Gabriel gave it.
Ricky handed him back the gun. Then he took the cartridge from his pocket and passed it over.
"You'll need this," he said.
"The gun wasn't loaded?"
Ricky snorted and continued down the corridor. "I trust you, Gabriel. But I'm not crazy."
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
The knife at my throat wasn't nearly as heart-stopping as it should have been. Okay, maybe my heart did skip a beat, but my body moved straight into survival mode, thanks again to Ricky's training. Also thanks to the fact that Melanie wasn't exactly skilled with a blade.
I grabbed her arm and wrenched it from my neck before she could do more than gasp. This time, though, she didn't release the knife. Her wrist flicked, the tip of the blade catching me. The bullet wound in my side blazed as I twisted, and blood from the knife slice welled up along my forearm, but I kept pulling her down, my other hand going to grab hers, both of us gripping the knife, her trying to slash, me madly struggling to break her hold in any way--
Bone snapped. Her wrist. She let out a howl of pain, and from somewhere through the next doorway I heard an answering cry. But we were already grappling on the floor, the knife knocked aside, the two of us locked in a hold, Melanie grabbing my hair with her good hand, me kneeing her as I gripped her broken wrist, squeezing until she yowled in pain and--
"Gods, Pepper," Melanie's voice said from some distant place. "Stop being such a baby. We all need to pull our weight."
I was standing in a room. Sunset glowed through the window. Melanie was getting dressed for the hunt, wriggling into a miniskirt, while Pepper watched and nibbled at her lip.
"I don't like him," Pepper said. "I'm sorry, Mel. I can't. Not him. Can't I go with you? I like that better. It's easier."
"This isn't about what you like," Melanie snapped. "It's survival. When you come with me, I do the work and you get to share the reward. That's not fair."
"Can we go back to how we did it before? I'm good at picking pockets. I bring in more money than anyone else. I do more chores, too. That's fair, isn't it?"
Melanie turned, sighing, and put her arm around Pepper. "I know, ee mikri mou. That is fair. But after nearly getting shot in that drive-by last month, I realized if I'm gone, you need to be able to take care of yourself--to feed yourself. We'll still mostly do it the old way. You bring in the money and do extra chores, and you can share my feedings. But now and then, you need to feed yourself. Show me you can do it."
Pepper nodded, her gaze dropping. "Okay."
Melanie hugged her. "I'm only trying to protect you. You understand that, right, Pep?"
Another nod.
"This guy is a creep, but he's an easy mark. Let him take you to his cabin for the weekend, and you'll get plenty of food with little effort." She winked and nudged Pepper. "Believe me, very little effort. Five seconds and he's done. Now get yourself dolled up and I'll see you on Monday."
The vision broke, and I found myself under Melanie, my fingers still around her wrist, hers still in my hair, both of us frozen.
"You sent Pepper to that guy," I said. "The one who hurt her."
Melanie's eyes went wide as she realized what I'd seen. Then she snarled, "That was my memory! You stole--"
"You set her up."
"No! I sent her on an easy job. He'd never done anything like that before. I would never have let her go if I had any clue--"
"But you still blame yourself. That's what all this is about. You did this to her, and now you're determined to fix it, at any cost."
"Melanie! No!" It was Aunika's voice, and I glanced up to see her racing into the room with Pepper, a cut rope still dangling from one of Aunika's wrists.
Pepper saw us and her eyes rounded. She let out a howl and raced toward us, and I braced for her to attack me, but instead she grabbed the back of Melanie's shirt, pulling her off me.
Still blinded with rage, Melanie lashed out with her good hand. The blow caught Pepper in the knees and sent her toppling backward. Her head struck the wall with a dull thwack.
Melanie scrambled off me and raced to Pepper's side. She dropped beside her, grabbing her limp hand and saying, "No, baby. No. Please. I didn't mean...I never meant..."
She kept apologizing as I scooped up the blade. Aunika lowered herself beside Pepper, checked her vital signs, and said, "She's alive," and Melanie collapsed, sobbing.