“I should’ve never dragged Aalyiah into it.”
I stop breathing. I’m not sure whether in the past or present—maybe both. Pulse whooshes in my ears asAalyiahechoes louder and louder inside my mind.
“I shouldn’t have draggedyouinto it,”he adds, running a hand down his face.“You were supposed to be my insurance policy.”
My eyebrows knot in the middle.“What do you mean?”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. Nothing’s going according to plan and I have no fucking idea what to do. We’re all dead if I can’t figure out how to do everything Aalyiah wants.”A sadchuckle falls from his lips.“Well, I’m dead. Maybe for real or maybe only inside, but either way... I’m done.”
“You’re scaring me, Alex,”I whisper, my voice tight, a lump forming in my throat.“You need to quit.”
“Quit? I can’t quit. That’s not a fucking option.”
“Of course you can. You’re not safe! You can’t risk your life for work. My dad will understand.”
Another chuckle vibrates his chest.“You don’t know your dad all that well, Hailey. If I quit, I’ll spend the rest of my life in jail. You think I’m risking everything to put Rhett Willard behind bars?”
“Rhett Willard?”I echo, my heartrate speeding up.
“I’m doing this because I don’t have a fucking choice,”he continues.“I can’t quit. Even if there wasn’t a life sentence hanging over my head, quitting means risking Aalyiah’s life. But if I don’t quit it’s just a matter of time before Rhett puts a bullet in my head.”He sits up, his shoulders slumped, anguish twisting his face.“Like I said... unless I figure out a way to end this, I’m dead for real, or dead inside.”
He grabs my hand and the gentleness of his thumb grazing my palm makes my heart stutter.“Don’t worry, Hailey. You’ll be fine. Sad and broken, but alive.”
“I want to help. What can I do?”I ask, the resignation in his voice making me cold.
Cold, distant, and blurred.
I open my mouth, but the words stretch like cheap elastic, coming out distorted as the memory collapses.
“Hailey?” Blaze covers his hand with mine. “Are you okay? You’re shaking.”
“I’m okay,” I mutter, marshaling the emotions and the hundreds of new questions the flashback triggered.
“Are you sure? You... zoned out.”
“Sorry, I—” I bite my tongue, applying the brakes before more words spill from my lips.
Blaze believes I know where the evidence is. While he’s waiting for me to remember, I’m safe. He won’t kill me until he gets what he wants.
“Sorry, it’s the first time I heard her name. Please continue.”
He rakes his narrowed gaze over my face as if trying to read my mind. “All my information comes directly from the source,” he says. “One of my...allies, if you will, has rats planted in Rhett’s ranks. Based on their reports, the night of your accident went something like this. Rhett found Aalyiah’s body after she threw herself out of a window. He also found a suicide note. It painted the picture that Alex was a cop...” He pauses to chuckle under his breath. I’m not sure what’s so amusing, but I don’t get to ask before he adds, “...and that he was dating someone besides Aalyiah. Naturally, Rhett sent his pawns to bring you both in. Unfortunately for him, he surrounds himself with men of questionable intelligence.”
I have half a mind to tell him he’s no better. He surrounds himself with men who like to rape young girls, but I keep my tongue in check. He might be more inclined to hurt me if I criticize his setup.
“Babyface, Rhett’s used-to-be muscle man, bumped into the back of the car you and Alex were in and it rolled off a steep incline, colliding with a tree.”
At least Dad didn’t lie about that part of the accident.
Dad.
He must be worried sick.
“You were unconscious when Babyface lost the last shred of his questionable intelligence. See, instead of utilizing his limited time to secureyou, he emptied the seven bullets left in his gun into Alex’s head... which was pointless considering Alex was dead on impact; the tree already killed him.”
“Why shoot a dead man? Sounds like a crime of passion.”
“You’re a clever thing, aren’t you?” he praises, a genuine smile curling his lips “Aalyiah was beautiful. Pure and kind. Even Rhett’s goons loved her. I wouldn’t be surprised if some felt their own kind of fatherly protection over her.” The sudden fondness vibrating his tone tells me he was as much enamored by Aalyiah as the men he’s describing. “Babyface shot Alex,” he continues. “And I believe he was going to shoot you, but the cops were coming and he got spooked.”
