Page 9 of Girl, Reformed

And God, it killed her to do this. To bethe one to shatter Mia's illusions, to rip away the blinders and force her tosee the ugly truth. But someone had to. Someone had to say the words to voicethe horrible suspicion that had been gnawing at Ella's gut since yesterday.

Even if it meant losing Mia forever. Evenif it meant watching her best friend, her sister-in-arms, break into a millionjagged pieces right before her eyes.

Ella reached out and grabbed Mia’s hand.‘I’m sorry, Mia. I really am. But we have to consider…’

Mia ripped her hand away, staggering backlike Ella had slapped her. ‘We don’t have to consider shit,’ she snapped.‘You’ve lost your mind.’

‘Have I? Because when I was hereyesterday, I saw it.’

Mia spun and stared daggers at herpossibly-former partner. ‘Saw what?’

'Martin. I saw it in his eyes. He knew Iknew because he was the figure I saw in Ben's apartment. He's the guy on theCCTV footage from Carter's murder. Hell, you can check it yourself.'

Mia strode closer, and if it was anyonebut her partner in front of her, Ella could have sworn she was about to bepunched. If it made Mia feel better, she could take all the shots she wanted.

‘And you got all that? From a glance?’

She had to make Mia see, had to drag herout of the dark pit of denial that threatened to swallow her. Ella knew thatpit all too well.

‘Think about it, Ripley. Really think.Nobody else on this planet knew about our connections to Nash, Carter, Ben andTrevor.’

‘Oh please,’ Ripley practically screamed.‘Nash was a known criminal. Everyone hated Carter. Trevor was a scumbag.’

Ella knew Ripley’s tone better thananyone. It was the same look she got when a perp tried to sweet talk her in theinterrogation room, when a suspect thought they could pull a fast one.

‘And who knew about their connections tous? Me, you… and Martin. Nobody else.’

‘I’m not hearing this, Dark. You’re on mydoorstep, telling me my partner is killing people? Why would he do that?’

Ella got it. God knows she did. The hearthad a funny way of blinding you to the things you didn't want to see, of makingexcuses and rationalizations for the inexcusable. She'd been there herself moretimes than she cared to admit.

But this was different. This was life anddeath, blood and bullets. They didn't have the luxury of turning a blind eye,of pretending everything was sunshine and rainbows when the storm clouds weregathering on the horizon.

‘That’s what I’ve been asking myself. Butplease, we need to…’

‘If you ever mention this again, Iswear I'll-' Mia raised a hand, tensed harder than a slab of granite. Ellaclocked it, shut her eyes, prepared to endure the sting of her once-partner'sfleshy palm.

But it didn’t come.

Mia slammed her hand into her own side,turned away and stormed back towards the house like a soldier marching intobattle. Her shoulders were rigid, her spine ramrod straight, every line of herbody screaming get the hell out of here.

Ella watched her go. There was a hollowache in her chest, where her heart used to be. Two years they'd been partners,two years of having each other's backs through thick and thin. They'd faceddown serial killers and psychopaths, had stared into the abyss and come out theother side battered but still by each other's side.

And suddenly it felt like it was allcrumbling away, like the foundation of their friendship was built on quicksandand lies. Ella wanted to scream, to grab Mia by the shoulders and shake heruntil she saw sense, until she realized the danger they were in.

But she knew it was futile. Mia was toofar gone, too deep in the trenches of love and loyalty to see the truth. She'dhave to come to it on her own, have to face the ugly reality of Martin'sbetrayal in her own time.

Mia slammed her front door, leaving Ellaalone outside. For a long moment, she just stood there, staring at the closeddoor like a lost puppy waiting for its owner to come back.

But she knew they wouldn't. Knew that Mianeeded time, needed space to process the bombshell Ella had just dropped on herhead. Pushing her now would drive the wedge between them deeper.

So Ella did the only thing she could. Sheturned on her heel and walked away, every step feeling like a mile, everybreath like a knife to the lungs. She climbed into her car and started up theengine. She sat there a minute, fighting the urge to storm into Mia’s house,grab her by the shoulders and shake her until she saw reason. But she wrestledthe temptation into submission and shoved the thoughts into the same darkcorner of her mind where she kept all the other ugly truths and painfulrealities of her job.

This wasn't about her. This was about Mia,about giving her the space and time she needed to come to terms with the factthat the man she loved, the man she'd given her heart to, was a monster indisguise.

Ella put the car in gear and pulled away.She didn't look back, didn't let herself dwell on the pain and heartbreak thatlay behind her.

There would be time for that later, timeto lick her wounds and nurse her broken heart. But right now, she had to get towork.

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