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I didn't want to tell Tris that I had met Matt. I knew I would eventually need to tell her, but I'd hoped that it would be in person. I had tried to talk to her about her father, wanting to know how their conversation had gone after I left, but somehow she could tell that something is bothering me during our video chat that very night.

"What's wrong?" She asked pointedly, and when I didn't answer she pressed further, "Did something happen after you left Abnegation today?"

"I went to Erudite after your dad asked me to leave today. Remember how I'd told you my childhood friend Brandon has been texting me a lot?" I ask and she nods, "I had coffee with him."

"Did it not go well? Is that why you seem so down?" She asks me.

"No, it didn't go well at all." I sigh, "Tris, there's something I need to tell you about the conversation he and I had."

"Okay..." She trails off, and I see the worry etched on her face, "Just tell me whatever it is, Eric, I can handle it."

"There's a lot, and I'd feel more comfortable talking about it in person."

"Then come back." She replies.

"Your dad-"

"Has gone home to sleep. You can come over, he doesn't come back once he's retired for the evening, and even if he did you could just hide. Please, Eric. Whatever it is, I don't want to worry about it all night." She replies.

"I'll be there soon."

My thoughts are in overdrive entire train ride to Abnegation, and even though Tris and I are still texting I'm afraid that once I tell her exactly what Jeanine is up to, and who Brandon really is, she may pull away.

I didn't realize just how much I wanted her to be mine.

I follow the instructions she gives me to make it to her house without being noticed, and I find Abnegation to be just as quiet as she promised me it would be. It's as if they had curfew, and I'd even asked her about it and she said it was nothing official, but they did tend to stay in after nine pm.

Tris let me in and she offered me a beer, which I gratefully accepted. She takes one for herself and we sit on her couch angled towards each other.

"Just tell me everything. Whatever it is, I'd rather you just give it to me straight." She says.

"I went to Erudite to have coffee with Brandon. He'd been texting me a lot lately, and my curiosity got the better of me, so I met him there. He told me a lot of things, none of which are good."

"About Jeanine?" She asks.

"Yeah. She's had her labs working on a new serum, and Brandon told me she's finally gotten some sort of breakthrough on it. He said it's a long range mind control, and they'd never been able to get it to work, until recently when it worked exactly as intended. Only on certain people." I reply.

"Divergent?" She asks and I shrug my shoulders.

"They can't tell. There's nothing they have that absolutely identifies someone as being divergent, and no one will willingly disclose it. The people she tests on are typically the factionless, where we don't really keep city records on them unless they were born in a faction and became factionless at some point. She's apparently tried giving them aptitude tests, but this group is savvy enough to mask their divergence to protect themselves. So, she's had people studying the 'Needs Review' folder."

"She's going to figure out who's divergent amongst the factions." Tris says slowly, "And if that serum only works on us, like she suspects, she's going to give it to us, right?"

I nod.

"What is she going to make us do?" Tris asks.

"According to Brandon, kill the leaders here so Erudite can take over the city government." I reply and Tris's expression turns hard.

"I'm a leader. How does she think this will work? I'll still be alive once this is done!"

I shake my head, "She can force you to do whatever she wants."

"Oh my God." Tris murmurs, "How does Brandon know all of this?"

"He's one of her leaders." I reply and her eyes meet mine.

"Great," She sighs, "Let me guess, he knows all about Matt and me and gave you an ear full?" She asks.

"Tris, he is Matt. I found out today he uses his middle name now." I slide the business card over to her and she picks it up with shaking hands.

"Eric..." She trails off and I take her hand in mine.

"This changes nothing for you and me." I tell her and she shakes her head.

"He's your best friend-"

"No. Katelynn and Uriah are my best friends. You are my best friend. You are everything and Brandon is nothing. The only reason I'd even talk to him again after learning this is to take Jeanine and Dalton down. He's nothing to me. Nothing."

"You've only known me a few months, you've known him your entire life." She argues.

"Time is irrelevant. What I feel for you is real."

Her hazel eyes meet mine momentarily, but she immediately drops her gaze to the floor.

"I'm so embarrassed." She says quietly.

"Don't be. We all have pasts. You have nothing to be embarrassed about." I remind her, "Tris, I know you well enough to know that look. Please stop. There's nothing from your past that's going to make me leave, okay?"

"Okay." She finally nods, "This is everything?" She asks and I shake my head.

"He wanted to tell you all of this himself, but knows he can't because of the restraining order. He's divorced now and he wants you back." I tell her and her eyes widen.

"Why would you tell me that?" She asks.

"Because unlike other people in your life, I will never hide anything from you. I will always make sure you're fully informed, so you can make the decisions that are best for you."

She moves closer to me, "Did you think that knowing that he's available would change how I feel about you?"

"I'd considered it. You just said it yourself, we've only known each other a few months."

"I don't want to be with him. The only good thing to come out of my experience with Matt is for me to know my own worth. I deserve more." She replies softly.

"Yes, you do." I tell her and I lean in and capture her lips with mine. When we break apart I lean my forehead against hers, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Your brother is also trying to keep Jeanine at bay, but we don't have a lot to go on right now. I'm going to call Jack tomorrow, and get his advice on how we can stop her."

"Why would you just need advice?" She leans away from me, "Why can't Matt go to Jack with what he knows."

"He has no proof other than his word, and Jack's opinion of him isn't great because of his involvement in the restraining order you had to fine once you'd ended your relationship." I admit.

"I might as well have a fucking scarlet A on my chest." She says angrily.

"Jack doesn't blame you, he blames Brandon, and because of that he's very uncomfortable talking to Jack himself. For anyone to bring an accusation against a head faction leader, you have to come with solid proof, or you put yourself at risk of treason."

"So the head leaders get a protective cushion?" She replies with disgust.

I nod, "Which is why Marcus Eaton was able to stay in power for so long." I reply and she nods, "Tris, I'm going to need to work with Brandon and your brother in order to stop Jeanine."

"Stopping her is much more important to me than my past with him." She replies and kisses me softly again, "I trust you."

Having her trust means more to me than she could possibly know.

Jack was actually the first person I talked to the next morning. My friendship with him was strong enough for me to once again ask him for an off the record conversation, and he'd agreed readily. I'd shared with him what Brandon had told me, and surprisingly he wasn't completely shocked. He'd admitted that Jeanine herself had been very subtly trying to sway him to share in her opinion that Abnegation shouldn't hold the ultimate power in the city government.

He was extremely concerned about her serum development, and he finally told me something I didn't want to hear: we needed Jeanine to either get the serum working, or openly admit to what it was going to be used for. If Caleb couldn't get her to admit to it, I may need to work on Max or Jeanine to get the information myself.

I agreed to keep our conversation between us, outside of the insider I had at Erudite. I hadn't told Jack who it was, since he had bad experiences with Brandon/Matt in the past. I'd called Brandon right after my conversation with Jack and explained if there was anything solid he had as proof of her plans, he should gather it, because without it we had little chance of getting her under the truth serum.

Of course he'd asked about Tris.

"She's not interested in rekindling anything with you." I replied firmly.

"Because of you." He replied.

"No, it's because of you. What she and I have isn't preventing her from returning to you. It's what you did to her. I understand holding on to her, I really do, because she's amazing, but she's never going to be yours. If the only reason you're willing to work with me is to get to her, we can stop this right now, and I'll figure out how to take Jeanine down on my own."

"That won't be necessary. I may still love her, but I'm not willing to put her in danger just to get her back. I'll do whatever it takes, and I know Caleb will too. There are people we all care about who are in that folder." He replies.

After leaving Tris last night, I had obsessively gone through the results in that folder. There were too many familiar names other than Tris, it was also Uriah's brother Zeke, Four, Brandon's older sister Marie, George Wu, and even our training instructor Amar.

I couldn't let anything happen to any of them.

"Yes, there are. I'm willing to work with you, but Tris is off limits from here forward."

"Are you making the decision for her, Eric?" He'd asked me.

"Absolutely not, and that is the last fucking personal question I'll answer regarding my relationship. Stay the fuck out of it."

Today is a very important day, and it was enough to take my mind off of Jeanine. We were finally having our groundbreaking ceremony for the installation of the necessary networking equipment to finally bring Abnegation onto our network.

Surprisingly, Max was also here. He'd always been engaged with the project, but with his interests firmly seated in Erudite, I have continued to be surprised at how pleased he's been with the progress I've made on a project he never thought would succeed. It's made me suspicious, because you would think Max would have wanted to keep Abnegation as dark as possible if Jeanine is as close as Brandon believes she is to her coup.

"This is terrific work. I couldn't be happier to be here for this momentous event." Andrew says to Max.

"Eric and Beatrice have done extremely well in mapping and planning this out. We're excited to bring your faction onto the network, and to make Abnegation safer." Max smiles widely.

I watch the exchange curiously and I realize something that should have been obvious to me before - Max wants to protect Abnegation.

I jump slightly when Max claps me on the shoulder as we watch the first scoop of soil being removed from the site, "I'm proud of you."

Tris and her father are several feet away from us and I turn towards him, "Are you really?" I ask.

"More than you know. I have business with Andrew, but tonight when we're both back in Dauntless we should talk." He replies and he drops his hand from my shoulder and approaches Andrew. I watch the two of them intently, and when they excuse themselves to return to Andrew's office for a meeting, I walk over to Tris.

"Marlon, this is Eric Coulter, he's our representative from Dauntless. Eric, this is Marlon Brown, I don't think you two have officially met."

I nod at the older leader and he nods back, a wide smile on his face, "I may be an old man set in my ways, but this young lady really made us understand the importance of being a better part of the city. This is all good work, I was just telling Beatrice the same. Jesse and Thomas are pleased too." He says and I smile at him.

"I couldn't have done it without all of you, and I appreciate it."

We talk a bit longer, and Tris and I eventually mingle through the crowd answering questions. When everything finally dies down, and all that are left are the construction crew, I look over at her.

"Let's get out of here."

We take the train to Amity, and when Tris perfectly lands her jump out for the first time I couldn't be prouder of her. I take her hand in mine and we wander through the outdoor market, looking at all of the goods from local farmers and artisans. Amity is so much different, they are welcoming to everyone, and no one thinks much of a Dauntless leader strolling around hand-in-hand with an Abnegation leader.

"Those are beautiful." Tris says as she looks over at a large display of jewelry.

She examines several pair of earrings and the jewelry maker comes over and tells her about each piece. When he suggests a pair that would be perfect for her, she shakes her head.

"I've never been able to have my ears pierced." She admits and the man smiles at her and then looks over at me.

"Seems like your husband hasn't had that issue." He offers in a friendly manner and I chuckle, "Never seen many Dauntless without something pierced."

I realize that Tris looks Dauntless right now. She's wearing black pants and a grey sweater, but I had given her my jacket when we were on the train, and with it on she easily passes as one of us.

"I guess I just haven't had the chance." Tris shrugs.

"You will have to come back and see me once you have that chance." He replies, "Now let me show you other options."

"Thank you." She smiles at him.

He takes her to look at other items and I wander around the space, looking at different items and leaning towards the cases.

"Is there something in particular you're looking for?" A woman asks me, and I look up to meet the kind eyes of an older Amity.

"I... I don't know." I glance over at Tris, where she's now talking to both the jeweler and another couple that she seems to know, "Actually, yes, that necklace right there," I point to a beautiful piece that matches the earrings Tris was looking at, "And the matching earrings as well, please." I pass her my points card.

"I'll wrap it quickly so she doesn't see it." The woman smiles knowingly and turns toward her task.

She takes my points card and finishes the sale, and I tuck the package into my pocket before heading to Tris.

"Eric, this is Robert Black and his wife Daisy. Robert and I grew up together in Abnegation." She explains and Robert extends his hand. I shake it and then accept the hug his Amity born wife offers.

"Nice to meet you both."

Tris continues to talk, and I realize how happy and free she seems being outside of Abnegation, and I start to think about my conversation with Jack when I asked him how to get her to Dauntless. I know there are more important things to focus on right now, but I can't deny how important she's become to me in a short period of time.

I have to figure this out.

I ride the train back to Abnegation with Tris and walk her to her door since the sun has gone down. As we walk up the path, she turns towards me and asks if I want to come in.

"I probably shouldn't, I am supposed to talk to Max tonight." I reply softly and she nods.

"I had fun tonight. Thank you for taking me." She says and I suddenly remember the necklace I bought her.

"I have something for you, so I will come in for a second." I say as she unlocks the door and I follow her in, "Close your eyes." I say to her and she smiles before closing them, "No peeking."

"I'm not." She says and I kiss her lips softly before moving behind her.

I press my lips to her neck, feathering kisses along her skin as I pull the necklace from my pocket. I unwrap it carefully, then open the clasp and put it on her, fastening it before pressing my lips to her neck again. I move back in front of her and hold my phone out with the camera app on so she can see herself.

"Open them."

She does, and when she sees herself she brings her hand up to the necklace, "Eric, it's beautiful." She says as she touches it and examines her reflection, "It matches the earrings we saw."

I pull the wrapped package with the earrings out and hand them to her, "I know."

I watch as she slowly opens the package and traces her finger along the delicate metal, "Eric, you shouldn't have... this is... it's too much... I don't even have pierced ears..."

"When we have you home in Dauntless, you'll be able to wear them."

"You really think it can happen?" She asks and she pulls me close to her and wraps her arms around me.

"I'll find a way."

She pulls my face down to hers and presses her lips to mine chastely before leaning back slightly.

"Thank you. They are beautiful, Eric." She replies.

"You are beautiful. I can't wait to have you home with me." I admit.

Once back in Dauntless, I made my way up to the leadership wing, and found Max in his office. I tapped on the doorframe and he looks up from his computer.

"Come in, close the door." He says and I do so before taking the seat across from him, "You have my permission to speak freely."

I'm nervous and I'm sure he can tell. This could all be a trap, I know he's been fucking Jeanine for as long as I've been alive, maybe longer, and there's no way his allegiance would lie with me. I know that I have to tread lightly, and let him lead the conversation.

"The groundbreaking was great today. I'm really glad you were able to attend."

He peers at me over his reading glasses, "I wouldn't have missed it. You do realize we've tried to get them networked for decades, ever since I've been a leader. Marcus and I never saw eye to eye on really anything, and when Andrew took power I was sure Uriah could win him over. Even you have to admit that Uriah is the most likable of all of us." He smiles and I nod.

"That's a given."

"I never expected you to be the one to turn the tables. I'm proud of you." He says again.

"Thank you. I didn't expect it either, to be honest I thought I was going to be stuck there for eternity, or that you'd pull me and put me on scud work for the rest of my career." I chuckle.

"You and the Prior girl make a good team." He remarks and I nod, "Eric, is there something going on between the two of you? Andrew seemed very concerned, to the point where he asked if I would be reassigning Uriah."

"Are you going to reassign Uriah?" I counter.

"This is your project, you see it through." He replies.

"After the project?" I ask and he finally takes his glasses off.

"How serious is this thing between you and Beatrice?" He asks me and I bristle, "Eric, I need to know."

"For Jeanine, right?"

He at least has the decency to act surprised.

"What are you asking me?" He narrows his eyes at me.

"She's never going to leave my father. I don't know what she's promised you Max, but I can assure you that regardless of how many affairs the two of them have, and believe me there have been many, they will never leave each other. They're both too power hungry and greedy to ever divorce and have to split their assets."

"I know." He says quietly.

"Then why are you helping her? When her plans go to shit, she's going to pin it all on you."

"I know that as well." He replies.

"What's in it for you then, Max? The power? Even if they find some way to pull this off, do you think for a minute that my father will allow you to serve by him?"

"I know that he won't."

"Who's side are you on then? I know you're in this too, and she's expecting you to deliver her divergents on a silver platter. Are you going to?" I finally ask.

The seconds tick by slowly, and I can feel the beads of perspiration forming on my lower back. My nerves are shot, this conversation alone is enough to have me taken to Candor and accused of treason.

"I am hopeful that you and I are on the same side." He replies vaguely, "They're your parents. They had me specifically assign you to Abnegation because they never expected you to succeed in this project, and even if by some miracle you did they knew you'd never protect Abnegation over your own parents. Were they right, Eric?" Max asks.

This is it. This is where I either take a risk that Max and I can be on the same side, or I put the target directly on my back. A target that could put their attention directly on Tris.

"They were wrong." I reply.

"I see." Max says evenly and I wipe sweat from my brow, "That's very interesting, and Jeanine won't be pleased to hear it."

I shake my head and close my eyes briefly, scrubbing at my face with my palms.

"I've never done a damn thing to please her my entire life. Why start now?" I ask and when I open my eyes Max is just looking at me.

"Is it only because of the girl?" He asks and I shake my head.

"No. But I won't let anything happen to her. She's important to me." I admit.

"But your parents want-"

"I don't give a fuck what my parents want," I interrupt, "they're delusional and they're just going to take anyone who helps them down with them. I want no fucking part of them, or anyone who has anything to do with cooperating with them."

"I was hoping that I hadn't misread you. I'm ready, Eric." He replies and my eyes go wide.

"Ready for what?"

"For this to end. If you're planning on stopping your parents, I'm in." He replies.

"How do I know I can trust you?" I ask and he leans back in his chair, and nods his head slowly.

"I don't expect you to. You're a brilliant young man, Eric. I know you assume that you were brought into leadership just because of who your mother is, and I'll admit it was a huge factor back then. You've been here for more than ten years now, and you've never wavered on your stance when it comes to your mothers various projects. I realized when her own son wouldn't budge, maybe I should pay closer attention as to why. Jeanine has always assured me that when it came down to power, you'd follow her, and I foolishly believed it for a long time." He reaches into his pocket and fishes out his keys, and then unlocks the file cabinet in his desk, "This isn't much, because as you know your mother doesn't like putting anything in a traceable format, but this is what she's planned. I've talked to Jack myself, and I know the two of you are close, so feel free to validate with him. We both know that Jack needs solid proof, and we don't quite have enough yet. But we will if I play along."

I look over the outline in the folders and recognize the few handwritten notes as being Jeanine's. I glance up at Max and he's just watching me.

"What do you want from me?" I ask.

"Talk to Jack. Talk to Beatrice. I already know the two of you are together and I certainly will not stop it. Once you feel like you're comfortable with me, we bring the bitch down." Max says.

"Yes sir." I reply, keeping my expression neutral.