Page 128 of Risky Obsession

She sucked in a shaky breath. “After Tory died, I wanted to stop but Axel wouldn’t let me. And I knew if I ran, he would kill me. I was trapped again, and for three months, I pretended to be okay when I was being eaten alive with guilt. I didn’t even know if Tory’s parents knew what happened to her. Finally, I escaped, and I went to the police to hand myself in.”

Her ragged breaths showed how hard she was working to keep up with me, but I wasn’t slowing down. The sooner I got away from her, the better.

“The police gave me a deal. Help them take down Axel and his gang, and I would get off with a lighter sentence. So I worked undercover with the drug squad. Axel and twenty-two other men were arrested. But the guilt over what happened to Tory crushed me.”

“So you re-invented Tory to fuck with me?” I snapped.

“No. I haven’t finished.”

“This is all bullshit, Tory. Lacey. Whoever the fuck you are.”

“Kane, look at me!” She gripped my arm with surprising strength. “I’m trying to explain who I am.”

The raw emotion in her voice threatened to break through my walls.

“You’re a well-trained liar, that’s who.”

She released a wild shriek of pure anger, hurled her suitcase forward, and stood in front of me. “My guilt has been driving me ever since Tory died in my arms. I worked my ass off to become a cop and then a detective. I do everything by the law, pretending to be innocent. And every day, my only hope is to keep moving forward. Because if I stop, my guilt will crush me.”

I dropped Pops bag and clenched my fists, trying to rein in my fucked-up emotions.

“I love my job. I love taking down criminal bastards who ruin lives. When my captain grounded me because of my stupid injuries, I thought my world would implode. Aria gave me a lifeline. That’s all it was. An undercover job that I thought would save me from my guilty spiral. I had no idea who you were. But when I got to know you . . .” Her face contorted with anger. “I hated myself all over again. I was stuck, Kane. Stuck between my duty and my feelings for you.”

I stared at the empty road ahead.

“Kane, please!” She squeezed my wrist as she sobbed, and the sound cut through me like a machete. “I never meant to hurt you!”

A bitter huff escaped my lips. “But you did.”

I picked up Pops’ bag and walked away.

The cold wind bit into my skin as my boots crunched on the gravel beneath me and her cries of despair carved chunks off my heart. Yet I didn’t look back.

I’d learned from my sister’s betrayal that liars never ceased to be liars.

I wouldn’t make that same mistake again.

CHAPTER 26

Lacey

The endless trek to Cuxhaven’s main street was a nightmare. Kane’s anger radiated in every step he took. As the bitter cold seeped into my bones, the pitch-black darkness surrounding us confirmed we were still a long way from civilization.

The weight of my deception had crushed Kane. I had known it would, and I deserved to be punished, but each time he looked at me with utter hatred burning in his eyes, I knew I could never salvage the relationship between us.

I’d ruined everything. Him. Me. Us.

For what? My career? My determination to keep forging forward no matter what?

Kane was about twenty yards ahead of me and he wasn’t slowing down like I was. The deserted road stretched ahead like a glistening black ribbon. The frosty air threatened to choke me with every breath I forced into my lungs.

I was completely drained, and my hand around the handle of my rolling suitcase was chilled to the bone and aching more than my wounds. I was exhausted and hungry and couldn’t remember if we had any water left in our bottles. It was an effort to convince myself to keep moving.

If I wasn’t so fucking cold, I probably would have curled up on the side of the road and cried myself into oblivion.

A ringing noise pierced the silence, and I jumped. It was the burnerphone in my pocket. Kane was too far ahead of me to hear it. I stopped and pulled out the phone. I didn’t recognize the number on the screen, but there was only one person who knew the number . . . Archer.

I swiped to answer. “Hello?” My teeth chattered.