Page 78 of Whispers of Wisteria
I flexed my fingers. I could see his stupid, smug face. “I—I don’t like him.”
“Why were you together?” Damen asked.
The question made me feel hollow inside, and my hands dropped to my sides. My ears buzzed as I answered, “He needed to t-train and—and stuff. To—to run the business.”
Detective Kohler was writing as he asked, “Jason Richards?”
“His last name wasn’t the same.” I looked between the two of them. “I can’t…” I touched my head. I couldn’t say it. That’d make it real again.
Their expressions grew grim.
“W-what?” I asked again.
At first, no one answered. But then Damen stepped forward and grabbed my hand.
“There’s a case we’ve been working on for a while,” he said, his voice somber. “He owns one of the largest organizations on this side of the coast. But every time we come close to catching him, he disappears. His network is huge, and his reach seems to be everywhere.”
I pressed my lips together.
That sure sounded like something he was depraved enough to be capable of… But it couldn’t be.
Damen watched me evenly. “His name is Jason Patterson.”
It felt like something inside me snapped, and memories I’d been holding back flooded through my thoughts.
I stepped back, feeling gutted, and grabbed my head. I didn’t want to be afraid. I’d promised myself.
But… but…
He was still around. Still free.
He would find me. There was no way he wouldn’t. At least Mr. Richards had been able to control him before, but nowhewas in charge.
He was worse.
My stomach lurched as I stumbled against a doorway, and I fell to my knees and threw up.
The world tilted. Voices rose above me—heated, sharp—but distant. People were surrounding me. They were saying something, but I couldn’t make out the words. The ringing in my ears wouldn’t stop.
There was a tug at my hair, and cold air rushed down my neck as my scarf was pulled away.
Too close.
I jerked back, my pulse soaring as I pressed against the hard surface at my back.
Something was blocking me on my left. They were on the right.
I was trapped.
“Bianca?”
The voice was unfamiliar. The figures in front of me were blurry and shifting, and my mind struggled to place them.
One moved forward, kneeling despite the protests behind him.
My chest clenched. I pressed back harder and closed my eyes.
“Get away from her.”
