“You slandered him!” My voice shakes as I scream at her. “He was a good person and an excellent lawyer, and you shredded his reputation.”

Emi doesn’t flinch. “It wasn’t me.”

“You said he had an enemy list a mile long,” I say as proof.

“He did. Watch the clips. I never spoke against him.”

I try to remember who said what, which reporters said the worst things, but it all blurs together as the worst time in my life.

“Look, if we started working together, maybe we could get a lot farther than either of us has been able to do on our own.”

“Work with you? You’re a reporter.”

“And you’re sixteen. Not my idea of a perfect scenario, but neither is living in a city where organized crime controls mobs of teenagers who attack and kill people.”

I stare at her, trying to recall her speaking against my dad, the specific words she used that made me hate her so much. She hounded me for an interview, wouldn’t leave me alone, but I can’t think of what she said about my dad. My sense of reality tilts. First Ryan claims to have respected my dad, now her? How is there so much I didn’t know about my dad and who he impacted? I’m not sure whether to feel awed by his ability to motivate people or betrayed that criminals and reporters have insight about him that I don’t.

“Look.” Emi relaxes her face, like she’s trying to calm herself. “I know you don’t like me and probably don’t think you can trust me, but last time I checked there wasn’t a long line of people waiting to take on the Death Mob.”

“Why are you willing to help me? You said it yourself—whoever’s in charge is willing to kill anyone who gets in their way.”

“Because I have access to something your dad didn’t.” She smirks, pausing longer than she needs to, and I wonder whether she’s trying to be dramatic or if it’s just become innate. “A world audience.”

I scoff. “So this is about boosting your ratings.”

“It’s about being smart. Where else are you going to go with everything you know? I assume you were the anonymous call to the CPD. They didn’t exactly help, did they? The state attorney’s office is corrupt, same with the FBI, and at least half the networks that refuse to cover this. Your dad’s case stopped getting the coverage he wanted right before he died. Whatever we find out, we go through my contacts, and we report it to the world. That’s our best protection.”