Page 97 of Kiss of Deceit

“I told you not to push yourself so hard. You need rest. I’ll give you another massage when we get back.”

Ten minutes. That was all it took for everything to shatter. I couldn’t stand him touching me anymore. I had no idea who the hell this man was. But I did know one thing.He lied to me.And I fell for it all.

I was in a daze as we walked. He kept his arm around me, and I thought of other things to distract me. What a shit forensic psychologist I was. In a town with criminals, and I never caught on. There were odd things, but I never would have guessed the truth.

I bit my tongue, attempting to work through the emotions. Why wasn’t I enraged? Kole was a stranger to me instead of who he portrayed himself as. I should be furious enough to stab one of my blades into his heart. But I wasn’t.

I was hurt. His betrayal crippled me.

And that was so much fucking worse.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

dani

“Morning,”Hallie greeted me with a bright smile. “You want your regular?”

Her words barely cut through the daze I’d been in since last night. I remained frozen in the doorway, staring at the young woman who I now knew had a record—who was an inmate.

“Dani?” she questioned, her smile slipping slightly. “You okay?”

I cleared my throat, shuffling forward to let the door shut behind me. “Yeah. Just tired.”

Her eyes cut to the clock on the wall. “It’s early. Far earlier than when you usually come in.” Fear splashed across her face. “Did you get called into work? Was there another murder?”

“No, nothing like that,” I muttered, forcing a tired smile. “We’re moving back into the station today. I wanted to get an early start.”

She relaxed, grabbing a cup to pour my coffee into. “Oh, good. Maybe you should take a long lunch and take a nap. No offense, but you look exhausted.”

“I didn’t sleep well.”

She handed me my coffee, and once I paid, I wandered toward the large window. Groups of bundled up men were walking in the direction of the factory for their shift. Now that I knew the truth, I needed to get into that building. Was it really a factory or something else?

“Where’s Kole? He’s been coming in with you every morning.”

Hallie’s question had my stomach curling with dread. “Sleeping,” I answered without looking away from the window.

She giggled. “Everyone is talking about you two. I’m still newish here, but from the gossip, Kole has never given a girl attention like he does with you.”

Yesterday, her words would have amused me. The town bartender who had a permanent scowl on his face was soft for me. But now, it made my blood grow cold. The knots in my stomach were only getting worse.

Last night was miserable. It took everything to keep my mask on when Kole and I got home from the police station. I’d feigned a migraine, locking myself in my bedroom after telling him I needed silence. Then I spent the entire night staring at the ceiling. I was running on zero sleep. I half expected him to wake up when I snuck out of the house this morning.

I wasn’t sure how long I could keep up this charade with him. He knew me too well. And while pain was still stabbing me in the chest from his lies, anger was slowly seeping in. I was over the shock now, and soon I wouldn’t be able to keep faking it. Hopefully, I could uncover more answers before that happened.

“Are you scared?” Hallie asked quietly. “Of the killer?”

I turned to face her. “No.”

“Your name is everywhere,” she whispered, her eyes darting to the door as if making sure we were still alone. “Between you being with Kole, and how you’ve been at two of the murder scenes. Everyone thinks you’re next.”

“Kole and I aren’t together,” I informed her. “We’re just friends. He…” I forced the next words out. “He worries about me. And as for being in the wrong spot at the wrong time—maybe I just have really bad luck.”

My joke fell flat, her narrowed eyes proving she didn’t believe me. “If you ever need a friend to talk to, I’m here.”

She seemed so sincere—and maybe she was. But I couldn’t look past what I learned last night. This entire town was lying. To them, it was their way to earn freedom from their prison sentence. This was their everyday life. From Natalie’s research, it truly helped to keep people from reoffending in the future. I believed rehabilitation worked with certain individuals.

But I was jaded. From my own attack. From being here for months and realizing I couldn’t tell the difference between truth and lies. There were some people who were monsters, no matter what kind of help they received.