“What makes you think that?” he asked.

“The way you looked at him at the house.”

“Oh? And how exactly did I look at him?”

“Like the single most important thing left in your life had suddenly been stolen from you. It didn’t have to go down that way, you know.”

“You’re right. It didn’t.” Sebastian turned his attention back to her. “If you had given Frank the information when he asked, then—”

“Sell your bullshit to someone else.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” Ellie’s voice was calm but firm. “I insisted on speaking to you and only you because I wanted you to hear everything from me and not thirdhand. Things easily get lost in translation that way, and sometimes people forget to pass along important information. You would have had questions, and I was the only one who could answer them.”

“And pick up the reward, while you were at it.”

“A reward that you were offering. So, yeah, I wanted an audience with you, to make sure I got credit. That’s just smart business. What isn’t smart, what was downright stupid, was that show you put on at the house.”

“Where you saved my life.”

“Again, smart business.”

“Thank you, by the way.”

“You’re welcome.” Ellie sipped some of her coffee. Her brain was alert, firing on all cylinders—firing smoothly, in fact. Yet another benefit of Pandora, she guessed. “We should discuss next steps.”

“You’ll get the reward when I get Paul. I pay all my debts.” He leveled her with a cold glare. “Each and every last one.”

“I wasn’t referring to the reward.”

Sebastian said nothing, waited for her to explain.

Ellie drank some more coffee. Standing before her was the man who had created Pandora—ran the whole operation, from stem to stern. He had donors—maybe a dozen, maybe two dozen, maybe a whole lot more—and he knew where they were. He knew their names, maybe, and if he didn’t, they were listed somewhere. Maybe her brother was one of them, maybe not. Regardless, she wasn’t about to let him out of her sight.

“Way I see it,” she said, “your main problem right now is Paul. He’s a major threat not only to your life but also to your operation. We’ve got to deal with him now—the sooner, the better.”

Sebastian said nothing, which didn’t come as much of a surprise. She had told him things he already knew—basic, commonsense facts. Ellie said, “Anton knew where I live, so it’s safe to assume Paul does, too. So I can’t go home, and I can’t go back to work. Are we at the Wellness Center?”

“We are.”

Which solidified her original theory that the transfusions did, in fact, take place at the Wellness Center. I must be on one of the top floors, she thought.

“Anton knew I work here, which means Paul does, too. Since he’s still alive, this place is a target.”

“I’m very well aware of that, thank you.”

“Point I’m trying to make,” Ellie said, “is that I want Paul gone just as much as you do. I don’t want to live my life constantly looking over my shoulder.”