Page 26 of No Mistakes

I give him a small nod, acknowledging his instructions.

He quickly wraps up the meeting, ordering Gunnar and Carter to clean up, and to get rid of Mr Bonetti quickly and quietly.

He leaves the room, and I use the opportunity to pull my phone out, replying to Mandy.

Me: Name a time and place.

I don’t even have time to close my phone before she responds.

Mandy: XtremeCraze - Foxboro @ 8pm tonight.

I check the time to see it’s now eleven thirty in the morning. We’ve been at this all night and I’m relieved the interrogation has finally come to an end.

I slide the phone back into my pocket for the final time, unsure if I’m walking into another interrogation, or something worse.

CHAPTER 13

AXEL

The door groansshut behind us as Ant closes it, sealing off everything that happened in the basement.

Sunlight spills through the windows like a fucking spotlight, like it’s tormenting me for what I’ve done.

I pace the living room, not stopping until my fist connects with a wall.

My skin splits, and pain flashes up my arm. A part of me hoped it would take away from the pain, but it doesn’t touch the burn inside of me.

She’s everywhere I go. Her face flashes in my mind when I close my eyes. Her scent clings to the hallways like a ghost I can’t get rid of.

When I approached her at the firing range, she looked at me like I was a stranger. No… worse than that. Like I was the fucking enemy, and maybe it’s true. Maybe I am.

I swore to keep her safe, to protect her from everything, but instead, I turned her life into a lie and exposed her to monsters like Marco, without even realising it.

I drag a hand down my face, trying to stop my body from shaking. “She didn’t know.” I grind out. “She thought she wasinvestigating some assholes in a gym. She didn’t know who we were. Didn’t know all of this.”

Ant doesn’t react; he doesn’t need to.

He’s indicated to me over and over that I need to talk to her. But how the hell do you fix something you destroyed with your own hands?

“She looked at me like I was a mistake,” I say, my voice low. “Like she wishes she never met me.”

Ant sighs before pulling something from his pocket, holding it up in front of my face. I feel my eyes widen as I take in the timestamp on the photo. It was of Eva, taken just a few hours ago.

“How did you-” I start before deciding I didn’t want to know. Instead, I take it from his hands, examining every inch of her.

She’s standing on a street corner, eyes tipped towards the sky as the wind whips through her hair like she doesn’t even know the world beneath her is fucked.

She looks so damn untouchable. She’s always loved the sky; she mentioned it almost every time I saw her.

I remember the forest, the day she confirmed the man behind the mask was me. We were lying on our backs amongst the leaves, her voice quiet when she said the clouds looked like a painting, and they were the most beautiful creation when they danced together like they were in love.

I told her I agreed, but the truth?

I wasn’t looking at the sky. I was looking at her.

My back slides down the wall, and I rub the hell out of my palm into my eye like it’ll push the ache out of my skull.

“How the fuck am I supposed to get near her?” I murmur, almost to myself. “She ran straight back to Boston without a second thought, and she’s probably ready to shank me if I breathe in her direction, never mind talk to her.”