Page 23 of Deceiver

Luna steps up beside him, her eyes scanning over me. One look at me, and she knows ... she just knows.

“Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

She puts her arm around my shoulder, and Remy, trusting her, leads the way. I notice Western as I’m walking out, his eyes on me, an expression on his face I can’t quite make out. I look away. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t. I’ve tried, lord knows I’ve tried, but he refuses to let me in. He will never let me past the wall that guards his heart, and I’m no longer strong enough to keep trying to chip away at it.

He doesn’t want me in his life, in his world.

That’s fine.

I’ll get my answers, I’ll clear his name, but I’ll do it because it’s the right thing to do, but no longer will it be for him. It’ll be for all the people who have been wronged by Bill Whart, it’ll be for Daniel and Braithe, it’ll be for the foster kids who have gone missing. As for Western, I’m done playing around with him.

Tonight, he crushed that final piece of me.

Now, I’m doing it for myself.

5

Scouring the shelves, I mindlessly look for something to have for dinner. I’ve been walking up and down these aisles now for the last twenty minutes while Remy waits patiently at the store entrance. He has been amazing; he is with me most of the time but he stays out of my way. He isn’t constantly on my back, he’s not overbearing, and he’s so easy to talk to. He would be the best person to take care of me, and I’m glad Nathan put him on the case.

“It’s a hard choice, isn’t it?”

Chills run up my spine at the sound of a familiar voice, one I haven’t heard since the one and only time I spoke to him. The day I made the biggest mistake of my career by telling him I would expose him. Slowly, I turn to face Bill Whart. My eyes immediately dart behind him, in desperate search for Remy, but he’s nowhere to be seen.

The cold eyes of the monster I’ve been trying to avoid, meet mine. There is something so eerie about him, something that makes your skin crawl and your body go on full alert, like it just knows he’s dangerous. Even though he’s standing here, dressed in a fancy suit, his hair all neat and tidy, he radiates deception and evil.

“Your little friend is still waiting where you left him. Don’t worry, this won’t take long.”

My heart, which was perfectly calm a moment ago, is now slamming against my chest as I try to keep calm, but I’m anything but.

“What do you want?” I ask, my voice low and shaky.

He smiles, flashing a confident grin, unbothered and not even a little anxious.

“Oh, but you know what I want.”

“I didn’t release that article,” I blurt out. “I wrote it, but I didn’t release it. Someone else did.”