To the bruise on her cheek that she’d tried so hard to hide. The purple shadow bleeding through her concealer like asecret she couldn’t keep buried. I traced its edges with my eyes. Memorized its shape. Its size.
The size of a man’s knuckle.
Then, slower still, my gaze traveled to him.
To his hands.
He was still holding one out toward Harper, waiting for a handshake that would never come. And there, across the ridges of his knuckles, the skin was darker. Inflamed.
I stared at those knuckles.
Then at her bruise.
Then back at his knuckles.
Something clicked into place inside my chest. Not like a puzzle piece. Like a safety being switched off.
This was him.
This was Silas.
The man who had put his hands on her stood ten feet away from me, wearing a correctional officer’s uniform and a smile that said he knew exactly what he’d done.
And he’d just walked into my prison.
32
KNOX
I started pacing.
Three steps forward. Three steps back. The concrete walls felt like they were shrinking.
“You’re going to wear a hole in the floor,” Ronan said from the bottom bunk. He didn’t look up from the paperback he was reading. Some beat-up thriller with a cracked spine.
“I need to find out his first name.”
Now Ronan looked up. “You don’t know for sure that it’s her ex.”
I stopped pacing. Pressed my tongue against my molars. “Exactly. I need to be sure.”
“From what you described, the guy would have a history of domestic violence.” Ronan set the book on his chest. “They run background checks on correctional officers. They wouldn’t hire someone with that kind of record.”
He had a point. I hated that he had a point.
“You should’ve seen her reaction.” I could still see it. The color draining from her face. The way her hand flew to her throat. The way she made herself small, like she was trying to disappear. “That wasn’t a coincidence.”
“Maybe the guy reminded her of her ex. Why didn’t you just ask her?”
“Because the asshole stationed himself near her the entire shift. Every time I got close, he was there. Watching. And I wasn’t about to show my hand before I knew for sure.” I cracked my knuckles, the sound sharp in the quiet cell. “Didn’t have a chance to ask anything. And I wasn’t going to beat the shit out of some stranger if I didn’t know for sure it washim.”
I might be reckless, but I wasn’t in the mood to tack on years to my sentence for assault just for funsies.
Ronan swung his legs over the side of the bunk and sat up, his expression shifting from curious to serious.
“Think about this for a second.” He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “He’s a CO. They already hate us. It’s us versus them in here. Always has been.”
“Your point?”
