Page 129 of Love Me Dangerous

“Me. He tried to get at William, but I fought him.”

The attorney flips to a new page in the stack. “You were a star athlete. Baseball, football, track…”

“I was no star, sir. But I did play, yeah.”

“Hospital records show you were admitted for wounds and several broken bones a few months before the vet clinic fire. The report states you fell down the stairs.”

“It’s true.” I search Hunter’s gaze, then the attorney’s, looking for reassurance that changing my story isn’t a mistake.

“But you had help?” Hunter asks, his face tense.

I clench and unclench my fingers. “Yeah. From Kristov. He was in William’s room.”

Hunter nods.

“And the broken window you somehow fell through, what really happened there?”

“I had some help with that one, too.”

I stare at the table as old fears fire through me, making my fingers shake and my head buzz. “I thought he was going to kill me.”

State Attorney Thompson releases a slow breath.

Do they believe me? It’s my word against Kristov’s. Is it enough?

“Why would he want you dead?”

I huff a deep breath. Just a little more and I can be done with this. “I knew how he got to Terrilynn. And I knew he set fire my dad’s vet clinic. But more than that, Kristov wanted William, and if I was dead, there would be nobody to stop him.”

“Why William?”

The tingles spread up my chest and into the pit of my stomach. “Because he’s a predator.” I stare the attorney down. We aren’t going any further down this road—those memories are locked away, and nothing he can say to me will change that.

State Attorney Thompson and Hunter lock eyes for an instant.

“I think we stop here for now,” Alaska State Attorney Baker says.

The others agree, and I release a measured breath while the deposition comes to its formal closure. The TV screen goes blank and State Attorney Thompson slides his documents and his laptop into a briefcase.

His office phone rings, but I tune out the attorney’s answer until he hands me the phone, a soft expression in his eyes. “It’s for you.”

Confused, I lift the clunky receiver to my ear. “Hello?”

“Zach?”

I suck in a breath but it lodges in my throat. I grip the back of my neck—something to hold onto. “William. Hey, buddy.”

His voice is changing—gone is the softer adolescent tone. No doubt he’s grown, too. An ache for all that I’ve missed rips through me, hot and powerful.

“Where are you?” he asks.

The emotions I’ve kept trapped inside me fizz under my skin. I run a hand through my hair, but it does little to keep me grounded.

State Attorney Thompson steps past me, and a moment later, the door clicks shut behind him, leaving me alone.

“I’m in a little town called Finn River,” I say.

“Evan said you’re coming home.”

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