Page 26 of Kill for a Kiss

From the notes, I learn Elle’s from a criminal family. Drug production. Taken during a house fire. Any police station or firehouse involved paid off.

Clo put her through surgeries. Some necessary, some to change her appearance. Skin grafts for burns. Rhinoplasty to change her nose shape. Iris depigmentation to turn her eyes from a deep brown to a glassy sea blue.

My chest tightens, air barely filling my lungs. I can’t breathe. Can’t think. This is worse than I thought. So much damn worse.

I stand there, frozen. There’s a place in my past I swore I’d never return to, dust-covered and sealed for a reason. Pages I buried. If the truth’s in them, I already know what I’ll find. And I don’t know what’s worse—that I didn’t see it then, or that I might have and turnedaway anyway.

Clo did this. Clo’sbeendoing this. To Elle. And I let it happen. How the fuck did I miss it? Why did I convince myself it was over, when Iknewbetter?

The room spins.

Mirrors catch me at every angle. All fractured and eerily infinite. Versions of me with blood on their hands and panic in their eyes.

I grip the desk hard, trying to breathe through it, trying to anchor myself into focus, but the floor feels like it’s tilting.

Focus.Fuckingfocus.

I shove the folder into my jacket, forcing myself into action. Clo probably expects me to break down—wants it, even. But she has no idea what she’s unleashed.

A sound outside reaches me from here. Tires on gravel, approaching fast. It’s Clo’s car coming back.

I snap into motion, adrenaline burning through the numbness. I grab as many files as I can, stuffing them hastily into my jacket, under my arms, in my hands. Papers slip through my fingers, scattering across the floor. I ignore them.

No time.Need to move.

Heart pounding, I rush toward the hole in the floor.

I drop down into the crawl space, landing roughly.

I scramble forward through darkness, files pressed tight against me. My mind races, anger boiling, desperation clawing at me.

I don’t know exactly what Clo’s planning, but now I know some. And I know I’ll tear her world apart before I let her keep Elle.

***

I don’t stop moving.

The papers dig into my sides as I rush through the hidden passageways, my breath tight, my steps quick but precise. Thesewalls have always been my refuge and my prison. I used to hide here as a boy, pressing my back against the cold stone, waiting for Clo to lose interest in her latest game of making me feel less than, like my existence was a sin.

Now, I run through these corridors, gripping stolen secrets in my hands, racing against time before she even realizes I’m gone.

The flickering lights above cast jagged shadows as I navigate the maze. I know every twist, every turn, every loose brick that can be used to slip further into the dark. My fingers skim along the uneven walls, counting the familiar ridges until I find the right one—an exit only Kai and I ever used.

I push against the panel, and it gives way, revealing a narrow gap leading outside.

Fresh air rushes into my lungs when I emerge onto the overgrown path behind the estate, my hidden parking spot only a few yards away. My car sits where I left it.

I pop the door open, tossing the folders onto the passenger seat before sliding behind the wheel. My fingers twitch against the ignition.

Gotta get out.Now.

The engine purrs to life, and I don’t waste another second. Gravel spits from beneath the tires as I back out, maneuvering onto the narrow road leading away from the estate.

The moment I hit the main road, I push the accelerator down, letting the speed pull me forward, letting that haunted mansion disappear in the rearview mirror.

I should feel relief. But my pulse is still hammering, my grip tight on the wheel. My mind is too full.Elle.The files.Clo.

The lines of the road blur while I drive toward my safe house, a secluded space buried on the outskirts of the city.