Page 23 of Arranged Addiction

The smell gets me as I go deeper. It’s sharp and metallic. I don’t recognize it right away, but I don’t see anything off in her kitchen. I slowly move back toward her bedroom, thinking maybe she left a window open to the street, when I step in a puddle.

It’s in the hallway. Right outside her closed bedroom door. I curse and lift my foot up, frowning at the red smear. It looks like old ketchup.

And it smells terrible.

“Natalie?” I call out again, terror starting to build in my stomach.

I know what that stuff on the floor is. But there’s a lot of it. I’m having trouble making sense of what’s happening. I grip the ring in my pocket so hard that the diamond digs into my skin.

I step into her room and gag.

The smell is awful in here. Metallic, musty, animal. Natalie’s lying on her bed, her eyes open, her mouth open, a knife in her chest.

Blood is everywhere.

It’s drenching the bed. Drenching the floor. It’s all over my shoes. I stare, a scream bubbling up from my chest. I go to her, but she’s pale and cold and not moving, and I know there’s no way she’s still alive, no way with all this blood, so much blood, an unbelievable amount.

My hands are shaking as I take out my phone. I have to call someone. I have to call for help…

Declan’s voice fills my chest with a tense aching.

“Hello, Ms. Brennan. You didn’t come to work today.”

Panic slams into me. I can barely think. I can barely breathe. I don’t know why I called him, but if anyone can make this right, if anyone can fix what happened to Natalie, it’s him.

“Declan, it’s Natalie, I went to her apartment… I went there and she’s…” I can’t say it out loud. I can’t speak the words.

She’s dead.

“Slow down. Tell me what happened.”

He sounds so calm and measured. It helps ground me, at least a little bit.

“I’m at Natalie’s apartment… Declan, oh my god, there’s blood… there’s blood everywhere…”

I finally break, slumping up against the wall outside Natalie’s room. Sobs rip themselves from my chest as the magnitude of what happened washes over me.

She’s gone. Natalie’s gone.

Distantly, I hear Declan’s voice over the phone.

“I’m coming, Casey, just wait for me.”

Chapter 7

Declan

Ismell blood the second I step into Natalie’s apartment.

It’s not fresh. I’d guess at least a day old, maybe more. It’s hard to say exactly, but I’m familiar enough with the reek of death.

“Casey!” I have my gun drawn and I’m going slow. Nothing moves. There’s no sound. The place seems oddly empty, but I only spoke to her ten minutes ago.

“In here.”

I follow her voice to the back hallway and find her slumped down on the floor across from the bedroom door. Blood’s pooling in front of her, a trail of it leading away.

I hurry over, drop to my knees, and wrap my arms around her.