Page 150 of The Quiet Witness

Funny, she’d always thought there would be some kind of embarrassment after having kissed a man, that her cheeks would be tinged red. But she didn’t have the bandwidth for it anymore. Didn’t have the chance to smile and giggle like a shy girl with her first kiss. Life was hard, people died.

Maybe it was time to enjoy what her heart craved, before it would be torn away again.

The man her heart sped up for winked at her. A tiny sparkle of that cocky confidence bursting to life. “Yes. Don’t worry about me. This… is the last part of the theater.” With that he turned to take his jacket off the wall, bending down to string the laces of his boots together. Kate watched as dried mud fell to the ground in clumps. Most likely the same he had been wearing when—

“Why, though?” His eyes roamed over her face, searching for a trace of doubt. Why forgive me for what I’ve done?

His hand was resting on the handle of the door, keys ready in the other when she blurted out her truth.

“Maybe because none of us are innocent.”

Chapter 64

So Help Me God

Guess that date didn’t go according to plan. Or… it did.

The Volvo’s wheels churned over the road, leaving tainted snow in its wake.

Lucien’s stomach rolled around with it. He should have known Max would grab the opportunity to have his nemesis at his beck and call. It hadn’t gone like the bloodhound had wanted it to go. For it hadn’t ended with Lucien’s rather painful death. But still, he would grab at whatever he could to exert some sort of childish control.

He forced his nausea down. His fingers kept clenching and curling around the wheel. Almost as if his instincts were telling him something was about to go wrong.

There was no reason for the zapping sensation underneath his skin. He was on the road to end this madness once and for all, and Kate… had done the exact opposite of what he had expected. A knee to his crown jewels was the least he’d come to expect from her. Instead, the taste of her, soft and sweet like cinnamon, clung to his lips. Relief filtered through his system, and yet… she’d changed.

Everything that had happened. It would hurt even the strongest of people. Kate’s back had always been straight, those shoulders shoved back. Facing reality head-on. Every. Single. Time.

The gearshift croaked from the pressure he was inflicting on it.

When he’d told her about Isabel, he saw her jerk back in shock. Her eyes at war with dread following his revelation, battling with whatever she felt for him. Whatever propelled her to crush that last boundary. He didn’t know. Maybe she had gotten so used to the pain. It didn’t even shock her. Not as it should have.

Something to find out when it was all over and done with. Yes, he’d sit her down and ask what she wanted. The future could be light, lighter than it had ever been for either of them before.

He couldn’t wait to see Max. As much as it pained him to open up that grave. Closing it up again would be like closing the final chapter of a bad book where everything went wrong all the time.

The alarm on his phone started blaring.

Lucien jerked upright in his seat, his fingers reached for his phone before whipping it out.

Max. Slinking around the forest’s edge. At his home, where Kate lingered.

The car came to an abrupt stop, and his fingers flew over the screen. Within seconds he had the familiar ringing of a call echoing in his ears.

Pick up, pick up, pick up.

The number you have dialed could not b—

He redialed, phone clutched to his ear.

The number you ha—

“Fuck this shit.” The Volvo ate the thick snow Pac-Man-style as he made the SUV turn in place. But home, he would never be back in time. He ticked back on the camera app, searching between the rooms to find Kate. Where is she?

There was her burner phone, on the counter where she’d left it, before she had backed away from him like a chicken in front of a fox. Not in the training room, the bathroom door was open, meaning she wasn’t inside of it. Where, where. Wait.

The woman who had left his lips tingling sat crouched down behind the kitchen counter, in what looked like a conversation with Ghost.

Dark edges took over his vision and his breathing quickened. His foot pressed all the way down on the gas, racing over the country roads like a madman.