Francesca's Game

I sighed deeply. "So you have heard? What he did?" I asked.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a huff of frustration. "Everyone heard. It made national headlines," she said. "But even if we digress, what about what he did to you?" she asked. "I heard that too."

I did not like the pity in her voice; it took me back briefly to the vulnerable, broken girl that I had once been. I was no longer the pariah, Zoraya Carter. I was Agent Zoraya Pierce. I had to remind myself not to delve too deeply into the haunting memories.

"It is all in the past," I unwittingly mirrored what Louis had said. "Times have changed."

She noticed the change in my tone and said nothing. We sat there for a few moments in awkward silence.

"Tell me this is for revenge for what he did to you," Sandra said, cutting through the silence. "You are only pretending; you are getting close to him to destroy him, aren't you?"

I hid my true expression under a mask of casual neutrality. "That is actually absurd, Sandr