Page 21 of Veiled Vengeance

Maybe she already knew.

When no one answers, Hayes turns to Dahlia. “Did you know?”

She bites her lip and looks out the window.

“Iris?” Hayes urges.

“You probably shouldn’t call her that, man,” Zane proclaims from the driver’s seat.

“Zane,” I chastise, hoping to shut him up.

How does he know? Did Asher tell him?

“What are you talking about? Why not?” Hayes asks with an irritated frown.

Zane lets out a forceful laugh. “I’m saying you should ask your little girlfriend-slash-spy what her real name is.”

Shit. This isn’t good.

“Z,” Asher warns, “stop it. We said we’d talk about this at Spencer’s apartment.”

“Spy?” Hayes questions as his head flinches back slightly.

Zane spews venom from the front of the car. “Tell him,Dahlia. Tell him who kept tabs on Spencer for months. Tell him why you were there.”

Dahlia gasps, and her eyes widen.

“What?” Hayes asks, bewildered.

Leaning forward, I place a hand on his arm. “Zane, stop. It’s okay.”

Zane gives me a quick glance over his shoulder. “She’s been feeding him information, Spencer. She’s been his little spy from the beginning.” His words remind me of the stinging betrayal I felt when Anthony first revealed who Dahlia was. But then the images of what happened next cause my heart to ache.

Hayes raises his voice. “Whose little spy?” We all ignore him and continue with our conversation in the front seat.

“She had to, Zane. If I were in her shoes, I would have done the same thing,” I defend.

Zane’s jaw clenches. “I know her reasons, but that doesn’t mean I have to be okay with her choices.”

My body tenses, and my blood boils. “I don’t care what that sadistic bastard made her do! She’s just as much a victim in this as I am! Same as all those kidnapped women that Anthony hurts!”

“Spencer . . .” Rio interjects. His eyes are soft and worried.

Asher brings his arm back around me and pulls me into his chest. The warmth from his body seeps into my bones. He clutches me tighter to him to get my body to stop trembling. “Let’s finish this conversation when we get there.”

Zane eyes me in the rearview mirror. His face is apologetic. I know he didn’t mean to hurt me, but he wants to blame someone for what happened to us.

We all do.

And the person to blame will get what’s coming to them. I’ll make sure of it.

Zane parksunapologetically and illegally in front of my building, and he and Rio exit the car, scanning the street. They help Asher and me out of the back seat.

I inspect the windows of Abstract Dreams and Clay Creations. The lights are off, the stools are on the worktables in the studio, and all the art sits untouched in the gallery. Things look normal—nothing has changed, but at the same time, everything has changed. It’s an odd feeling.

Asher holds his gun in his free hand and walks closely behind me as we all make our way up my stairs with Hayes and Dahlia in the middle and Rio and Zane in the front.

“Wait here while we clear the apartment,” Zane instructs, then opens my door with a key I definitely did not give him.

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