Page 48 of Jase

Alert.

Alert.

Sickness swarmed as I clicked on my system, pulling up the cameras in the penthouse. I zoomed in on the living room, cursing under my breath. Blood. It was smeared over the tile, leading for as far as I could see. What the fuck had happened? I clicked through the rooms, cursing even more when I couldn’t find Kody. I hit the call button, sending a ring through the penthouse. Kody shot from the hall, holding a mop. She spun in a circle, looking for a phone to answer, but she wasn’t going to find one. I hung up, hitting the intercom button.

“I don’t want to talk over the intercom. My laptop on my desk. Accept the call from there.”

Her face turned hard as she headed in the direction. I hit the call button again, knowing the moment she answered, it was bad.

“Kody.”

Her face twisted even angrier. “Don’t you Kody me as if everything is okay. You made me believe you weren’t going tonight. You gave me a fake code.You lied to me!”

“Not necessarily. I didn’t want you to be worried.”

“You didn’t want me to know!”

Her hand shot to her forehead as her eyes closed. “I was watching my apartment, Jase. I know you hurt that man. Is he dead? Did you kill him too?”

“Kody—”

“Stop it! Answer me. Honesty, remember? You owe me that. Especially after lying to me about the code.You trapped me here.”

“You’re right, I did, but only because I put in an emergency override. I’ll change it back once I return. I apologize. I truthfully didn’t think you’d wake up. There are people that have my code. Friends. It was more to keep them out so they wouldn’t frighten you. It wasn’t to keep you inside. Tell me about the blood. What the hell happened?”

“No. You don’t get to twist this your way. You don’t get to order me around when you don’t deserve it. I was nothing but truthful with you. God, I let…” She stopped. “I let you put that cuff on…and youliedto me?”

“I hurt you. I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to have to worry about this on top of everything else. I couldn’t find him in my search. I knew there’d be a chance he’d return to your apartment, and I was right. We needed answers, and he gave them. Can you please accept that?”

“Why? Because you don’t want me to know you have some sick compulsion to kill these men? Thesebadmen? Too late; I know. When does it stop, Jase? You think you’re invincible because you’re tech-savvy? That means nothing. The truth has a way of catching up to us. When it finds you, what then?”

I studied the fear on her face. The way it made her voice tremble. It was the last thing I wanted to see on her, but she wasn’t there yet. She was so newly free from the torture. Her need for justice, for revenge, hadn’t kicked in. Thanks to me, it wouldn’t have to. Not like mine.

“Did you ever think maybe I am the truth?”

“For these men, you mean?”

“They’ve gone unpunished too long. What about the other girls like you? What about the children or victims suffering every day?”

Kody’s head lowered, shaking through her anger.

“They have units specifically made for this sort of thing. If you don’t trust them, or it means so much to you, volunteer. Hand over the evidence to them. But don’t do this. Don’t risk your life because you can. Go about it the right way. I’ll help. Just…Jase, please.”

I couldn’t take her pain after what I’d just done. It was right versus wrong versus…justice. Truth was mangled with morality. “The blood. Quick. Tell me what happened. I don’t have much time.”

There it was. More anger at my dismissal. I could take that.

“I cut my foot. I’m fine.”

“There’s a first aid kit in the kitchen under the island. I’ll be back soon. Treat your foot first. Focus on you. We’ll clean when I get home. I’ll try to hurry.”

Chapter 18

Kody

Hurry. Did he say he’d hurry? It obviously took a long time to discard a dead body. Not that I wanted to think about that. After three hours, it’s all I could do. My mind wouldn’t rest. A million scenarios kept going through my head, and none of them told me what I should do about our situation. We were in over our heads. No,I was. Without Jase, I didn’t stand a chance. Without me…maybe he did?

A beep sounded, and I surged to my feet, watching him walk in. If he’d been wearing black like I’d seen in the video, the clothes were long gone. Light, faded jeans. Dark blue thermal, long sleeve shirt. I frowned. Despite that he wasn’t showing emotion, he headed right to me, gesturing for me to sit.