Page 91 of Flock This

It had been to save Roger, no doubt, but he’d made the choice at the end of the day. This cleared my name, evidence no one could argue with. I hadn’t done it. Whoever he spoke to had to be a vampire, given the conversation, so it wasn’t me.

I finally could prove my innocence.

* * * *

“You should have slept.” Kelvin’s voice startled me, making me realize I’d been so focused on staring out at the city that I’d somehow missed his return.

I turned toward him, the pebble tucked safely in my pocket, something still nagging at me that I couldn’t quite place. “Who would waste their last night sleeping?”

“It won’t be your last night.”

“Aren’t you optimistic?” I laughed, almost more thrown than before.

I now had proof, but what could I do with it? I couldn’t present it, had no one with standing to speak for me. I’d be kept silent during the trial, no chance to offer the evidence, so what did it even matter that I’d found it?

“I told you when this all started that I wouldn’t let you get killed. You might not trust me, but I didn’t lie about that.”

“Can you blame me for not trusting you?”

He loosened his tie, then undid the button at his throat. “Not really. Only fools trust me easily. I’ve earned my reputation, after all.” He cast me a smile full of an odd warmth, one that made me feel far better than it should. “Then again, if anyone understands why I’m the way I am, you should. We’re alike in that way, both people thrown into situations we aren’t ready for, both considered useless, both alone and forced to create our own path.” He held his hand out to me, and I offered him my own.

Why? Probably out of desperation. Because I had nothing else, no one else.

He tugged me against him, then turned me so we stared out at the city together, his solid, warm body behind me. When he spoke, his breath teased my ear. “Have you been out here worrying all this time? You should learn to trust me more. I’m nothing if not punctual.”

“You’re always early.”

William’s words still rang in my head, feeling as though they gouged as they went, digging in, making it impossible for me to forget or ignore them.

“You’re always scheming.”

“What’s going on in that head of yours, Grey? You aren’t usually this quiet.”

“To think one little unwanted would cause so much trouble.”

Along with William’s words, my brain latched onto each time Kelvin had shown up, when he’d appeared when he had no reason to. His surprise when he’d spotted me in the building the day of William’s murder. When Iglesia had let me go. Roger’s theory that Kelvin could have been behind it all from the start.

I froze as it all fell into place, as I tried to convince myself I was wrong, that I must have misunderstood. Except…it all fit.

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

Kelvin froze, his arms tight and unyielding around me. He didn’t respond.

“William killed himself, but he wasn’t alone in that room. He was pushed into it by someone else, and they gave him the stake, then put it into the delivery bay after he killed himself. That person was you.” I didn’t bother to tell him how I knew any of it—those details didn’t matter. All that mattered was the truth.

When Kelvin still said nothing back, I tried to turn toward him. I wanted to see his face, to read his expression as I asked him even though I had a feeling I knew the answer. No matter what he had to say, what excuses he gave me, I couldn’t see another option, another solution that made any sense.

He kept me from moving, though, tightening his arms to keep me pinned to his chest.

It made me keep going, forced more words from my lips. “All of this, I didn’t understand before. You wanted William out of the way so you could gain more power. With his traditional views, that would have been impossible while he ruled. I heard you worked with the Justice Department as an investigator, which is how you’d know how to break into the system and why you’d have a code—even if it wasn’t recorded anywhere else. You were always a step ahead, but it’s because you’ve known the truth this entire time because you were there, because you did it. I’m going to die because of you, and you didn’t even tell me. You let me think you cared about me.”

“I do care about you.”

“Bullshit! If you did, you would have told me. Fuck, if you cared you wouldn’t have used me like that.”

“It was never supposed to be you. You weren’t supposed to make that delivery. Do you really think I would have made you a target like that?”

The floor fell out from beneath me, like I had nothing to hold on to. Through all of this, I’d thought Kelvin was on my side. Sure, I knew I couldn’t trust him fully, but I never really thought he could have been behind it.

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