When Villains Rise (Market of Monsters #3) - Rebecca Schaeffer Page 0,72
down at the email. “Do you want me to tell her who her savior was?”
Kovit stared at the email for a long moment, then shook his head. “No. If it won’t make her recant her statement, there’s no point.”
Nita lifted an eyebrow. “You don’t want her to think you feel guilty?”
“Why should I care what she thinks of me?” He sounded genuinely baffled. “If you think that me pretending to feel guilty will make her switch to our side, I’ll play whatever tune you need me to. But I see no point in making her believe I feel guilty when I don’t and there’s no benefit.”
Nita let her fingers fall. Sometimes Nita thought Kovit might actually feel some sort of guilt for his actions, especially after he’d sent the warning to Mirella yesterday. But then she would be reminded starkly that he really didn’t, and all her thoughts about that were just Nita projecting, wishing he felt guilty because it would make everything a little less terrible.
“All right,” Nita said, and didn’t press further.
Kovit sat down on the bed and then lay back, staring at the ceiling. “I should have killed her.”
“We’d be dead too, then,” Nita responded absently, flipping through the phone she’d taken from Henry. “She’s the reason we made it to the docks at Tabatinga after the market blew up. She unwittingly saved your life.”
He didn’t respond, and Nita didn’t expect him to.
Nita went to the cloud where she’d first seen all those videos Henry had been blackmailing Kovit with. There were hundreds of them, spanning years. She didn’t know if the whole file, en masse, had been shared with INHUP, but this looked like all the recordings he’d ever taken. Which gave her an idea.
“Look, right now, Mirella isn’t important.” Nita turned to him. “She’s a revolutionary in a fringe part of the world most people don’t know or care about. People are already online calling her accusations lies to get attention for her cause. What’s important is INHUP, which will release videos of you soon. What’s important is that we control the narrative they’re trying to build.” Nita’s voice was firm. “They need time to make sure everything is in order before releasing the videos. We don’t.”
He frowned. “What are you saying?”
“We’re going to release them first.”
Kovit stared at her, face blank. “What?”
“Everyone is questioning INHUP right now. It’s the perfect time to show them how broken the Dangerous Unnaturals List is.”
“By showing them videos of me as a child torturing people?” He laughed, high and light. “Somehow I don’t think that will make them sympathetic.”
Nita smiled softly. “It won’t. Not if INHUP decides on the videos to release. But if you and I pick just the right video, we can change the narrative.”
“How?”
“There are hundreds of videos here. You worked for the Family for years.” She licked her lips and then gently asked, “Was there any time you refused to hurt someone? Any time you resisted?”
He gave her a skeptical look. “I rather enjoyed those torture sessions. They were the best part of my life.”
“I’m sure,” Nita said, sliding past that and trying not to think too hard about it. “But you have rules. Henry must have broken them once or twice before Matt. Didn’t you tell me once about a Family member who wanted you to torture some girl who didn’t want to have sex with him?”
Kovit blinked slowly, thoughtfully. “There were a few incidents.”
Nita handed him the phone. “This is all Henry’s videos on the cloud. Find one. Find one we can use to paint you as sympathetic. The younger you are in it, the better. I want it to look like you were beaten into this path, not like you were willing. Coercion of a minor is a crime—if they can prove force, you’re not culpable.”
He gave her a look. “I’m very culpable.”
She rolled her eyes. “I know that.” She leaned closer. “But the truth doesn’t matter. We’re crafting a story. They’re going to try and prove you’re a monster, so we want to try and make people believe you’re a tragic victim instead.”
He frowned down at the phone. “Do you really think people will believe that?”
“People will believe what you tell them to believe. You’re young, attractive, and have a tragic past. We can spin this. People love a tragic past and a reformed monster.” She shrugged. “I know it’s not true, but it’s as true as the monster mask you wore in the Family.”