Page 79 of Fractured Devotion
Her lips twitch, as though she had expected the reaction. “It was slipped into Mara’s locker a few days ago. It was printed in black and white, and I was in bed. You could see my head on the pillow and the shape of my body under the sheets.”
I go still, and my jaw clenches. “Jesus, Celeste…”
She shifts her weight, suddenly uncomfortable. “They didn’t break in. At least not then. There were no signs of forced entry. But that shot… it wasn’t taken from the hallway or the street. It came from inside.”
I step closer, my voice steady and sharp. “And you didn’t tell anyone?”
Her eyes narrow. “Tell who? The surveillance team? I don’t trust any of them. And I wasn’t exactly sure what you were playing at either.”
I run a hand over my face, fighting the growl building in my chest. “I didn’t know, Celeste. I swear to God, I didn’t know about that photo.”
She watches me like she’s gauging every microexpression. “That’s why you look ready to murder someone?”
“Because I am,” I bite out. “Because I can see it now. They’re not just watching you. They’re hunting you.”
“I didn’t even know I’ll be telling anyone else. I didn’t know who to trust.”
My hands curl at my sides. I feel the heat rise to my jaw, and the dark urge to find whoever did that and tear the breath from their lungs. “You should have told me.”
She lifts a brow. “Would you have told me?”
We stare at each other, the question thick between us.
I exhale through my nose before answering, “No. But I would’ve protected you.”
“I don’t need a protector. I need the truth.”
I move closer still, just inches from her now. “You have no idea how badly I want to give you both.”
She looks back out over the cliff. “I don’t trust you.”
I nod slowly. “You shouldn’t.”
A beat passes.
“But I will,” she says. “If you give me a reason.”
I watch her in the dimming light.
She’s cracking. She’s not broken, not yet. But she’s closer to me than she was yesterday. And tomorrow?
She might just fall into my hands.
“You shouldn’t go back there tonight.”
She tilts her head, her eyes narrowing as she studies my face. “To my apartment?”
I nod once. “Yes. Not after what you just told me. They’ve been inside already. And they took a photo of you while you were sleeping. That wasn’t just surveillance. That was a message. They could come back, and you shouldn’t be there alone.”
She sighs and looks away, then glances back at me with a sly little twist of her lips. “What, you offering me your couch? Or would I get the bed?”
I raise an eyebrow. “You’d get the bed. I don’t sleep much anyway.”
She actually laughs, softly and unexpectedly. “Relax, I have somewhere else I can go. I have a backup apartment in the clinic building. Three floors up. It’s locked down and off the books, and I’m the only one who ever uses it.”
That pulls a little of the tension from my shoulders, but not all. “You sure it’s secure?”
“As secure as anything gets around here,” she replies, her voice softening. “But thanks for caring. Even if your delivery is a little terrifying.”
