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W hat was she doing?

“I shouldn’t be here, Dev,” she said. “They’re going to be so upset when they discover I’m gone. I’m not supposed to leave the house.”

Dev just grunted.

Dev often didn’t say much. It was actually one of his best qualities. It meant that she could talk without having him tell her what she should do. Without him judging her or trying to give her unwanted advice.

She could just off-load.

“You’re right. I should go.” She nodded and finished off her soda. “Good chat, Dev. As always. Oh, I forgot. I got you this cream for your hands. I noticed you’ve got a bit of a rash and this stuff is amazing. I’m prone to rashes. I’m prone to everything, if I’m honest.” She held it for him.

He didn’t take it.

With a shrug, Immy set it by him on the bar.

“You shouldn’t come here,” he said.

“Huh?” she asked.

“You shouldn’t come here anymore.” Turning his head, he gave her a long look. “Bad people come here to drink.”

“Everyone here has been lovely to me.” She couldn’t imagine any of these guys ever trying to hurt her.

That was crazy.

“Don’t come back.”

“It’s nice that you’re worried, but I can take care of myself. Look!” She searched her handbag until she found the bedazzled Taser that Sampson had given her. Okay, it hadn’t been bedazzled when he gave it to her, but she thought it looked far better now.

Dev grunted, then he got up, leaving the cream on the bar, and left.

Well, that was weird.

With a sigh, she grabbed the cream and set it back in her handbag. Then she started moving toward the door.

Shoot.

What was she doing here? Even if her mind was a big mess over Tobias and Jenner, she shouldn’t have run out like that.

Sure, the copycat Deity was in the custody of the FBI, so there was no real danger anymore.

But it wasn’t exactly a rational or mature thing to do.

Immy walked to the door. Shoot. It was dark out. She really didn’t want to walk out there. But she needed to get home. She grabbed her Taser, holding it as she headed to her car.

There was a revving noise and she paused, glancing up as a small car raced out of a parking space. Wow. Someone was in a rush. She started moving to her car again.

Some instinct inside her told her to hurry.

Move, Immy!

Move!

But she was too late, the car was on her. It braked at the last moment, but still tapped her, sending her flying to the ground.

Pain flooded her.

It stole her breath. It made her heart race. Her hip and wrist screamed in agony, the side of her body that she’d landed on was a close echo.

She suddenly became aware that the car lights weren’t on. What was going on? Was the person going to get out and help her?

A bad feeling filled her again.

Move, Immy!

Move!

Where was her Taser? A sob escaped her as she attempted to drag herself across the asphalt.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

She glanced up in shock to see a woman standing over her. A woman she knew.

“L-Lauren? What . . . what are you doing?”

“You stupid bitch! What am I doing? I’m paying you back for ruining my life! Come on. There’s someone I’m taking you to.”

“I don’t . . . I don’t understand,” Immy said.

Keep her talking.

If she takes you anywhere, you’re dead.

Although she failed to see how Lauren could move her. She was tiny.

“What are you doing?”

“I just told you! God, you’re so fucking dumb! You ruined everything, you stupid bitch. Jenner was supposed to be my cash cow. I was going to make him famous and rich. He was supposed to get involved with Amaya. She would have helped his career. All you will do is hinder it.”

“This is because he fired you? Seriously? You get fired and you decide to hit me with a car? How the heck is that fair?”

“How is it fair? I lost my job! No one is going to hire me now! Amaya doesn’t want me to represent her anymore. And it’s all your fault. But you’re going to a better place, Immy. Where you can be free.”

“What the cupcake?” she asked as Lauren grew closer.

“Nighty-night,” Lauren said.

Before Immy could even think about fighting back, she felt a pinprick on her neck.

Then everything went dark.

Immy woke up as the world rocked around her. She groaned, her stomach bubbling with nausea.

Knowing she wasn’t going to make it to the toilet, she had to lean over the side of the weirdly hard bed and vomit.

“Oh my God!” someone screeched. “What the hell do you think you are doing?”

“Who . . . who are you? Where am I?”

“Do we really have to do this again?” said the aggrieved voice. “For fuck’s sake, that stinks. How am I going to clean up that mess? Couldn’t you just wait?”

“So sorry to be an inconvenience,” Immy said dryly before the car hit a pothole, jarring her.

She screamed in pain. Oh God. Why was she so sore?

Then it hit her . . . she wasn’t in bed. She was in the back of a car.

Lauren’s car.

Because Lauren had run her down and . . . and drugged her? Then she must have somehow gotten Immy into the back of the car. Immy had no idea how.

Maybe being bat-poop crazy gave you superhuman strength or something.

“Why are you doing this? Where are we going? What is your plan?”

“I’m taking you to see a friend. He’s waiting for you. I’m actually doing you a favor.”

“How is this doing me a favor?” Immy cried, trying to move her hands and feet.

Cupcakes!

Lauren must have zip-tied her while she was out of it.

This was crazy.

It was insane.

“He’s going to meet us there and then you’ll be going to a better place, Immy. You’ll be free of all of this.”

Oh heck.

This all sounded far too familiar for her liking.

But they had the wannabe Deity. Right?

Maybe they did, but that didn’t mean there weren’t more Sentinels out there.

Or maybe the FBI had the wrong person.

She wasn’t sure which option was scarier.

Don’t think about that now, Immy. Focus on the issue at hand.

“Are you . . . are you working with the Deity?” she asked.

“Huh? Who?”

“The Deity? Or a fake-Deity. Did he make you a Sentinel? But that makes no sense, you’re a woman.”

“What are you talking about?” Lauren screeched.

Jeez.

She didn’t have to get so bent out of shape.

Immy, be careful. She’s not exactly sane. This isn’t normal behavior, even for someone who was mad about losing their job.

Normal people got hammered. They ate their weight in ice cream. Maybe they plotted murder, but they didn’t actually go through with it!

This woman had hit her with a car, drugged her, and was now taking her to meet someone.

“I have no clue why you are going on about Sentinels and Deities.”

She didn’t know?

How did she not know?

“Are you saying you’ve had Jenner for a client for over a year and you don’t know about the cult?”

“What? That cult that Jenner lived in for a short while? Of course I do. What does that have to do with anything? It was years ago. And when I suggested using that in order to push his brand, he shut me down.”

Was that all she cared about? Her work?

“Why are you doing this, Lauren? It’s not going to end well for you.” Where were they? Immy tried to sit up, but they were jostling around so much that it was difficult to get her balance. It was so dark outside.

Were they even in the city anymore? Where would there be such a pothole-ridden street?

“No. It’s not going to end well for you!

” Lauren yelled. “This shouldn’t have happened.

I was pushed to the edge. Breaking point.

I’m going to have to leave town. Create a new identity.

Again. I’m up to my eyeballs in debt. I should have been sitting pretty with Jenner and Amaya as clients.

Instead I’ve got to start again! And it’s all your fucking fault! ”

“My fault? Are you serious?” Immy said angrily. “Did you ever stop to think that maybe it was your fault?”

This woman was delusional!

How was Immy to blame for her losing her job?

“All he could talk about was you!” Lauren replied. “How wonderful you are, how beautiful, how sweet and kind. God, it was sickening. The idiot fell in love with a nobody!”

Fell in love?

He’d fallen in love?

What was she talking about?

“Jenner hasn’t fallen in love,” she said.

Oh God. Another pothole! That one really hurt. And she might have blacked out for a moment. Or perhaps she’d just lost a few seconds to the agony.

But when she could hear again, Lauren was off on another rant.

“ . . . he’s in love with you! You stupid fucking bitch! Don’t play that game with me! You know exactly how he feels about you and you have ruined him for other women! Why you? You’re not beautiful or smart or talented. You’re just so fucking average!”

“He only loves me like a sister.”

Lauren turned toward her. “God, so thick. Like a sister? If he looked at his sister like he looks at you, he’d be fucking arrested for being a sick bastard. The man is obsessed with you. Fuck, I hate you.”

“Wow. The feeling is mutual. But is this the smart thing to do? Where are you taking me? What are you going to do with me? And how did you even find me?”

“Finding you wasn’t hard. I put a tracker on your car ages ago.

Just so I’d know where you were at all times.

Thought it might come in handy if I needed to create some dirt on you or something.

Problem is that you’re a pathetically boring person so there was nothing I could even embellish on or fabricate.

And you go nowhere. I had to wait and bide my time just to get to you now.

Got the ping you were moving. I found you at that terrible bar, then waited for you to leave.

Really easy. I actually thought I might have to take out the big guy that follows you around like a lost puppy with his tongue hanging out.

Honestly. What is it about you? Do you have a golden fucking pussy? ”

Wow.

What?

Was she talking about Tobias guarding her?

Thank God she hadn’t brought him with her tonight. Then he might have gotten seriously hurt.

And when she got out of this alive and he was scolding her for leaving, that was exactly what she would tell him.

Hopefully, that went well for her.