Fullepub 
14
14
I texted Scarlett the next morning.
It was almost an hour before she replied with one word:
It only took a few minutes for the second response to come through.
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.
“Yes,” Maddie replied.
“And you think he’s going to start using them against people. Or he’s already started.”
“Why do you look so dubious about that?” Maddie asked. “You’ve seen his temper.”
“Yeah, but . . .” Scarlett trailed off, her eyebrows furrowed in thought.
“Look, we could be wrong about Julian,” I said. “Maybe he’ll never use trained scrabs against people again. But MDG is absolutely training scrabs. Even if Julian has taken time off from MDG to stalk me full-time, they are still out there doing it.”
“He’s stalking you?”
“He called my brother. I had to quit using Instagram because he kept messaging me. And he’s emailing me nonstop.” Two more emails this morning. I hadn’t even bothered to open them, and then I’d turned off notifications for my email. I was tired of the way my chest seized every time I heard that ding.
“I guess I’m not totally surprised, but . . .” Scarlett shook her head, widening her eyes.
“Is this really the kind of guy you want to have access to an army of trained scrabs?” Maddie asked.
“Of course not, but I don’t know what you expect me to do about it,” she said.
“I noticed that Julian and Brian seemed pretty chummy at the gala,” Maddie said.
Scarlett sighed, pressing her fingers to her temple. “My parents insisted we go to the Montgomerys’ funeral, and Brian reconnected with Julian. No one really wants to be around Julian anymore, and Brian felt bad for him.”
“No one wants to be around Julian?” I repeated.
She shook her head. “Julian will tell anyone who will listen that Grayson’s death was an accident, but everyone’s still suspicious, you know? They had a weird relationship. And everyone thought it was strange that he disappeared to London right after his parents died. He didn’t even need to go pick up their bodies himself, but he insisted, and then he pretty much left the funeral planning to his aunt. He acted like an asshole, from what I’ve heard.”
“I believe that,” I said.
“If you’re asking me to reach out to Julian, I won’t do it,” Scarlett said. “I’m not putting myself in that position. Seeing him at the gala was bad enough.”
“No,” Maddie said quickly. “We would never ask that. I recommend you stay as far away from Julian as possible, actually.”
“Then, what?” Scarlett asked.
“You and Brian are pretty close, aren’t you?”
“Somewhat,” Scarlett said slowly.
“Did you ever tell him about Julian?” I asked.
“He knew we dated, but I never talked to him about it in detail, no,” she said. “I figured he’d either get too mad or tell me I was overreacting, and neither of those options sounded appealing to me.”
“So maybe he wouldn’t be suspicious if you started poking around and asking questions?” Maddie asked hesitantly.
Scarlett leaned forward, resting her arms on her thighs as she held Maddie’s gaze. “You seriously came over here to ask me to spy on Brian?”
“Yes,” Maddie said. “And to possibly save him.”
“Save him?” she asked skeptically.
“He’s invested in MDG, isn’t he? I saw him talking to some of the MDG guys at the gala.”
“I don’t know.”
“It seems pretty likely. A lot of the Montgomerys’ friends seem to be involved. It’s probably why they turned Grayson down when he tried to get them to invest in the teams.”
“There were plenty of reasons not to invest in those teams,” she said.
“Whatever. What MDG is doing is illegal, and I’m going to take them down, even if I have to spend the rest of my life doing it.” Maddie’s voice had gone hard. “But maybe we could help each other out. Get Brian to find out where that facility is, tell me, and then have him pull his investment before he ends up with prison time.”
Scarlett blanched at the words prison time.
“Or skip me and go straight to the police with the information. I’ll give you the number of my FBI contact, if you want. But I don’t have to wait for warrants. The FBI is dealing with a lot of lawyers and powerful people who are determined to shut down any investigation into MDG. I give zero shits about lawyers.”
“I don’t know if he’ll even tell me anything,” Scarlett said, after a long pause. “Brian still treats me like his kid sister. We rarely even talk about his work or his investments.”
“Can you tell him the truth?” I asked quietly. “About all of it? Your relationship with Julian, our suspicions, his jealousy? Just lay it all out for him and see if he’ll do the right thing? He may not even know where Dust Storm is, but maybe he can find out if you tell him all of it. Get him to help us.”
She considered for a moment. “Maybe. Let me think about it, OK?”
“Of course,” Maddie said, getting to her feet. I did the same.
Scarlett stood and opened the front door for us. Maddie paused halfway out the door.
“Just, for the record, I wish I’d been more honest with Grayson about Julian,” she said, turning back to Scarlett. “I think that if I’d told him how Julian treated me, he would have ended their friendship. He certainly wouldn’t have let him be a team leader. I kept making excuses for Julian, and I kept thinking that it wasn’t fair for me to break up their friendship just because things had ended badly between us. I mean, I pursued him.”
Scarlett crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.
“But I should have told Grayson. He would have been kind about it. And maybe all of this would have turned out differently.” Maddie blinked back tears. I put my hand on her arm. Scarlett’s eyes followed the movement.
“I said I’ll think about it.”
