Page 93 of Arranged Control

Ryan seems sheepish. “Ah, don’t worry about that, ma’am. I’m just saying?—”

“My asshole husband bugged my shop,” I say, looking around for some obvious microphone. “I can’t believe he bugged my shop!”

“Just for your protection.” Ryan reaches for the package, but I snatch it back. I’m surprised by how heavy it is. Something large rattles around inside. It feels round, but not perfectly.

“I’m opening my own damn mail, thanks. You can go listen from outside since you like that so much.”

“The shop’s bugged?” Kira groans, and her face turns red. “Were you listening yesterday when I was on the phone with that guy?”

Ryan very pointedly does not look at her. “We’re only listening for anything that’s pertinent to keeping Mrs. Whelan safe.” He clears his throat. “But you have a very colorful way of expressing yourself.”

“Oh my God,” Kira whispers, face crimson.

I don’t pay them any attention. As I rip open the tape on the box, I notice something. A strange red stain on the cardboard. And there’s an off smell coming from inside. It’s getting worse as I pull back a flap, my heart fluttering in my chest.

Tissue paper covers the top. It’s drenched in some red liquid. “What the hell…”

I pull it aside, drop the box, and scream.

My brain doesn’t want to make sense of what I’m seeing.

Everything’s a blur. I keep staring. Kira’s screaming too. The men are shouting and Ryan’s pulling me away.

But I catch another glimpse of Alex’s severed head, his eyes crossed out with large bloody X’s, his tongue missing, his jaw broken and unhinged, congealed blood making a mess of his matted hair.

“I’m going to kill her.”Seamus paces back and forth. His phone’s on the table. I know what he’s been staring at. Photos Ryan took before they disposed of the evidence.

They can burn that head, but I’ll never get the look on poor dead Alex’s face out of my skull.

He looked terrified in his last moments. Like whatever she did to him really, really hurt.

But that wasn’t even the worst part. I found out an hour later that there was a note shoved in Alex’s mouth. It was written to me in the same handwriting as the other note:A gift for you. Trust me.

“I don’t think you’ll find her,” I say softly, hugging myself.

Seamus collapses onto the couch next to me. He pulls me against him. His warm, strong body helps ease some of the terror from earlier, but he can’t fix it.

He can’t bring Alex back.

“I will, and even if I don’t before the deadline, my family’s aware now. They’ll protect themselves.”

“But what about my family? What about Kira? What about anyone else?”

He shakes his head. “I’ll put security on anyone you want.”

“She’s doing this for me. Don’t you see that? She doesn’t want to hurt me. Killing Alex was agift, right?”

“Some fucking present.”

“Maybe in her mind, it makes sense. He was cheating on me, right? He was a drug addict the whole time? Maybe she wanted to prove that she’s only trying to hurt people who hurt me.”

“Then why come after my family?”

“I don’t know,” I admit, leaning against his shoulder. I breathe his smell and try to settle my mind, but I’m a total mess. “But I have to do something.”

“Alina, I told you already. You’re not putting yourself in danger.”

“I’m not though. Don’t you get it yet? She’s not going to hurt me. But she might kill everyone around me, and that’s even worse. Alex was a piece of shit, but he didn’t deserve to die.”