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Solomon Starbuck was unconscious on the floor, but he was safe, at least. Clay tried to stay calm. They had made it this far. He just needed to get the moon rocks to safety, and he’d be in the clear. The bomber was probably somewhere in the building, but if he moved quickly—
“Hiya, Clay.”
He spun. In the darkness, he saw the face of Apollo Justice.
“Apollo?”
He was holding a knife in one hand and a lighter in the other.
“You’re the spy?”
“That’s me.”
Clay gripped the canister of moon rocks tighter. “No… No. You can’t be.”
“I wish I were joking.”
Clay’s mind spun at a thousand rotations a second. “You were there with me at the first launch…”
“Why do you think I was interested in it at all? You think I was there because I cared about SPACE? About YOU?”
No. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. Clay felt the sensation of all of his organs being knit together. Was there a chance the one person he cared about most in the world never even had any feelings for him?
Apollo went on. “I guess I’m lucky you’re not the human lie detector that I am. You might have caught me at my game. I know you meant every word you’ve ever said to me, but I’ve always lied, straight from the beginning.” He kicked at the ground casually. “I’ve had an agenda my entire life. Pretending to care about you was barely a chore.”
“You’ve been my best friend since I was a kid! And since then, you’ve meant even more to me than that!”
Apollo hesitated.
“I loved you!” Clay shouted.
Suddenly, a flash of sadness shone in Apollo’s eyes like a lit match. But he shook it off and lifted his hand to his face, flicking on his lighter. “Does this look like a face that ever loved you back?”
Clay’s entire galaxy was being challenged, it was all too much, and he didn’t have time to sort out how this could be happening before a knife plunged into his heart. The last emotion Clay felt was relief: at least he wouldn’t have to live the rest of his life with Apollo having betrayed him.