Page 93 of The Villain

I didn’t know how to answer her. I didn’t know how to tell her that none of my answers were good enough.

“We were in her front yard, and a glare caught my eye. Off a car window across the street, I thought, until I looked…”

“You saw the shooter from there?”

“He was lowering the window, that was what caught the light.” I swallowed, hindsight painting a better picture of what had happened. “I thought I saw the gun, but it was the car…I recognized the car and knew something was wrong. It was the only reason I got her down in time.”

If I’d just seen the gun, it would’ve been too late.

“The car?”

“Black Mercedes sedan.” My voice cracked, and Rorik handed me an open water bottle. I sighed when the cold water soothed my throat and allowed me to continue. “It was parked outside Ivans’s house.”

“What?” Ty sat forward. “There wasn’t a car there when I finished at the scene.”

“It was there when I left. It pulled away when I came outside…” I paused for another breath, wondering if this damn hole in my chest was leaking air from my lungs. “Didn’t think much of it because Ivans…” I ended on a groan, the pain Rorik warned about was starting to reach me in waves.

But I deserved that pain—every goddamn ounce of it—for how I’d hurt her.

“Because Ivans was dead.”

And I took the explanation at face value because I wanted to get her home—wanted to get her temptation away from me.Needed to.Instead, desire got the better of me, and it almost got her killed.

Again.

Again, someone almost died because I hadn’t seen the truth.

“Dare.” My brother’s hard tone jolted me, his stare even more steely. “This isn’t your fault.”

“She was still in danger, and I…”

“Not you. Us. All of us thought Ivans’s death meant she was safe.” He moved to the bottom of the bed, looming over the edge like he was God himself.

I didn’t respond. I didn’t have the strength to argue or the grace to forgive myself.

“Who else? Who else would want to kill her?” It didn’t make any fucking sense. She was in danger because of Ivans. Without him, she shouldn’t be in danger anymore.

I closed my eyes, searching the memory again like it was a box of puzzle pieces, the one I needed—the one with answers—buried somewhere in its depths.

“It has to do with Ivans.” Harm folded his arms as he spoke. “There’s no way it doesn’t, we just don’t know what the connection is yet, but we’ll find it. I promise.”

“How?” I didn’t want promises. I wanted practicalities.

“We go back through everything. There’s obviously some part of this we’re missing—some other person.”

“The house belonged to a shell company—a series of them with no link to Ivans or Iverson. Maybe someone else is involved,” Ty suggested. “Someone who owns the house and let Ivans stay there.”

“Who?”

“Another enemy of GrowTech? Disgruntled employee?” Rhys chimed in. “I’m sure Ivans wasn’t the first person Belmont threw under the bus.”

“I’ll keep digging.” Ty nodded.

It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t fast enough. “The license plate…itwas C, zero, G…” I trailed off, the details fragmenting like an exploded firework.

“I’ll check the nearest traffic cams to both Athena and Ivans’s houses and see if I come up with any matching plates,” Ty said and excused himself from the cabin.

“You need to rest,” Harm said when he was gone and looked to Rorik for confirmation.

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