Page 87 of Conflicted Lies

Lucas’s body begins to go limp, and I turn my face to the ceiling, sending up a little prayer for him. It’s not that I like doing this, but it’s a necessary measure. I can see the media headlines already.Detective Hangs Himself After Sister is Murdered.

I have every intention of staging his death in his home. It’s unfortunate, really. I’ll have to reset everything with a new partner. But it’s how I’ve survived so long.

“Farewell, friend,” I say as the final gasps of air echo through the room. I didn’t want it to end this way.

But I have something more precious to protect.

More precious than myself.

His body goes slack, and I let out a shaky breath as a trickle of emotions begin to come back.

The bathroom door opens as I’m lowering my partner’s body to the ground, and Hope stares at me wide-eyed, a pair of scissors and a phone clutched to her chest. Her mouth opens and closes in complete shock.

When I stand to my full height, I growl, “You’re in big trouble, Shortcake.”

This all became a disaster because of her jealous little fit over Kylie touching me that night. Had that not happened, he might’ve never dug deep enough to connect the evidence I’d been hiding.

As I take a step toward her, a gunshot goes off, exploding the door handle to pieces. My head immediately whips to the door as I pull out my own gun. Someone kicks the door in, and I feel the bullet hit me before my own shot goes off. And at the last minute, as I recognize the face, I shift the course of my aim, barely enough to just clip him in the shoulder.

And then I’m falling with the acute realization that something really fucking hurts.

I guess every man comes to the day when he’s reminded that he, too, will bleed.

CHAPTER43

Hope

Everything stops. My heart. My life. My understanding of life and death. Suddenly, it’s not as beautiful as I once thought, as Braxton hits the floor.

“Stop!” I scream, the sound so shrill that it bounces through the apartment, and I dive for him. The man I love, the man I was certain had betrayed me, but instead, he killed a person he trusted to protect me and my wrongdoings.

I cover his body with my own as he lands beside his dead partner. My father and my aunty are standing at the door, their guns raised. My father’s hand goes to his arm where he’s been hit, and I’m certain my aunt almost accidentally shoots me as I dive for him. She takes her finger off the trigger as I scoop him up into my arms, sobbing.

Oh God. I did this.Idid this. How do I undo this?

“Braxton,” I squeak as I bring his hand to my chest. He’s bleeding in the stomach. It’s bad. So bad.

“Shortcake,” he gasps. “Tell your family to lower their weapons.” He tries to smile at the scissors I’m holding, but I angle his head to only look at me.

“You’re not leaving me,” I say quickly. “You don’t get out of this so easily.”

He tries to chuckle but gurgles in pain instead. Red. There’s so much red.

My aunt and father are speaking to one another furiously, but I ignore them. I can only focus on Braxton as if I’m his anchor to keep him here—alive. I feel like it’s my own life force.

Anya moves closer, pointing her gun at Braxton’s head. “He’s a problem.”

I slap her hand away, quickly scoop the gun that’s loosely held in Braxton’s fingers, and point it at her.

“You ungrateful?—”

My father pulls her back. “Anya,” he says as if pointing out something that she hadn’t yet seen. She looks at me and Braxton again, the killer fading from her gaze as she blinks once and then twice.

I wonder how they view me now. I probably look like a feral animal, backed into a corner, fighting fiercely to protect my mate who’s fucking bleeding out all over the floor.

“You’re not a good shot, Shortcake. Lower the gun,” Braxton whispers.

I snap at him. Why is he making jokes right now? This isn’t funny. He’s turning paler by the second.

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