Page 63 of Risky Passion

With a trembling hand, I brushed my fingers over the tarp one last time. My fingers lingered on her shoulder, and the tarp was surprisingly warm against my skin as if she were still alive. Something inside me cracked wide open, raw and bleeding.

“Rest now,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “I’ll make this right. I promise.”

I pressed the trunk shut, and the hollowthudechoed in the still night, final and absolute.

Behind me, Cooper groaned, weak and pitiful. “B . . . please. I won’t tell anyone, I promise. Don’t kill me . . .”

I turned to him, my jaw tightening. He was still dragging his bloodied body across the ground like a dying animal. The sight of him, pathetic and desperate, only stoked the fire burning inside me.

“You don’t get to live,” I said, my voice calm, steady, almost serene. Iinhaled deeply, savoring the air as if it were my first breath in hours. “Not after what you said. This is for Alice.”

“Beatrice!” he sobbed, his trembling hand reaching out toward me.

I cocked my head, studying him like he was nothing more than an insect under my boot.

“Huh,” I murmured. “At least you know who’s ending your miserable life.”

“You fucking bitch?—”

I squeezed the trigger, and the shot seemed much louder than the first, a sharp crack that echoed off the building.

Cooper crumpled. His final breath escaped in a soft hiss.

I stood over him, studying his face. Maybe he wasn't such a mediocre detective after all. He'd pieced together who I was and died with my true name on his lips.

A dark warmth spread through me. He’d known exactly who I was and who I was protecting – Alice Turnur. In that moment, our forbidden love that we’d always buried in secrecy and shame finally felt real at last.

My heart thundered with fierce satisfaction as I turned toward the orphanage.

In the moonlight, the fucking shadows still looked like they were watching me.

It was time to burn the whole fucking place to the ground.

CHAPTER 18

Tory

A cry torefrom my throat as I shot my trembling hands up and stumbled back from the cop car.

The cop thrust the gun at Jaxson’s face. “Get your hands up!”

“What the hell are you doing, Eddie?” Jaxson’s voice was tight as he raised his hands, palms out. Somehow, he kept his cool.

“Get back,” Eddie barked, flicking the barrel of the gun to force Jaxson away from the open car door. The movement was sharp and commanding, yet I didn’t miss the tremble in his hand.

Did Jaxson see it too?

Onyx growled low and deep, a rumbling sound that vibrated through the air as her sharp eyes locked on Eddie.

Eddie’s gaze flicked to Onyx. “Call off the dog,” he snapped. “Now. Or I swear to God, I’ll shoot her first.”

“No!” I blurted before I could think.

“You don’t want to do that, Eddie.” Jaxson’s eyes darted to Onyx, then back to Eddie. His jaw clenched, and the muscles in his neck tightened.

The gun jerked slightly as Eddie waved it toward Onyx. “I said,call her off! Or I swear, I’ll put her down!”

Jaxson’s hands stayed raised and his body rigid. “Onyx, down.”

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