Page 124 of A Smile Full of Lies
He wasn’t wearing a suit anymore. Just black jeans and a charcoal henley stretched over muscle and fury, his jaw clenched so tight I could see the vein ticking in his temple.
When he spotted me, he stalked forward like a man with nothing left to lose.
“What the fuck happened?”
His voice was low, flat — but his blue eyes were cold wildfire.
I held up both hands.
“She’s alive. She’s in surgery. But she lost a lot of blood.”
He took one step closer, looming over me in a move that suggested barely contained violence.
“Alyssa.”
“Slow down. Let me say it,” I said gently. “You need to breathe for this.”
He stared me down.
I lowered my voice.
“Ros solved your family’s murder, Knox.”
His brows furrowed.
“What?”
“Your family,” I said. “She figured it out. She connected the footage. Got the confession. She wore a wire. Got Thayer talking.”
His face went white.
“Thayer?”
“She was going to bring it to me,” I said. “But he figured it out while she was talking to him. He stabbed her before I could get there.”
Knox looked like he’d just taken a bullet to the chest.
“She almost died solving your family’s cold case,” I said, my voice hoarse. “She did it for you… to protect you.”
His hand curled into a fist at his side.
“Is he dead?”
I nodded once.
“He came at her with a butcher knife. I put two bullets in his chest and one in his head.”
Knox’s chest heaved.
He didn’t speak again. Just turned and stalked toward the surgical wing like he was barely holding his body together with spite and willpower.
And I didn’t blame him. Because if it had been me in his position? I’d already be hunting ghosts.
I followed him down the hallway, my boots thudding softly against the polished hospital floor. Knox moved like a man seconds from exploding — shoulders tense, fists clenched, rage humming just beneath his skin like an exposed live wire.
“Knox,” I called, low but firm.
He didn’t stop.
