And Micah and Javier went to all that trouble to scare the shit out of me last night, and to what end? So they could keep me from undoing men who are intent on being undone? Lander and Travis are making all of our subversive tactics and threats completely irrelevant. It’s just not right.

When I get to my apartment I throw my purse onto my bed next to the duffel bag. It feels odd leaving thousands of dollars in cash in my apartment, but then again no one in their right mind would think to look for that kind of cash in this particular rat hole.

“It’s all right,” I whisper to myself. “It’s only stage one.” And it’s true. Travis is using me as a double agent against Lander, and Lander is using me as a double agent against Travis. Neither one of them seems to be able to grasp the fact that I’m my own agent working exclusively for myself. I’m the only one with a bird’s-eye view of the game.

That’s stage one.

And while Travis has his fur up over Lander, he’s completely oblivious to the quiet setup I’m orchestrating from Jessica’s computer.

Although Travis seems hell-bent on making that job easier for me too. I don’t know what keeps Travis and Jessica together, but if he wants her to disappear he’s going to get his wish.

And Travis will never see it coming.

Of course, it’ll look more believable once I know what shady dealings he’s involved in. Then I can make it look like Jessica knows too, and of course she might. But what’s important is that I’ll make it look like she might be on the verge of spilling the secrets. Jessica’s posts about spousal abuse will be damning, but to ensure that someone of Travis’s means actually goes to prison I’ll need to show that he has something to gain from the murder and a lot to lose if he doesn’t go through with it. And once they convict him of the white-collar stuff it’ll be so much easier to believe that he lost control in other areas as well.

A little truth, a little fiction. It’s a potent and delicious dish that I’ve stolen directly from the Gables’ recipe book.

I sit on the bed and carefully open the duffel bag. Fifteen thousand dollars . . . Considering what Micah thinks he’s buying the price seems a little low. Then again, he doesn’t really need to pay me anything. If I were capable of complying, his threats would have been enough. But I can’t comply. It would go against my very nature. So no amount of money would do the trick.