Page 30 of Spy With Me

Lacey sighed. “Someone found her out in the woods starvedand obviously abused. She likes dark, small places. She’s also pregnant, so Ihave to worry if she’ll let me close enough to help with the kittens when theycome. And now I have to deal with you. I’ll get her out of here. I wouldn’twant her abused further.”

“Why would I abuse a cat?” Devi asked.

Lacey shrugged. “Well, I watched you tear apart a person yousupposedly loved, so I thought perhaps a cat would be a way to take out yourfrustrations. You seem to do that a lot.”

“You don’t know me, lady.”

“Don’t I? I know the reports. I know you were a thoughtlesschild more interested in throwing a tantrum than honoring the people you sayyou love.”

Oh, this was what she needed. A stranger to tell her what ashit person she was. “I am not a child, and I’m not the one who kidnapped aperson. I’m a fucking victim like I always am.”

“Boohoo, love,” Lacey said almost absently. “It’s your faultyou’re here, though I doubt you’ll take any accountability.”

This woman was deranged. “Accountability for my ownkidnapping?”

“Oh, I think you should take accountability for most of whathappened. Not the Huisman rubbish. He’s pure evil, but you gave him the wayin,” Lacey pointed out.

“Excuse me?”

Lacey stopped and seemed to decide whether or not she wantedto continue. “Did you or did you not ditch your bodyguard?”

“You know I did.”

“And how did that work out for you?” Lacey asked, an elegantbrow arched over her eyes as she turned Devi’s way. “Because let me play out acouple of scenarios for you. If you had been with Landon when you walked intothe club, he could have taken out Lena and her crew. At the very least he wouldhave realized something was happening and called in the troops.”

Guilt twisted inside her because Lacey wasn’t wrong. “Ididn’t think anyone was coming for me.”

“Zach didn’t warn you?”

“He didn’t call me. He talked to my cousins. They went to myparents, and I got the bodyguard.” He hadn’t talked to her at all.

“So your parents love you and your cousins love you andZach…”

She would only let this woman go so far. “Don’t you say it.”

“I don’t have to. We both know the truth. You’re the beloveddaughter of a tight-knit family who wants you to be safe, and you repay them bygetting someone shot.”

“I didn’t shoot my aunt.”

“Didn’t you?” Lacey seemed determined to poke every wound.“I mean I know you didn’t pull the trigger but—again—what if you hadn’t ditchedyour guard and they hadn’t been able to use you to gain entrance to the club? Iread the reports. Your team thinks they’re safe from hackers, but I’m quitegood. What would have happened?”

“They would have waited for Eve and Kala to come out andthey would have shot her there.”

Lacey’s head shook. “That is not the most likely scenario.It’s the one that takes the blame off you.”

“Fine. What’s the likely scenario?” Devi asked, not wantingto hear it.

“Well, the most likely one is that Eve McKay and the youngMiss Taggart would have still been in the club when it opened and Lena wouldn’thave been able to get in once people started showing up. Another scenario, theydo get inside but they only have Eve. They need her then. They needed someoneor something to force that badger you call a cousin to comply. Eve would haveworked. So then she is unharmed and tossed on the plane and sent to Virginiainstead of fighting for her life and potentially losing a great deal of lungcapacity, but it’s all right since you were feeling… How were you feeling?”

Angry. Alone. Stubborn. She’d stood in that dumb bathroomand she’d needed to find some freedom, needed to show everyone that she wasn’tthis target because Zach Reed didn’t love her. She wanted her parents to hatehim. Her mom worried about him, didn’t believe he would ever truly hurt histeam and wanted to wait for more of what she called intel.

Devi heard her brother’s girlfriend talk about Zach and howgood he was.

Her mom was an excellent judge of character.

“I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt.”

Lacey gently closed the closet door. “I’m sure you didn’tmean to hurt your aunt or cousin, but you absolutely meant to hurt Zach, andgood on you. You scored a perfect hit since both his parents are wantedcriminals and they’re the reason he’s in this position, though you knoweverything, so I’m sure you knew that. Way to kick a man when he’s down.”