Chapters (52)
- Copyright
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Acknowledgments
- Read More from the Market of Monsters Series
- More Books from HMH Teen
- About the Author
- Connect with HMH on Social Media
She raised her eyes and met his. “I don’t care about anyone in the world except those close to me. You could skin the fucking pope alive, and as long as I didn’t have to see it, I wouldn’t care. Because he means nothing to me, and you mean everything.”
His eyes flicked back and forth over her face, and then he reached out and linked his fingers with hers.
“Nita,” he breathed softly, “what could I ever have done to deserve someone like you in my life?”
“There’s no ‘deserving’ involved.” Nita smiled, sharp and sly. “Sometimes bad things happen to good people.” His expression of confusion was adorable. “And sometimes,” she continued, cupping his face in her hands, “good things happen to bad people.”
He stared at her a moment, then burst into laughter, breaking away from her, his sides shaking as he laughed and winced in pain. When he finally stilled, he lifted his eyes to hers, his gaze soft and dark.
He raised a finger and traced the outline of her cheekbone, and she caught his hand with hers and wove her fingers through his so their palms were pressed flat against each other, linking them. She leaned forward so their foreheads were pressed together, drinking in the warmth of his body against hers.
They might both be terrible, and the world might want them dead, but they had each other. Sometimes, that was all that mattered.
Forty-Five
KOVIT SLEPT QUIETLY, his heart monitor beeping softly. Outside, the moon hung high in the sky, and the faint glow of the streetlights barely penetrated the darkness of the hospital room. The door to the room was open a crack, and Nita stood just outside it, in the hallway, bathed in fluorescent lights.
It was the middle of the night, and though the hallway was lit as bright as daylight, Nita was the only person there. The rest of the ward was fast asleep, and there were only a few nurses in this wing, most of them at the desk down the hall and around the corner, chatting. Nita had checked on them earlier.
She stared down at her phone, second- and third- and fourth-guessing her decision, trying to poke holes in it, questioning whether this was truly her best option. But in the end, however many misgivings she had, she knew this was the right choice.
Pride only got you so far. Nita wasn’t going to let hers keep her away from her dreams, or from her survival. She called, lifting the phone to her ear as she waited, tapping one foot against the floor in a small physical sign of her nerves.
Adair picked up on the third ring. “Hello?”
“Hey. It’s Nita.”
Static on the other end of the line, and then, “I haven’t heard from you in a while.”
“It’s been busy here. I imagine you’ve heard the news?”