Page 41 of Deadly Obsession

“Go on then,” she encourages. “Hit me with it. Tell me why the Killers Club isn’t loyal.”

She’s deflecting. That’s how she keeps people at arm’s length when she’s scared.

I write the note, then stand and walk over to her, taking slow steps.

When I’m close enough but not within reaching distance, I hold up the tiny note. Her eyes scan it and widen.

Christopher Trout is one of Alaric’s clients.

I pop the note into my mouth again and swallow it.

“You’re lying,” she declares, but her voice shakes, weaved with fear. “You’re making it up.”

I shrug.Why don’t you find out?She holds my stare like she’s trying to scope me out. I hope she sees the warning in mine.Be careful.

She storms away, leaving me wondering what the hell she’s going to do next. I might have made a terrible mistake…

CHAPTER26

IVY

Itry to keep my erratic heart rate in check, but I feel like I’ve raided a pick-and-mix counter and downed two litres of fizzy drink from how fast it’s going.

Bram must be lying, right? There’s no way Alaric would accept Christopher Trout as a client when he knows what Christopher and the others did to me and Daisy that night. Alaric nursed me back to health, shared in my rage, and promised me justice. He’d never take money from a man like that… would he?

“How did it go?” Alaric steps from the training room as I pass by in his athletic gear. His veins protrude from his muscular arms, and he wipes his sweaty face with a towel.

“He’s given me nothing useful,” I snarl venomously. “I don’t know why we’re keeping him alive and wasting my time.”

Alaric’s expression stays unreadable. “Bram might be able to tell us more than you think,” he replies cryptically.

“There’s a reason why we usually interrogate people before cutting out their tongues,” I say pointedly. “I need a computer to do more digging about Bram’s past. If I can find out more about him, it’ll help.”

“Go and speak to Penelope.” Alaric nods. He won’t suspect I want to check on something else. “She’ll be able to help.”

I nod curtly. Penelope encrypted our client database, so I will struggle to check our records myself, but Bram’s supposed to be a computer genius. If he thinks Trout is a Killers Club member, he has to prove it.

I hop on the lift and ride to Penelope’s office in the quietest dingy corner of HQ. I rarely come up here; I’m much happier punching bags. I get out and move through the room. It’s filled with unused office chairs, tables, and printers; the only splash of colour is a cat tower in one corner. Penelope works in a private room off the main space.

I hover outside her door before knocking. Inside, the whirring of machines and mad typing on the keyboard signals she’s home. Something clatters from inside, and an impatient voice calls, “Come in!”

I enter. Multiple screens are mounted around the walls. As soon as I step inside, she cuts them all to show screensavers of her spoiled Siamese in different poses instead.

“Nice cat,” I comment.

“Thanks,” she says, stroking the furry demon curled in her lap. At one point, she had five cats, but Alaric set a one-cat limit when it looked like she was going to turn the floor into a rescue centre. “Her name is Pepper.”

“Hi, Pepper,” I coo, reaching to stroke her.

Pepper hisses, warning me that if my fingers touch her fur, she’ll give me rabies. Fucking bitch.

“What can I do for you?” Penelope demands, shaking her messy bob in disapproval.

“Can’t I just swing by to say hello to a friend?”

She crosses her arms. “You only come here when you want something.”

It’s a good thing she has Pepper for the company. Unlike the rest of us, Penelope wasn’t recruited because she was at death’s door. Alaric staged her death because she was on the run from the FBI after she hacked into their system and sold secrets to the wrong people. If they catch her, they’ll lock her up for life, or worse.

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