Page 35 of Heartless Legacy

“Miss LaReaux, the doctor will be able to help you.”

I grab a stapler off the desk. “I said, no!”

Wolfe is on his feet, standing in front of me. “She doesn’t need a doctor.”

“No offense, Beowulf, but she looks half feral and is in the middle of a panic attack, so I think she does.”

Wolfe ignores him, and says, “How about we take a seat, LaReaux. We’ll practice our breathing and just sit a minute. If the urge to staple his hands to the desk doesn’t pass, I’ll hold him down so you can do it.”

My eyes bounce over his shoulder to the guy holding the phone. I wheeze out, “I don’t need a doctor.”

“Of course you don’t. They’re idiots. They know nothing about you, and that’s why their brief is empty. Ignore them, Thea. Let’s have a seat and you tell me what you feel like sharing about your time away.”

I shake my head, refusing to take the hand he’s holding out to me. “I don’t want a doctor, Wolfe. No shrinks. I’m fine.” He doesn’t comment on me refusing his touch. “Okay. We’ll just talk like we always do.”

My eyes cut to the other guy in the room and Wolfe says, “He’ll be taking notes. Probably recording everything, so Moreau has a full account of what you say.”

I take a seat facing the guy whose office we’re in. Wolfe grabs the one right next to me. Keeping space between us so we don’t touch. “Breathe in and out LaReaux. You know how to do this. We’ve been here before.”

I do what he says, taking slow breaths in and out, matching the rise and fall of his chest. The buzzing in my ears and burning feeling on my skin slowly fades. When I feel more in control, I ask, “What do you want to know?”

“I want to know everything, but for the purpose of this conversation, let’s start at the beginning when you left campus. We’ll go over the things that you’re most comfortable sharing for now.”

The beginning? God, that was forever ago. “The beginning isn’texactlywhere this part of the story starts. But I guess we’ll get there.” I avert my gaze and stare at the wall. “I’d just finished with my last exam and was heading to the dorms when I got atext alert for a challenge. The message was a set of coordinates and a riddle.”

Wolfe prompts, “So you accepted the challenge.”

I nod. “Just like I had every other challenge. The coordinates led me to Palm Springs, but it took me longer than I would have liked to figure out the riddle. When I came out of the flower shop, the cops were there waiting to arrest me.” I scoff. “I thought it was a joke, or another challenge. Until they mentioned why I was being arrested.”

Wolfe reaches for my hands, but I pull them away, placing them in my lap. He glances down at the now empty table and asks, “Arrested for what?”

My chest tightens. I tilt my head to look at him. This is it. This’ll determine if his acceptance of my violent streak is all bullshit, since he’s never actually seen me be violent. “The warrant was for the attempted murder of Michael Pearse.”

Shaking his head, he says, “Someone framed you. Michael was on a medical leave a couple of weeks before finals, after being mugged.”

I look him dead in the eye. Unblinking. Unflinching. Unremorseful. Letting the truth of my words show in my eyes, when I say, “I wasn’t framed. I gutted him like the pig he is, after he and a friend tried to finish what they started on Mayhem Night.” I shrug. “I came out on top this time.”

I wait for my words to click. For Wolfe to tell me I went too far, and he doesn’t condone extreme measures and all that. That I should have incapacitated my opponent instead of filleting him like a trout.

“Good job, Sweetness.”

My brows jump to my hairline. “You’re not disgusted that I plunged my knife in his gut and dragged it long and deep for his innards to run out?”

Wolfe waves his hand in the air. “Look where we are. Do these people strike you as the knock you unconscious type? When they rescued you, were stun guns involved?”

I swivel in my chair, narrowing my eyes at the guy typing up my statement. “I’m pretty sure I was tranqued, but I vaguely remember hearing gunfire before I passed out.”

The guy nods, and says, “It was for protection.”

“Yeah, I felt real protected being shot in the neck with a dart.”

He snorts, “I meant ours. We heard all about your tendency to fight back. No new neck tattoos for me, thank you.”

Chapter 23

Thea

“We need to work on getting your strength back.” Wolfe says as he slips his t-shirt over his head. We went to the gym this morning to watch the agents train, and he couldn’t help but get involved. “This place has a state-of-the-art training facility. It’d be a shame not to take advantage of it, along with Alexzander’s hospitality.”

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