Page 10 of Girl, Reborn

Edis waved them away, his attentionalready back on the files scattered across his desk like confetti at a murderscene. 'I want updates on the hour and this son of a bitch in bracelets by theweekend. Toledo's already getting the martyr treatment in the press, and Idon't need this snowballing into a national incident on my watch.'

She and Luca made their escape while themaking was good and headed back the hallway. Ella waited until they were safelyensconced in the elevator, the doors whooshing shut behind them, beforerounding on Luca with fire in her eyes.

‘GPS tracking? What, like we're on paroleor something?’

Luca chopped her on the shoulder. ‘It’s agood idea. You know how many field agents go missing every year?’

‘How many?’

‘More than one, which is enough to justifyGPS tracking.’

‘What if I stop off to get pizza? TheFBI's gonna know about it before the chef does.’

‘I think you sometimes forget you’re apublic servant. But anyway, are you okay with this? Heading down to your oldstomping grounds, chasing ghosts and politicos?’

Ella looked away, suddenly fascinated bythe scuff marks on her boots. It was an innocent question, but it hit a littletoo close to home. Liberty Grove was less than an hour from where she'd grownup, in the house where she found her dad’s body as a five-year-old girl. Aplace she could count the times she’d returned on one hand.

‘I'll be fine,’ she said, feigningbravado. ‘It's just another scumbag to put in the ground.’

Luca studied her for a long moment, thoseblue eyes seeing right through her bullcrap. But he let it slide, bumping hershoulder with his own instead. ‘Damn straight. And you've got me riding shotgunthis time. What could possibly go wrong?’

CHAPTER FIVE

Martin Godfrey slumped low in the driver'sseat of the jacked-up sedan he’d bought for a hundred dollars from oldunfriendly Bob at the lot back in Pinehill. It was the perfect camouflage. Justanother middle-aged drone grinding through the daily drudge, nothing to seehere.

But he wasn't idling, wasn't scrollingTwitter or sipping a third-wave cold brew while the minutes ticked by. No, hisgaze was trained on one house in particular – a sprawling colonial five doorsdown, all brick and wrought iron and professionally manicured lawns. MiaRipley's southern belle mansion, so at odds with her true nature. A wolf inporcelain skin, a hard-nosed Fed hiding behind the picket fences andStepfordian smiles.

Not that the facade had fooled him, notfor a second. He'd seen past the soft curves and fluttering lashes to the steelcore beneath, the scar tissue and jagged edges that made her so perfect forhim. A dark soul to match his own, a broken thing he could piece back togetherin his own image.

But now it was all falling apart.

And it was all her fault.

Ella Dark. Mia's partner, her shadow, thegnat buzzing in his ear for days now. Always there, always watching, thoseshrewd eyes seeing too much. Digging in all the wrong places, connecting dotsthat should've stayed scattered.

She was the reason Mia had turned fromhim. The reason those once-adoring eyes now held only fear and revulsion. He'dseen it in that cramped storage unit where he'd come face to face with Miasince disappearing.

The way Mia had looked at him, like he wasa stranger. A monster.

As if she had any right to judge. As ifher hands were any cleaner. They were the same, him and her. Forged in bloodand bound by unspeakable acts. They were destined to be one, but Ella hadpoisoned her against him. Filled her head with lies, with doubts. Twisted theirlove into something ugly.

He'd catch glimpses of them sometimes whenhe'd circle the block in the dead of night while Mia thought he was fishing orexercising or resting at home. Ella's characterless Honda parked crookedly inthe driveway, takeout containers littering the porch. The two women framed inthe window, heads bent together over a case file or a bottle of wine. Scheming,plotting. Conspiring to rip away the only good thing he'd ever known.

It wasn't right. It wasn't fair.He'd done everything for Mia, laid waste to the enemies that dared threatenher. Nash, Carter, Trevor. He’d even tried to take out Ella’s ex so she couldhave a stress-free life, but Ella had responded like he was committing somecardinal sin by removing her enemies.

Martin had been Mia’s dark knight, but nowshe looked at him like he was something to be scraped off her shoe, and it wasall Ella's doing.

He'd tried to fix it. Tried to erase theevidence and burn away the ties that bound him to his righteous crusade. But itwas too late. Mia had seen, Mia knew.

And now his love, his light, his veryreason for being, was slipping through his fingers like so much blood-tingedsand.

But there was still a chance. Still a wayto salvage this, to bring Mia back to his side where she belonged. He just hadto remove the thorn in his side, pluck out the poisoned barb that had set thiswhole sorry mess in motion.

The only way to make Mia see, to make herunderstand. The depth of his devotion, the lengths he'd go to keep her safe. Tokeep her his.

He'd thought about it, of course. Dreamedabout it, a persistent fantasy playing behind his eyelids in every sparemoment. How he'd do it. Quick and clean, a bullet between those knowing eyes?Or slow and messy, a blade across that slender throat, a mirror of the firstcrime scene that had brought them together so long ago?

In the end, it didn't matter. The methodwas inconsequential, just the window dressing on the main event. What matteredwas the outcome – Mia free. Free to love him, to let the darkness bind themonce more.

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