Her dread was feasting on her thoughts, a dark dive into all the ways this could go wrong. She’d bought the top on the strip: sleeveless, with a high neck. I don’t want to have to pat you down. He liked to toy with women, hurt them, but what he was doing wasn’t sexual, she was convinced of that. Rainy—Summer—knew the verbal cues of a sexual predator; the way interaction with them made you feel violated and probed without ever being touched. She’d always got that feeling from Taured; that’s why her gut told her this wasn’t him. Nothing about Paul gave her pervert vibes; no, he was creatively angry. She had a theory, and she’d checked the articles about Sara and Feena on her laptop from the hotel: neither of them had been sexually assaulted. He wasn’t a rapist, he was a murderer.

The car reached the curb.

Overthinking is not a practical thing for an impulsive person to do. Fifteen years of therapy had trained the impulse to ask permission, to wait in a corner like an eager but well-trained dog. But for fifteen years, her fury had been closing in, and now there was nowhere to go but into the impulse.

Rainy slid cash through the window slot.

“No change.”

The driver held up his hand in thanks and she slipped out, dragging her duffel with her.

She looked down at her phone, at the last text he’d sent her.

At seven p.m., go to the buffet at the Greenery. There you’ll find a room key. You’ll know it when you see it. Go into the room, drink what I’ve left you, then lie on the bed. If anything happens to me, no one will be able to find Braithe in time to save her life. So before you act, remember that you’re not the one in control. One wrong move and she’s dead. I am the only one with access to Braithe.

She was breathing through her mouth: in and out, trying to calm herself. Paul, Paul—the name bothered her. Had she known a Paul at the compound? But again...there was no way he was using his real name. She supposed Taured could still be behind all of this, luring her here with one of his guys, but somehow, it didn’t feel that way to Rainy. Paul was acting on his own anger, playing his own game. The men who did Taured’s bidding weren’t witty or explosive: they were reliable soldiers.