Page 74 of Traitor

“Torch, find me a news channel.”Abuelitanarrowed her eyes and put her crocheting down on her lap, so I amended, “Please.”

“Terrifying news coming out of Colorado tonight. Just one day after police identified the body found in Cherry Creek as that of model, Christine Stevens, another model was held at gunpoint in her own home.

“Katya Egorichev is safe after alleged stalker, Lee Watkins broke into her home. She escaped with a broken wrist and concussion and is recovering at an undisclosed location tonight.”

They went on to cover Katya’s kidnapping and stalking before going live to Colorado. Mike filled the screen and it was like a knife twisting in my gut.

Why are you there?

Why didn’t you tell me?

Torch reached over and squeezed my thigh. “It’s okay, kid.”

I nodded asAbuelitalooked up in awe. “LoLo, that looks like your man.Sí?”

I pointed to the caption at the bottom of the screen with a forced smile. “See that,Abuelita? Detective Michael Sullivan, Lubbock PD. It looks like him because it is him.”

She nodded and went back to crocheting, while I stared desperately at the screen, needing answers. He hadn’t faked things with me; he said that.So, why was he in Colorado, refusing to take my calls?

“I can confirm that the decedent was in possession of some jewelry belonging to Christine Miller, along with a wallet and college ring belonging to Landon Scott,”Mike said as he looked directly into the camera and my blood ran cold.

He’d killed again.

His eyes looked the same way they did after I confronted him about Landon.

“I’m pretty tired. I think I’m just going to turn in.” Neither of them said anything other than “goodnight” as I stood up and stretched before heading back to my bedroom.

I stripped out of my jeans and found a pair of sweats, suddenly chilled to the bone. Then I buried myself under the comforter and considered what it meant that he hadn’t told me about this as I drifted into a restless sleep.

Sometime after midnight, a warm body slid into bed behind me. I recognized the smell of him immediately and my chest tightened. He pulled my back to his front and laced his fingers through mine.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly.

“How did you get in?”

He shifted closer to me and yawned. “Gloria. Apparently, the woman never sleeps. I took the last flight out of Denver—I had to see you.”

I turned my head to look up at him. “Did—did that man kill the other girl?”

He nodded and ran his thumb across my knuckles. “Yeah, he also sent Katya the letters. I guess he wanted her to think that Landon was back—never realizing that it would’ve been impossible.”

I squeezed his fingers. “Then you did the right thing.”

He sighed, his breath warm against my cheek. “Red, as far as the world is concerned, he was dead when I got there.”

I rolled over until I was facing him. “I saw your eyes, Michael Sullivan. You can lie to them, but not to me.”

He stiffened. “How can you even look at me?”

I frowned. “You did what had to be done. I’m not going to lie; I thought that you’d had second thoughts when I couldn’t get ahold of you, but then I saw the news. You kept Katya safe, Mike.”

He shook his head and clenched his jaw. “I didn’t go up there to kill Lee, Lauren. And I ignored your calls so that you didn’t go down with me.”

“Who did you go up there to kill?” I felt like I knew the answer, but it didn’t make sense.

His heart beat against my shoulder and knew that he was bracing himself for me to run. “When I woke up yesterday morning, all I could think about was how perfect it was between us. Then I got word thatTMZwas running a story on Katya, where she admitted that Landon had been dead all along—”

I interrupted. “So, you thought that killing her would fix that?” My voice had gotten higher and I worked to lower it again beforeAbuelitaburst in, needing details.

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