a security blanket.
“He might know,” Brie whispered. “He questioned me after you left, and I didn’t tell him anything, but we haven’t seen each other since then, and I—I think he knows. We have to do something.”
“You mean go to the police?”
“Exactly.” Brie leveled her gaze with Diane.
“I…” Diane hugged herself and looked away.
“I know you have your reservations because of your past, Diane, but Kai is a bad man. There’s no telling how many people he’s screwed over.”
“I want to help you.” Diane sighed. “I do. It’s just, if you’re asking me to go down to the police right this second, I can’t. I have to go to work. And then I need to go to my parents’ place.”
“Then this afternoon, we’ll go.”
“Um…”
“Seriously?” Brie pushed off of the couch. “This isn’t about you being busy, is it? You’re still into Kai.”
“No, I’m not,” Diane said with more bite than she meant to.
“Yes. You are. Even after what he’s done. You’re refusing to see the truth of the matter.”
“I’m not into Kai.” Diane’s fingers tightened around her forearms. “I don’t want to be involved in any of this. I didn’t ask to find those emails.”
“You not asking doesn’t matter.” Brie waved her hands around. “It’s what happened, and now this is your responsibility.”
Diane’s jaw tightened. Was Brie right? Despite everything that had happened, was she in love with Kai?
“If we don’t report this,” Brie said slowly, “I’m going to suffer for it. When the truth about Kai comes out, people will think that I was involved.”
“Then report it.” Diane threw her hands up.
“I need you to report it.” Brie took a step closer.
“What? Why me?”
“Because.” Brie licked her lips. “It’ll look too suspicious, me going down to the police station. A lot of people know who I am, and Kai knows nearly everyone powerful in the city. If I’m seen there, it’ll get back to him, and he’ll have time to leave town or, I don’t know, frame me or someone else.”
Diane stared at Brie, processing the word salad the other woman had tossed her way.
“You said you wanted me to go to the police station with you,” Diane said.
“I know. I know that’s what I said.” Brie put her hands on Diane’s shoulders. “But the more I think this through, the more I see that’s too dangerous. We’ll go down there together, and I’ll wait nearby. You can give them the emails, but don’t say anything about me. Not yet. It’s too risky.”
“Why wouldn’t I say anything about you?”
Brie made an exasperated noise. “I told you, Diane. It’s too soon, and we don’t know Kai’s full game yet. He could have someone watching me. Hell, he knows I’m onto him. I’m sure of it. He could be working to take me down right now.”
“By that logic, he could have someone watching me as well,” Diane mumbled. “I told him about the emails.”
Brie’s face darkened. “That was not a smart move.”
“Well, I’m sorry, okay?”
Then again, maybe she wasn’t sorry at all. She’d made it clear more than once that she couldn’t jump into this manhunt. She had too many things going on, too much to lose.
“Okay. You’re sorry.” Brie pressed her fingers to her temples. “It’s fine. What’s important is that I’m going to fix this.”
From the coffee table, Diane’s phone rang. Instead of answering it, she went to get Brie a glass of water.
“Everything will be okay,” she said, handing the glass over. “You haven’t committed any crimes, so Kai has nothing on you.”
“You heard me, right? He could blackmail me. That’s why we need to move first.”
Diane twisted her lips. At this point, it felt like they were talking in circles. And what was that whole thing about Brie not being able to be seen at the police department?
It really felt like she wasn’t giving up the full story.
“God,” Brie sighed. “I need a cigarette.”
“You smoke?”
“I gave it up last year.” Brie slipped her purse down her arm and began rummaging through it. “So much for that. I picked it up again the other day.”
She ran a frantic search on the contents of her purse, hands shaking. A mess of things spilled over the side and onto the floor. Lipstick. Cards. Hand sanitizer that popped open and squirted onto the wall.
“Damn it,” Brie hissed.
“It’s okay.” Diane bent to help clean up the mess. She would need to call that day’s client. She was definitely going to be late for work.
“Oh, no. I have it.” Brie got in Diane’s