Scarlet Angel (Mindf*ck #3)(8)

I also don’t have to fake being frozen in shock either. Nothing on my body is working, so even if I wanted to run, I couldn’t.

Her eyes fix on mine, but she looks away when they start unbinding her feet and freeing her hands from the cuffs. As soon as her hands are free, she starts peeling the tape off.

And I get stiffer by the second, praying against all odds that she’s been unconscious this entire time. I mean, it’s possible. She hasn’t made a sound until now.

As soon as her mouth is free, she starts rubbing her wrists as they help her to her feet. She wobbles, and one offers her support, clutching her under the arms.

“I’m Agent Hadley Grace,” she tells them firmly when they open their mouths, probably to get her identity.

All mouths close at once, and the guns lower.

“I came to check on Ms. Myers after learning patrol had been pulled away,” she lies, the fib rolling off her tongue effortlessly.

She came to find something on me.

She just did.

Like every stupid fucking idiot in the movies, I showed my hand of cards, let the words roll out of my mouth to a man I knew would never be able to tell a soul. I totally did an evil monologue, for fuck’s sake!

I did it to taunt him.

I did it to strip him of power.

I didn’t know I was being watched.

She gauges me long and hard.

“What happened?” an officer asks.

She directs her attention to him.

“I was upstairs, clearing the house after I realized the door was unlocked. He hit me from behind, and he tied me up so he could wait on Ms. Myers to get home. He wanted me to watch. He wanted me to see what would happen to me when he was done with her.”

Her eyes turn back to mine, and something silently passes from her to me, though I’m not sure what.

“Ms. Myers fought back. She got lucky. Even threw some things at him,” she says, causing that shock inside me to expand. She gestures to the shattered remnants of the lamp and the broken disarray of the small end table that he threw at me. “She caught him off guard enough for him to drop the knife. Somehow she managed to get it before him, and she turned just in time. He ran right into it.”

She continues to study me, as I try to figure out what the actual fuck she’s doing right now. Why is she covering for me? Is it just so she can save the truth for her team instead of giving the arrest to the cops?

“Pure. Dumb. Luck,” she says, practically quoting my words from my earlier taunt.

Unsure of her motives, I remain frozen.

“Definitely lucky,” one guy agrees.

Hadley’s lips twitch as she looks away. “I’ll call my guys.”

My stomach tilts, growing more nauseated by the second. She lifts her phone, then frowns. But then looks at his body. “There’s a remote in his pocket. I…saw it earlier.”

Sicker and sicker.

I hate this game she’s playing right now.

“We can’t touch anything on the scene until the feds get here,” one guy says, and she arches an eyebrow.

“I am a fed.”

“Until your—”

“Where the fuck is everyone? Why isn’t anyone answering their damn phones?” Logan’s voice has me snapping my head to the door.

“Lana!” he shouts, the clear sense of panic in his tone.

“Here!” I call out, my voice cracking sincerely. I’m not sure what Hadley’s about to do, and the tears that are in my eyes are real.

It may be the last time he ever looks at me with anything but horror and disgust if she tells him who I really am.

His wild eyes find me, and his entire body visibly relaxes as he charges across the room, not even noticing the bloody body before he grabs me, crushing me to him.

My eyes dart over to Hadley to see her watching us with an unreadable expression. She looks away, telling the cops something about the attack—another lie.

Logan holds me to him, his entire body rigid as I lean against him, absorbing his feel. He pulls back, his eyes scanning my face as he grimaces, taking in the damage.

There’s nothing physically wrong with me that I didn’t allow. Well, other than the first hit. He got in one lucky shot that I didn’t see coming.

“What the fucking hell?” I hear him say, looking down now as he sees the Boogeyman for the first time.

He draws me back to him, almost as though he’s shielding me from the sight.

“She got lucky,” Hadley says, regaining my attention.

He looks over at her. “What are you doing here?”

“I came by to check on her after I heard they pulled patrols,” she says, lying again.

“I’ll let them brief you on the specifics, but let’s just say I’m going to have a hell of a headache.” She points to her bruised temple. Her eyes flick to mine before returning to his. “She saved our lives tonight.”

With that, she walks out, but I still worry what her angle is.

She wanted dirt, and I gave her far more than she ever expected. Why leave? Why not spill it all?

Logan cups my face, and I wince when he squeezes it too tight, thanks to the bruise that’s causing my face to swell.

“Shit,” he hisses. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Craig walks in, his eyes landing on the dead man in my living room.