Page 40 of Traitor

Katya shrugged halfheartedly. “So, I started again tonight. It’s just a minor setback.”

She sounded just like me.

I massaged my temple, trying to ward off the headache that was forming right behind my eyes. “You can’t keep doing this to yourself. Eventually, you’re going to have to work through what he did to you.”

I could’ve been talking to myself. I could get high or wasted, but at some point, I was going to have to come to terms with the fact that my actions had led to Monica’s death. If I’d followed up on that mysterious text with a phone call to Grey, it would’ve changed everything. As it was, I had to live with my secrets or risk losing Lauren forever. The half-ass thing we had going was better than nothing. If she knew that I’d gotten that text, she’d never forgive me.

Katya ignored me and took another drink. “I’m doing the best I can. Is that why you drove all this way? To make sure I wasn’t drinking again? Because that seems like a wasted trip. You could’ve texted, ‘Katya, are you still drinking your life away?’ and I would’ve said, ‘Yep. Fucking everything up like normal.’ And you wouldn’t have had to drive up here. Mission accomplished.”

I hesitantly admitted, “Look Katya, I don’t have good news. We’ve looked into those Facebook messages and posts. The messages are coming from multiple IP addresses. The guy’s pinging all over the place. He’s probably hiding behind a proxy server to mask his location.”

I got up and grabbed theVictoria’s Secretcatalog from the inside pocket of my jacket. She’d sworn that someone had left a copy with writing on it in her bedroom, but the police hadn’t believed her. Hell, I hadn’t believed her. It was resting on her pillow as if waiting for her to come back home.

I held it up and the color drained from her already pale face. “This was on your bed. Do you know anything about it?”

She nodded, confirming my fears. He’d been inside her condo since she’d been hiding out here.

I added “I’m not giving up—but you can’t go home until we find him,” before pulling the vodka from her hands and taking a long swig myself. I was just taking the edge off—the flight had been turbulent and I was running on fumes.

“Do you think it’s the same guy that was leaving things on my door? Has anything else been left?” Her hands shook as she reached for the bottle again.

I handed it over reluctantly before staring down at the hardwood floor. “Yeah. There’s been one other note left. I had people watching your front door, but I guess he spotted them. The note was found on your Jeep down in the parking garage. Security cameras came up blank though. How he got into your condo is beyond me.”

She softly asked, “And…what did it say?”

“It just said,“You deserve the moon and the stars laid at your feet. Give me one more chance.”He wants you to think it’s Landon, obviously.”

She didn’t respond, just calmly tipped the bottle back and finished it off. The glass slipped through her fingers and fell onto the coffee table with a bang.

She stood up, swaying heavily. “I can’t stay here forever, Mike. You promised me you’d end this. And you still don’t know who this guy is?”

This was why I dreaded coming up here. After everything Katya had been through, she deserved to go home. Just like Lauren deserved to go back to her apartment. Until I knew who the real enemy was though, it wasn’t safe for either of them.

“I said I’d fix it, just—”

She cut me off. “This is your fault! You could’ve arrested Landon. People would’ve seen him for the monster he was, but you took justice into your own hands. You swore to uphold the law and you broke your vow then. Why should now be any different?”

She somehow managed to spin on her heel to walk away from me, but I grabbed her arm, yanking her back. I could’ve been having this fight with Lauren. It was the same fucking topic every time.

I snarled, “I’m getting real fucking sick of trying to explain why I did what I did. You wanna accuse me of being corrupt? Fine. Just remember who saved your ass that night.”

She slapped me and I reared back, stunned. “I never once asked you to do that!”

Fuck this.

I shoved her into a wall. “Don’t hit me. You hear that? Can you process what I’m saying with all the alcohol in your system?”

She let out a low growl and began striking my head and chest with both fists. I snatched both of her arms and pinned them above her head. It felt too familiar. When Lauren took her anger out on me, it felt warranted. With Katya, it just pissed me off. We were fighting to regain our breath when I made the mistake of looking down at her.

I dropped my head down next to her face and inhaled. She smelled like a restaurant; nothing at all like Lauren. She turned her head until her lips brushed against mine and that was all it took.

I dropped her hands and moved my mouth roughly over hers. The same hands that were hellbent on hurting me, caressed my cheeks gently as she deepened the kiss. I was hard and I hadn’t been turned on by a woman since Cam. And that was only because she looked like Lauren.

Yep. If I ever stepped foot into a therapist’s office, they were going to cancel the rest of their appointments for the day and spend it trying to diagnose why I was so fucked up.

I ignored my depraved mental state and lifted Katya up.

“That way.” She directed me down the hall toward her bedroom.

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