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any of your business, but no, he’s my best friend.” I cough and take another sip of water. “Did I talk about anything else? You know, while I was in there?”
    “Only about your mother and how she died. I’m sorry.”
    I frown but I do have a vague recollection of begging June to let me leave. “It was a long time ago. She had a brain tumor.” I pause, hesitating. “Did I say anything else? About… Cale?”
    Caden shakes his head, and my relief is so great I can feel my entire body relax in my next breath. But it is too soon. He is struggling with the lie, I can see it in his eyes. The dread fills me again.
    “Tell me,” I say. “I won’t get mad, I promise.”
    “You said, ‘I’m sorry I failed you. Sorry I didn’t come back right away.’ Or something like that.” A pause, and then Caden’s green eyes meet and hold mine. “Is he OK?”
    “No.”
    My voice is so quiet that Caden strains forward to hear it. Unthinkingly, I tuck the lock of hair back over his ear. Something in his eyes flares at my touch. I hardly notice what I’ve done, but it doesn’t matter. Suddenly everything is so clear that it feels like I can see for days… the clarity that comes after a fever breaks. I take a deep breath and things become even clearer.
    Caden isn’t Cale.
    I know what I have to do .
    My sense of conviction is so strong that Caden shies away instinctively, a far cry from the warmth I’d felt from him just before. My mask is back, my chilling words matching the icy hardness he must see on my face. It is a reflex action almost, the sudden shape of my purpose here. I don’t question the calmness that settles into me; in fact, it feels like old, comfortable clothing. It’s as if everything inside of me has somehow been magically reset… who I am, my duty, my mission.
    And my mission is to secure the target.
    I shake my head slowly. “I was wrong before. I haven’t failed him. I’ve found what he needs, and I will get it to him.” The words are hopping on my tongue, burning to get out. “There is nothing, dead or alive, that will stop me.”
     

SECRETS
     
    “Riven, you look wonderful. I can’t believe that brace is off your ankle already!”
    June’s face is welcoming and warm at the door, but I steel myself against it. I am not here to make friends or have any further doubts as to why I’m here. Still, I don’t want to be rude when she opens the door wide and invites me inside.
    “Good genes,” I acknowledge with a small smile, hovering near the entrance. “I can’t stay, but wanted to come by to say thank you, and also to get my bike. I’m OK to ride now,” I assure her hurriedly as her brows begin to knit together. “I’m really alright. I can walk, run, everything’s back to normal.”
    “I’m not comfortable with you getting on a motorcycle this soon. Especially one that was in an accident barely a week ago. Not to mention what else happened – the shock and fainting.”
    “June, I’m fine. It was only stress, and I’ve been taking better care of myself. Plus, Cade told me that Jake checked out the bike already,” I interject hastily. “Really, I’ve been riding that thing forever, and I’m safer on that than in anything on four wheels. And my ankle’s fine, I swear.”
    June shoots me a skeptical look. “Just let me have a quick look to be sure. It will make me feel better.” Knowing that getting out of there will be a lot easier if I just let her look for herself, I nod and sit on the chair closest to me. Her fingers are warm against my skin as she gently feels along the bones and then twists my ankle to the left and right. “Any pain?”
    I shake my head. “It’s been fine for a few days now.”
    “Good genes,” she says repeating my earlier words and then frowns. “Maybe I was wrong about the torn ligament; could have been just a mild sprain that looked worse than it was.” She checks my eyes, heart rate, and blood pressure. “All good, too.”
    I can see