Page 50 of The Quiet Witness

Lucien took it in. For a second, a flicker of… conflict crossed his face. “Did I like it? No. I almost stepped in the moment I saw them slinking from their hiding spots like the weasels they are.” His hands braced on the table. “But desperation like that can be used Katherine. Honed. Emotions should serve us, not the other way around.”

How could she read and trust anything from his body language or words if he flitted between morals like a freaking light switch. “Was the apology even real?”

“It was. I don’t say such words lightly. I did overstep. If I could go back and change that part of the evening I would.”

The green mug sat on the table. The lettering mocking her gullibility. She raised her chin. “But not the part where you let me drown?”

Lucien crossed his arms in front of him. Holding her gaze steady. “No. I stand by what I said.”

She backed away from the table.

“Walking away doesn’t achieve anything, Kate.”

If only she could walk away. She took a step back, but there was no place for her to run to. No one to cling to.

“Use it, amplify it, hone it. I offered you a way to stop the hits from coming. All you have to do is take it.”

“That would ask for trust. And with what you did?” A low laugh slipped from her lips. “Shove it up your ass Lucien.”

Chapter 21

A Visit

Lucien had watched.

Her hand balled into a fist, the knuckles whitening. The first second she let her guard down. Allowed herself to breathe, maybe even… let her shoulders sag around him. He brought her right back to where they had been.

A psychopath with morals, really? She snorted. Naive. After all these years, she was still so gullible. Like a moth to a flame at the first sign of someone softening. Only for her world to be tilted upside down with two simple words: ‘The walk.’

She shifted on the couch, staring out over the landscape. Lucien had long since disappeared into his study. Mercifully leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Honing her emotions… what a joke. And teaching her self-defense? She’d wanted to for all these years. For a fighting chance, to stop feeling like a victim waiting to happen.

But even if she did. Taking down three men. It wasn’t in a woman’s reality. Shouldn’t even be within a man’s capabilities.

Lucien had done it, though. Made it look easy too.

Kate tried to unclench her fist, but it wouldn’t open. A bear trap that held its teeth clamped shut. Worse, it was getting worse.

She closed her eyes. Her breathing had gone ragged, racking through her body. She counted. Four in, hold for seven, out for eight. Slowly the tension flowed out of her limbs, color returning to her hand.

Opening her eyes to see… Lucien standing in front of the fire with car keys jingling between his fingers.

Bile rose up in her throat at the sight of him. She turned away pointedly, looking out the window. White. It always looks white. She needed to see colors blind her again. Pink, red, no, not red. But violet blues. Spring. The season of life blossoming.

She needed to feel alive and not just breathing.

The keys jingled again. “Let’s go for a ride.”

“Excuse me?”

He was already pulling on his shoes. “You heard me. I want to show you something.”

“Yeah well, maybe I don’t want to see it.”

He straightened, releasing a heavy sigh. “Can we please not do this right now?”

“Not do this right now?” Her voice rose. “Fine, let’s not do it and just leave me be.”