Way more evil than Brendal ever was.

Tori glanced at her phone. But everyone thought she and Sarah were the evil ones.

How would she ever make them see otherwise? Her mom swore she was going to help, but Tori wasn’t sure she could fix this no matter how much she wanted to.

Maybe Sarah had been the smart one when she’d tried to free herself from all this insanity.

Why should Tori hang around? She no longer had any friends. She had gotten completely ugly the past few months. Too skinny. No boobs. Pimple face. She’d failed a big test. Now she couldn’t even go to school.

Her life was over anyway.

The tears rushed from her eyes. The sobs rose and tore out of her.

“Tori? Sweetie, you okay?” Diana appeared at the door.

Tori shook her head. “No. I’m not okay. And I don’t know what to do.”

Diana hurried to the bed and sat down beside her. She pulled Tori into her arms. “You tell me whatever you’re thinking, precious girl. Don’t hold anything back.”

The words spewed out of Tori on violent sobs. She wasn’t sure they would ever stop.

Not until she was empty.

32

1:50 p.m.

Brighton Academy

Seventh Avenue

Birmingham

For such an elite private school, the security was surprisingly lax. The guard had waved Sadie through the maintenance entrance as if they were old friends. It helped that she wore coveralls with the Southern Comfort Heating and Air logo. Drove one of their trucks too. Sadie had all sorts of friends who owed her favors.

She supposed the truck and getup or maybe her big smile kept the guard from checking with the office to see if anyone had called for HVAC maintenance. Complacency. Never a good thing.

She’d gone from floor to floor, room to room, checking thermostats until she’d found Alice Cortez in an art room. Sadie took her time removing the thermostat from the wall and pretending to examine the device.

As closely as possible she watched Alice interact with the other students. Observed her mannerisms and listened to her speech in hopes of noting something familiar. Her voice sounded vaguely recognizable, but it had been more than four years since she’d been in the same room with the child of Eduardo Osorio.

Her dark eyes . . . the shape of her nose and chin were Eddie. No question. But he wasn’t the only Hispanic man with big brown eyes and full lips to pass along to his offspring. If this Alice was Isabella, she was still as beautiful as she had been as a much smaller child.

Just then Alice whirled around and said something to the girl behind her. That move, the little ballerina-like twirl was so familiar.

Dark eyes bumped hers, and Sadie looked away. She definitely did not want to get caught staring at one of these kids.

She should get the hell out of here. She’d seen enough.

As quickly as possible, with her fingers suddenly fumbling, she mounted the thermostat back on the wall and hit “Reset.”

“What’s your name?”

Sadie froze.

The other kids were still chattering and laughing, but not Alice. Alice stood right next to her. Sadie had no idea where the teacher had gone. What kind of teacher left a stranger in the room with her class?

Knowing she couldn’t pretend she hadn’t heard the girl, Sadie kept her focus on the device and said, “Mel. What’s yours?”

“Alice.”

The girl stared at her as if expecting some response.

“I like your eyes.”

The words radiated through Sadie, through time . . . she had heard those words from this girl before.

“They’re so gray, they’re almost blue. Like a stormy sea. I love the sea. Do you?”

“Sure.” Sadie grabbed her tool bag and backed away. “Have a nice day, kid.”

She was almost to the door when a hand tugged at her sleeve. Sadie froze again, her hand wrapped around the doorknob. She’d almost gotten away.

“Do I know you?” Alice asked.

“Doubtful.” Sadie opened the door and walked out.

If the girl followed her into the corridor, she was going to run.

Thankfully she did not.

Sadie walked as quickly as possible toward the stairs. She didn’t want to break into a run, but she was damned tempted. Sweat had broken out on her skin. Dread clawed at her throat. Her heart thumped a frantic drumbeat.

She hadn’t gone into all-out panic mode in more than a year. She was damned well headed there now.

The girl had recognized her on some level.

Sadie gritted her teeth and slid into the borrowed truck. She spotted the security guard headed across the parking lot as she rammed into drive and burst out of the parking slot. Rather than keep going, she braked, took a breath, and powered the window down. Stay calm. Do this right.

“System checked out fine. There was one thermostat offline, but it’s all good now.”

The guard narrowed his gaze, then nodded. “Thanks for the update.”

She powered her window up and rolled away. He wouldn’t be so thankful when he reported to the office and no one could recall a work order for the HVAC system.

Still struggling to get the panic under control, Sadie drove the ten minutes required to reach the building where her friend and his team were installing a new system. She shed the coveralls, tossed them into the seat, and left the truck. She waved a thanks to him and climbed into her Saab and drove away.

She needed to know for sure who this girl was.

More than that she needed a drink.

But she wasn’t going there. Sober was necessary right now. She’d had that one lapse the other night, and she wasn’t about to allow it to happen again.

Calm down. Slow, deep breaths. Keep it rational. Think clearly, logically.

Could Alice Cortez be Isabella Osorio? The age was right. The features.

Had the old man sent her here for protection of some sort? There was growing unrest in the region over which he reigned. The old man’s time on this earth was limited. Others were champing at the bit to take over as the leader of the largest cartel in Mexico, with a reach that extended all the way to Canada. For that to happen, any remaining heirs would have to be eliminated.

Images of the child in the mask—the one that had haunted her for the past four-plus years—expanded in Sadie’s head.

Take my hand and you’ll be invisible.

Sadie blinked. Turned up the radio to block the voice.

Can’t be her. Osorio wouldn’t send her here . . . not this close to Sadie. Not after what she’d done. The idea that he might not know Sadie was in Birmingham was ludicrous. He would know. He hadn’t successfully grown the largest drug cartel in Mexico because he was stupid or shortsighted.