diane stood and walked over to the board, dragging a red marker across Kane’s safehouse layout. “He’s reinforced the eastern wing. Surveillance, panic room, reinforced doors. He’s paranoid.”
“Wouldn’t you be? His enemies are multiplying every damn hour.”
She didn’t respond. Just tapped the marker once. “There’s a gap in their schedule. Caroline goes out alone every Wednesday. Library, errands, sometimes that little flower shop on Third.”
I frowned. “You’ve been watching them?”
“We all have,” Diane said simply. “Information is survival. Now, your job is to re-enter her life. Make her believe you regret what you did. Cry if you have to.”
I blinked. “You think that’ll work?”
Diane turned to me, tone sharp. “It has to.”
I bit my bottom lip. “What if she doesn’t even look at me?”
“Then you make her look,” she said coldly. “Be the girl she once trusted. Apologize. Break. Shatter, if you must. And when she lets you in…”
Diane’s eyes darkened.
“…you leave the door wide open for us.”
I looked down at the map. At the little red dot labeled “Caroline.” My throat tightened.
“You’re really going to kill her?” I asked, voice quieter.
Diane didn’t flinch. “If that’s what it takes to break Kane, yes.”
I hated how easily she said it.
I hated how a part of me still flinched imagining Caroline crying again… because of me.
“You wanted him,” Diane said, suddenly softer. “Didn’t you?”
I looked at her.
She knew.
I nodded.
“Then take her down,” Diane whispered. “And he’s yours.”
I looked back at the map again. At the name. At the girl I used to call my best friend.
And I nodded.
“…When do I start?”
Diane smiled. “Tomorrow.”

It had been two months since I stepped inside this building.
Caroline’s building.
It smelled the same. Lavender and fresh linen. Warmth and laughter haunted every hallway.
I walked slower than I should have. My heels didn’t echo—they tiptoed like guilt.
Diane's words played like a hymn in my mind: "Smile, nod, feed the devil sugar."
I adjusted my coat, fingers brushing over the silver pen tucked inside. The transmitter. The betrayal. The weight.
I reached the door and paused.
Apartment 709.
I knew it by heart.
I raised my hand to knock—then didn’t. My fist hovered mid-air. My breath caught. A flash of Caroline’s laugh, the way she used to yank the door open and pull me in before I even said a word.
I knocked twice.
The silence was heavy.
Then—
Footsteps. Cautious. No rush. Kane’s gait.
The door cracked open.
Kane stood there, shirt unbuttoned halfway, his hand behind the door—no doubt resting on a weapon. His eyes narrowed when he saw me.
“Gina,” he said flatly.
“I… I know I’m not supposed to be here,” I said, forcing a tremble into my voice. “But… please. I didn’t know who else to go to.”
He didn’t move.
Then Caroline’s voice floated in. “Who is it?”
She stepped into view and froze. “Gina?”
I gave her a broken smile. “Hi.”
A long pause. I could see the doubt dancing in her eyes. She wasn’t stupid. But she was kind.
“Let her in,” she said softly.
Kane’s jaw tightened, but he moved back.
I stepped in slowly.
It was the same apartment.
But everything was different.
Kane watched me like a loaded gun. Caroline stood slightly in front of him like she didn’t even realize she was trying to protect him. Or maybe she was trying to protect me.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”
Caroline’s arms folded. “For what?”
“For ghosting. For… everything. I was scared.”
“That’s not an excuse.”
“No. But it’s the truth.” I swallowed hard. “You were right about Jayson. About the agency. I should’ve listened.”
Caroline studied me like she was trying to see through me. “Why now?”
“Because I think they’re watching me. I think Diane’s involved.” I took a breath. “I know things. Names. I want to help.”
Kane’s eyes sharpened. “You’re not the only one who can lie with a straight face, Gina.”
I nodded. “I deserve that.”
Caroline looked at Kane. “Let’s hear her out.”
He didn’t answer.
I reached into my coat slowly. Kane’s posture shifted. He was ready to kill me. I pulled out the silver pen—its tip facing down—and held it up.
“I brought this. It records everything around it. I’ve been using it for weeks. It’s got information. Real information. Just…” I placed it on the table, stepping back. “Use it.”
Caroline picked it up carefully. “We’ll have it scanned.”
I nodded again. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
“Where have you been staying?” Kane asked.
“Nowhere consistent. I’ve been running. I didn’t know who to trust.”
“Then why trust us?” he said coolly.
“Because I knew if I came here lying, I wouldn’t leave breathing.”
He didn’t respond.
Caroline stepped closer, eyes searching mine. “If you’re lying to me again, Gina…”
I blinked back tears—some real, some useful. “I’m not.”
She hesitated.
Then hugged me.
And that hurt more than I thought it would.
Because for a second, I wanted to believe I could stay in that hug forever.
But Diane’s voice returned to my ears: “You’re doing this because Kane ruined our lives.”