Page 99 of Misted

My arms drop to each side of me. “What evidence?”

“Some gun you left in the hotel room Nero was burnt in.” He rubs his lower lip with his pinkie. “I never pegged you as an idiot.”

I did leave my gun in the bathroom, but since it was never mentioned, I thought Hawk got rid of it when he burnt the room.

How come that important piece of evidence has only come out now?

“How do you know all this?” I ask Ink.

“Spies.” Ink stretches his legs in front of him with nonchalant air. “You should try them sometimes. They’re fun.”

“And? How about what I asked you to look into?”

“On it.” He takes a drag of his cig. “Have you ever thought that the whole Nero incident and your ‘stalker’ are related?”

“I did think maybe Nero didn’t die, but that can’t be possible. He was shot several times then burnt. There’s no way he’d survive that.”

“What if someone was watching you since then? They could’ve witnessed the whole thing and decided to toy with you.”

I shake my head. “Only the guards could have, and they’re no match to threaten me now.”

He laughs, the sound dark and rich. “You did go on a rampage and killed three of them a few years ago.”

I killed the three who beat Hawk to within an inch of his life that day. Then I killed those who shot him in the back. Then I killed those who beat him in front of me while I pretended I didn’t care about him.

Anyone who hurt him needed to fucking die. End of the story.

You hurt him, too.

And I’m not running away from it. I’ll pay, too. Just not now.

“My spies gathered some info, but I need confirmation before I tell you anything.” Ink’s quiet voice brings me out of my thoughts.

I’m in his face in a second. “Tell me now. Who is it?”

He shakes his head once. “I don’t have a name. Just a few players on the board, but as I told you, I found a pattern. It won’t be long before I find out who’s behind the pattern.” He grins, the love of a challenge glinting in his dead eyes. “They’re smart. I’ll give them that.”

“I’m on a limited time frame,” I say through clenched teeth. “So you better find that pattern before my time is up.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He salutes. “Until then, don’t tell anyone about meeting me.”

“Why?”

He grins. “Just testing something.”

“I want to test something, too.” I retrieve my phone from my bag and send a message to the unknown address.

I know who you are. You better run.

I show the message to Ink. He retrieves the phone and scrolls, probably reading all the harassing stalking messages I received over the years. He saw them before – he’s the only one aside from Molly who did.

If I showed them to Ghost, he’d go rampant, and he already has too much on his plate.

“Why did you send that?” Ink’s voice is completely detached.

“Deflation. I want to see if he’ll change his pattern.”

“You won’t know unless you go back to Hawk. They only become malicious when you’re with Hawk, no?”