Page 30 of Traitor

I was going to get a second chance to make things right.

Instead, she finished with, “I’d like for us to be friends. If we’re going to have to work together on this, let’s at least make it amicable.”

I frowned. I didn’t want to be her fucking friend.

Lauren regarded me silently before her head settled against my chest. I cautiously wrapped my arms around her shoulders, pulling her up against my body, still wary of the gun that was between us.

“I can’t offer you anything else right now, but I also don’t have the strength to fight with you anymore. I’m exhausted, Mike.”

I nodded. “Okay. We’ll be friends. For now.” I lifted her face up to mine. “Are you sure you’re okay? Do you want me to take you to get checked out?”

She shook her head. “He tackled me and I fell. That’s it. Little Ricky stopped him before—before anything else could happen.”

I led her into the kitchen and found some ibuprofen buried in a cabinet. I shook three out into her hand and grabbed her a bottled water from the fridge.

“Take these and call me in the morning. Let me know how you are. Friends do that, right?”

She nodded. “Sure.”

She never called. April moved into May, but my phone remained silent.

“Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the flight crew, welcome to Denver.”

People began unbuckling and reaching into overhead bins to get their belongings while I sat, staring blankly out over the tarmac, wondering what the next step was.

We’d hauled Chon Ramos down to the canyon that night, but the only thing he’d copped to was the fact that Lauren had requested Monica’s autopsy report. After forty-eight hours of sleep deprivation, he’d still refused to give up the officers involved. Grey had blasted AC/DC anytime Chon’s eyes had closed, but still the son-of-a-bitch wouldn’t break. Carnage and Torch stepped in and relieved me, taking their time to break down his body.

He’d spat blood into their faces, but otherwise, remained silent. Comedian had come in not long after and pumped a couple of rounds into his stomach. From there, I’d gotten nothing but his groans of agony as he bled to death.

While I hadn’t heard from Lauren, my phone had been ringing daily with calls from Katya. There’d been another note left on her door, which left me with no choice but to go to Colorado and investigate.

Unofficially, of course.

Her behavior had recently landed her in the tabloids—she’d been seen out with aDallas Cowboysplayer who was known more for his off the field antics than anything else. Now, the press was salivating at the thoughts of the model and the bad boy making a life together.

I didn’t trust her.

Shit, even her father was losing faith that she would recover.

“Detective, you need to come up here. She will listen to you. We have to convince her to leave the city.”

The woman was a fucking thorn in my side. I couldn’t get my own shit taken care of because I was constantly being pulled back to babysit her gorgeous ass—and not in a fun way that involved both of us naked. Her father admitted that she’d been experiencing blackouts and losing hours, sometimes even days because of it.

If I’d left Landon alone to rot in prison, my hands would’ve been clean and I wouldn’t have given a damn if Katya chose to run down 16thStreet buck naked, while singing the fucking Star-Spangled Banner at the top of her lungs. Okay, I would’ve wanted to see that one.

That was never going to be the case, so here I was, getting a rental car and driving over to her condo to try and talk some fucking sense into her.

Her father buzzed me in and was waiting by the elevators for me when I stepped off.

“It’s bad, Detective. She’s had another one of her ‘episodes.’ They’re becoming more frequent.”

I looked past him and saw Katya, sitting on a low ottoman, staring blankly out through the wall of windows. Her hair ended at her chin and she’d lost more weight, a stark contrast to the woman on the billboards.

I froze about halfway across the room. Images assaulted me from the night I rescued her. I saw her broken before me—the medical report clearly visible in my mind. I now remembered why I’d gladly taken Landon out. The things he’d done to her—I shuddered just recalling the photographs.

I’d come here angry, but seeing her made me realize I could never hate her. I didn’t think even I was capable of surviving what she had.

Katya continued to stare through me, even when Nikolay asked if I wanted something to drink.

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