Chapter 23

Monday

"That brings us to our next topic," Liza said. She pressed a button on her phone and the picture of Miles disappeared. "We need to figure out who the mysterious Mr. Crawford is."

I wrapped my arms around myself and rejoined them at the table. Maybe analyzing my life was easy for them, but it wasn't for me. And just thinking about alienating Miles made me feel so cold. I had accidentally done that before. I wasn't going to do it again. Not when I finally knew the truth about what had happened. He hadn't abandoned me at all. In reality, he and his mom were the only ones who even cared whether or not I was still breathing.

"Earth to Summer," Liza said and waved her hand in front of my face.

"What?" Apparently I had missed something.

"How did you say you got in touch with Mr. Crawford in the first place?"

"I didn't. He approached me on the way to my shift at the local diner back home one day. He said he had been sent by the foster care system to check up on me. He claimed that they had recently been notified of the abuse."

"And you believed him? Don't those people usually come to the house to check in with kids?"

"I thought maybe because of the abuse he didn't want Don to be present." I knew it sounded stupid now. But in the moment, it felt like someone was finally on my side.

"Plus, if he worked for the foster care system, why didn't you think it was odd that he was also handling your time at the witness protection program? Clearly all red flags."

"I was scared. The day before Mr. Crawford came, Don had tried to kill me. I didn't think..."

"No, you didn't think at all." Liza pushed her glasses up her nose. "Well, he's definitely not a member of either the foster care system or the witness protection program. And we don't have any photos because he never set foot in Don's house. Or else Eli may have actually been of some use."

Eli leaned back in his chair. "Tear me apart all you want. But cut her some slack, Liza. You know what she's been through."

"I just don't understand what kind of person blindly follows a strange man when they've been previously assaulted," Liza said. "That's insane."

"He promised that I'd be safe," I said quietly. The now familiar chill seemed to run down my spine and I looked over at V. He hadn't said a word since the discussion of Mr. Crawford had begun. And he had said those exact words to me about an hour ago, promising me something he couldn't really ensure. It couldn't be him though, could it? I had just thought about the fact that V seemed older than the boys my age. But Mr. Crawford was probably in his forties. That was too old, right? V couldn't be older than 40.

V locked eyes with me, as if sensing my question.

"We need more to go off of than hair color, possible age, and height," Liza said. "Think, Summer."

I pressed my lips together. Mr. Crawford had been tall too. Possibly the same height. "V..."

"It's not me," his voice rumbled.

Liza turned to him too. "And that's the kind of thing we could rule out if you'd take off your mask." It looked like she was undressing him with her eyes as she scanned him from head to toe. She was looking at him like a piece of meat more than Miles had ever looked at me that way.

"It's not me," V repeated. "I didn't know who Sadie Davis was until she came to New York."

I thought about the things he seemed to know about me. About how he refused to call me Summer Brooks. He didn't say it because he didn't have to. He didn't know Sadie Davis until she came to this city. But he had known Summer Brooks. He knew me. The real me. I wanted to press the issue but I didn't want to cause another fight. I needed to know who he was. Maybe I had more than just Miles to hold on to from my past. I could really use another friendly face.

V turned his head away from me. "But I did see Mr. Crawford. Sadie and him walked into a coffee shop together across from campus on move in day. And then they left separately. I'd recognize him if I saw him again."

"You were watching me even then?" I asked.

"Yes." He still didn't look back at me.

"When you went to my bank, then, it wasn't just a coincidence?" I already knew the answer. I had known it all along.

"I was looking for information."

"And?"

"And nothing. I got distracted."

"So were you there for the bank robbers or something else?"

"I wanted to trace the bank transfer to your account. The men robbing the place was a perk. But they didn't have a connection to Don like I had hoped. And really they just ruined my shot at figuring out more information."

"I've already looked into the deposits," Liza said. "Her parents did leave her a trust fund and had really high life insurance policies. And she got her grandmother's inheritance too. It all came straight from their accounts, no middle man that I could find."

"So maybe Mr. Crawford's just a good Samaritan," Eli said. "Maybe he was a banker or something and found out her inheritance was about to unfreeze because she was turning 18."

Liza shook her head. "And found her how? With a new name and a new address, the police couldn't even locate her."

"So it was someone who knew about my kidnapping?" I wrapped my arms back around myself. "I don't believe that. He wasn't like Don or any of his hit men. He was kind." I didn't feel the flames when I was beside him.

"You just said yourself that you were scared. Maybe you just saw what you wanted to believe."

"You're looking in the wrong place. He was just undercover or something. Like Eli." I pointed to him. "Couldn't you do some digging? Look through your channels or whatever?"

"He's not a cop," Eli said. "I already ran it in the database. Unless he was using a fake name, which is highly possible."

"See. Fake name," I said. "He's probably a cop too. I mean...why else would he help me?"

"She has a point," Eli said. "There's no reason why one of Don's men would help her and risk putting themselves against the rest of the mafia. It doesn't add up, Liza."

"Fine. I'll look into some other things and see what I can find. But like I said, he doesn't work for either office he claimed to, at least with the last name Crawford. And I can't do much without a picture. I'm assuming you didn't snap one when you were spying on them in the coffee shop?" she said to V.

He shook his head. "You've hacked my phone enough times to know that I didn't."

She laughed. It was the first time I had heard her laugh all night.

"Fair enough," Liza said.

"I'm glad you think that's funny." V folded his arms across his chest.

"I can help you fine tune some of your security if you'd like."

"You're welcome to everything here. I can show you Athena too," V said.

"Great." Liza's cheeks turned slightly red as she pushed her glasses up her nose. "Is now a good time?"

He nodded. "Unless there's anything else we need to go over? Liza and I can do a little more digging about the mysterious Sadie Davis countdown and Mr. Crawford."

I was pretty sure I had just witnessed how Liza asked someone out on a date. V didn't seem to believe me when I told him Liza had a crush on him. But it was completely obvious to me and he had just unknowingly agreed to a date with her. Or maybe he did it knowingly. I was surprised when a small twinge of jealousy seared through me. What is wrong with me? V had already told me that we could just enjoy our borrowed time together. And I had already decided that I was putting the brakes on that. Either way, I didn't want to stick around to watch Liza flirting with him the rest of the night.

"Sounds good," Eli said. "We should probably get going anyway. I have an early class tomorrow." He stood up. "You ready to go, Summer?"

"I'm actually staying here."

Eli laughed. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

"No, I mean, I brought all my stuff. I'm staying here for the next few days. Just until we figure out what's going on with Sadie Davis." I didn't want this to turn into a fight. It wasn't that I didn't feel safe when I was with Eli or anything like that. I bit the inside of my lip. Or was that exactly the reason why I preferred staying here?

"You can just spend the night at my place. It's not a big deal."

"She's not leaving," V said. "We'll see you tomorrow, same time."

It looked like Eli was going to argue, but he immediately closed his mouth before any words came out.

I let go of the breath that I had been holding.

Eli leaned down and whispered in my ear. "Call me if you feel at all uncomfortable. I know that you trust this guy, but we don't know who he is. Just say the words and I'll be back." He placed a soft kiss against my cheek.

And for the first time, I didn't feel the flames. I wasn't sure if it was because I finally knew who he really was or because my feelings had shifted. For some reason, though, I wasn't at all sure that it was a good thing.

"Goodnight everyone," Eli said with a wave.

"Night!" Liza said cheerily. "So, um, about the processors..." her voice trailed off as she stared at V. She ran her fingers through her hair and they got caught in the tangles halfway down and she had to awkwardly pull her hand out.

Smooth.

V turned to me. I wasn't sure if he was going to invite me to do more research with them, but I cut him off before he got a chance to say what was on his mind.

"Is it alright if I head up to the roof?"

He eyed me curiously. "Why?"

"I just...want some fresh air."

"You're welcome to join us," he said.

"Psh." Liza waved her arm. "It's just boring stuff. And we can handle the rest of the research. Right, V? Have fun on the roof!" she quickly added before V could respond.

I stood up before V could try to get me to stay, partially wondering if he even wanted me to. I shook my head to try to rid that jealous feeling that was creeping into my mind. Earlier today I had told him he should date Liza. Maybe he was following my own stupid advice.

"Have a good evening, Sadie," Athena said as I approached the exit. The window slowly rose in front of me.

"Um, thanks, you too," I said awkwardly and looked up at the speaker above my head. That was the first time she had ever been nice to me. Maybe she just took some time to adjust to people. I turned around to see if maybe V had told Athena to say that.

My heart stopped beating for a moment. V was staring directly at me. Liza was talking beside him, but he definitely wasn't engaging in the conversation. It felt like my insides were melting. I quickly turned around and climbed out the window.