Page 28 of The Phantom's Vice

GHOST

The Code: Rule #4

If a Mask is captured, they must self-terminate using their allotted cyanide capsule.

Jim Peterson is nota good man. Jim Peterson is a very, very bad man—and he has his disgusting sausage fingers all over my darling Brett.

My hand tightens at my side as I glare at the pepper-haired man with his face inches from hers.I could kill him now. In the commotion, they probably wouldn’t realize it was me.

Although, this mask is pretty fucking recognizable.

I take a deep breath, forcing my gaze away from the object of my obsession and toward thecorner where her colleagues Samuel Danvers and Harvey Hawking whisper. Neither of them was going to win any beauty contests, but the fluorescent lights in the basement certainly aren’t helping matters.

I’m sure they’re talking about what agreat jobthey did earlier. Catching the Phantom was easy for them—too easy, and they’re too stupid to realize it. I scoff, my head jerking back to where Brett lies when I catch movement out of the corner of my eye.

She’s awake.

“Brett! Brett, are you okay?” Jim whines, a drop of spittle flying from his lip and landing on her brow.That motherfucker. I’m going to kill him just for that.

“Jim?” Her eyes crack open, and for the briefest moment, her beautiful pink lips tip in a smile.

I think my heart just burst.

That is, until I realizeI’mnot the object of her smile.It’s not fair.I glare through the eye slits at the back of Peterson's head, wishing I had the power to pop it open like a nasty cyst.He deserves so much worse, but I will deal with it if it means I get to watch him die horrifically.

“Brett, you won’t believe what happened!” He tries to keep his voice low, but the idiot doesn’tknow how to whisper for shit. And if he did, the amplifiers in my mask would do the trick.

“What—what happened?” she slurs, her eyes scanning the room lazily. “What happened to me?”

“You were…” Jim looks away, his throat bobbing heavily. “Oh God, Brett, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how it happened.” He hangs his head, not able to look her in the eye. “You were… you were drugged.”

“I waswhat?” she demands, her mouth pulling down into a deadly scowl. “How?”

Jim gestures to the shattered champagne flute on the ground. “Probably your drink. We’ll find the bastard, though, Brett. I promise we’ll find the sick fuck who spiked your drink.”

Brett seems confused by this statement. “What are you talking about? It was the Phantom. He drugged me, and then he—” She stops herself, those ocean eyes jerking around the room erratically. “He’s stillhere, Jim. I can feel it.”

Jim looks to the side, making eyes at the EMT crouched at Brett’s head. “Brett… we caught the Phantom.”

“W–what? When?” she demands, shoving his hands from her and attempting to stand.

Jim grabs her forearm, refusing to let her shake him off this time. “Brett, calm down. We caughthim about an hour ago—right after you disappeared. When I couldn’t find you, for a second, I thought…” His throat bobs, and he shakes off whatever thought ran through his head. “We’ve been looking for you for half an hour. Finally, some guy named Mike mentioned he saw you stumbling off toward the basement. That’s where we found you…”

Jim’s face is pinched in concern for the delicate little thing. It’s written all over him—in his eyes and in the way his fingertips barely hold her in place.Only Brett Evangeline is anything but delicate. And I’m the only one who seems to know it.

“That’s impossible,” Brett stutters, her mouth hanging wide open. “The Phantom was down here with me! He was the one who drugged me!”

“Brett…” Jim hesitates. “Brett, that’s impossible. We arrested the Phantom while you were down here.”

“Maybe he came back up after I passed out! Maybe?—”

Jim shakes his head, causing my words to die in my throat. “It wasn’t him, Brett. The real Phantom is sitting in an interrogation room as we speak.”

“But it can’t be! You have it all wrong!” By now, her shouting has called the attention of severalother crowd members. “He was here! I know he was! You’ve made a mistake!”

“Brett,”Jim balks, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. I have to stop from ending his life here and now.Soon. Soon, darling.

“Pull it thefucktogether, Evangeline. You are afederal agent.This kind of behavior is unacceptable.”

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