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
Gold leaned heavily on her crutch. “The first time I saw someone try to kill my father, I was twelve. It was a woman in her early twenties. Her husband was a bruiser for my father, but he’d . . . made a mistake and been sent to Kovit. When he came home, he was missing some critical pieces.”
Gold closed her eyes, and the light danced on her cheeks. “I still remember the sounds of her bones crunching as Kovit twisted them round in the socket until they popped out. My father told Kovit that she didn’t need to survive, that she was going to send a message to anyone who dared go against him.”
She met Nita’s eyes. “People are afraid of my father. Most people, they don’t dare try anything. But there’s always a few who have more hate and anger than fear, who try to kill him. They’ve never succeeded, because my father has guards. He knows how to play the game.
“But Kovit? Kovit has you. And how long he has you, I don’t know. One day, someone will have more anger than fear, and they will come, and they will kill him.”
Gold’s gaze was steady. “And on that day, I will light a candle for the loss of the friend who could have been, and then I will celebrate the death of the monster that was.”
Seven
THE BLEE-BLEE-BLEE BLEE-BLEE-BLEE of the alarm jolted Nita awake the next morning. It hurt to open her eyes, like there were broken grains of glass behind her eyelids, so she didn’t. She pawed around for her cell phone and swiped at it blearily, hoping that she’d turned it off instead of just snoozed it.
Beside her Kovit moaned softly and pressed his face into her shoulder, as though hiding from the sound. “It’s too early to get up.”
“We have places to be.” Nita rubbed her eyes and sat up. Her hands were sticky with duct tape glue from tying Gold up last night. “We have to meet your sister.”
His eyes snapped open, and Nita regretted reminding him so quickly. His whole body was tight with nerves.
“It’ll be fine,” Nita whispered, gently putting a hand on his shoulder.
He gave her a shaky smile. “I don’t even know what I’m more afraid of. That she hates me, or that she doesn’t. That she’ll still love me, and I’ll only have a week to see her before . . .”
Before INHUP put his face up. Before the world turned on him and butchered him.
Nita swallowed. “Don’t think of that.”
His smile was bitter. “Kind of hard not to.”
Nita sighed. She couldn’t blame him. Wasn’t she just as consumed with her fear over the black market, the release of that damn video of her online?