Page 58 of Smith

“What if the person sending the letters knew what was happening to those girls?” I tipped my head in the direction of the door even though Jonas and the tin box were no longer visible. “The letters say ‘I know.’ Whoever?—”

“Aria, listen to me. We got this, yeah?”

I was glad Smith sounded so confident because I no longer was.

“Yeah. Right. You got this,” I snarked. “And what you have is creepy as fuck and happening to me.”

“Baby—”

And that was when I lost it.

“Don’t ‘baby’ me, Smith. There were pictures of young girls hidden under the floor. That isn’t creepy, that’s totally fucking whacked!”

As soon as I was done with my rant I noticed two things. First, Jonas was crowding me from the side, a look of sympathy and understanding clear on his face. The second was Smith had gone vacant. Both had registered but didn’t penetrate, not fully because my phone in my pocket was ringing and I knew who was calling.

My time was up.

“I have to take this, it’s my father,” I announced and left the room.

But not before Smith’s gaze finally hit me. And when it did I got an overwhelming feeling something had just broken.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“Don’t Valerie me, Smith! This is your fault!”

Her sob tore through my soul.

“I told you this would happen! I told you! You killed her.”

“Smith!”

“Valerie, please?—”

“I’m going home.”

“That’s not safe.”

“With me gone it wasn’t safe for her. Now she’s dead because of you. I never should’ve listened to you.

“Brother!” Coop’s slap on my back brought me back to the present.

Fucking hell.

“I’m good,” I lied. “Sick as fuck at what was in that box, but I’m good.”

“You went somewhere just now and it has nothing to do with that box.”

He was right but I’d never admit it.

“Do yourself a favor. As much as it’s gonna kill you, let Kira handle it.”

Cooper wasn’t stupid, not by a long shot. So him letting me off the hook was just that. He allowed my non-verbal stay-out-of-my-business to stand.

“Right.”

Without another word he left me alone in the bedroom.

Fuck.

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