Page 37 of Little Hearts

Shock had the pieces falling into place slowly. “You know him.”

“I tried to tell you last night …”

Aggie could feel the blood draining from her head. She couldn’t draw in a proper breath, her lungs were refusing to inflate. Horror clawed at her even as she clung to denial. “You set me up. My attack. You didn’t come across me being assaulted by accident, you were waiting for your friend to jump on me so you could swoop in and pretend to save me. But … I don’t understand. Why? Why would you do that?”

“I'm so sorry, Aggie …”

“You're sorry?” she screeched. She wanted vehement rejections of what she’d just said not apologies. “Why?”

“I'm a cop, we both are.” Nick gestured at the man who still stood motionless on his doorstep. “This is my partner, Miller Chau. We’re investigating a potential serial killer. Your father. He’s killed two of his ex-wives. Framed the men they were involved with. Emily Hadden is missing,” Nick was babbling. “I thought we would have more time before he took her. I was going to try and get some information on your father through you. But then he jumped ahead of his usual schedule. He took Emily earlier than we anticipated. I couldn’t back out. At least I thought I couldn’t. But I was going to put a stop to everything. I intended to tell you all of this last night. I'm so sorry,” Nick implored.

Angry tears flooded her face. Hot tears of deep fury and humiliation that scalded her eyes and stung her cheeks. “You used me.” She had never felt so stupid in her entire life.

“No.”

Jerking free from his hold, she glared at him. “Yes. You’ve been playing me since the beginning. And because you think my father is a serial killer? That’s ridiculous. And even if you think it’s true that doesn’t give you the right to set me up, to pretend to have me attacked so you could weasel your way into my life, to pretend to have feelings for me …”

“I wasn't pretending to have feelings for you,” Nick interrupted, trying to reclaim a grip on her but she dodged away.

How could she have been so stupid? She should have seen the signs. She wanted to be alone, she wanted to be as far away from Nickolas Sleigh as she could get. Why had she decided to wear his shirt this morning instead of her own clothes? She knew the answer, because she had wanted to feel like she was wrapped up in Nick’s arms even when she wasn't. But now, because of that decision, she couldn’t just walk out the front door, she was stuck here until she got dressed. “You never had feelings for me, I was just a pawn in your game.”

“No,” he said firmly. “Maybe at first,” he amended. “But once I realized I was falling for you I decided I had to tell you everything. I wanted to last night. You know that I told you a couple of times that we needed to talk. But then we made love and you fell asleep in my arms.”

She shook her head in defiance. “We had sex, we did not make love,” she countered. “I don’t think you even know what love means.”

“You're right,” he agreed immediately. “I don’t. I didn’t. Not before you. I lost too much when I was a child, my parents, my foster father, my foster brother. I was afraid to love after that because I couldn’t deal with the pain of losing anyone else. I shut down, closed off my heart, refused to form emotional attachments. But you changed that. You started turning those feelings back on. I didn’t want you to, but you did. And when you asked me last night if I was in love with you and I told you I was, that was true.”

“You took advantage of me,” she reminded him. She felt filthy, violated.

“No.”

“Yes,” she screamed. “You deliberately made me weak and vulnerable so that you could take advantage. Whatever it took to keep me in your game, including having sex with me.”

“It wasn't that cold,” Nick protested. But she could hear in his voice as he said the words that really it had indeed been that cold and clinical. “And it wasn't just sex for me. It meant more than that, it went deeper than that, you know it, youfeltit.”

“I don’t want to hear another lie out of your mouth.” She was pleased that her voice sounded strong and cold, even if she couldn’t do anything to stop the tears that were still pouring down her face. She couldn’t afford to believe anything that Nick said to her, her heart couldn’t take it. “I'm going to change and go home, and I don’t want you to ever contact me again.”

“You don’t have your car, let me take you home.”

“I’ll walk.” She turned her back and started for the stairs, her world crashing down around her.

“Aggie, please, let me explain.”

“I don’t want to hear any of your explanations. I wouldn’t believe them anyway. You're a liar. A liar and the most despicable person I've ever met.”

“Aggie, please,” he begged. “I can't let you walk away.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

* * * * *

10:44 A.M.

The sun was so hot.

She wished it would go away, but at the same time, she wished it didn’t because with the night came a drop in temperature her weakened body could no longer cope with.

Plus, it was harder to hide from her fears in the dark.

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