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To admit she has spotted me. That she is fucking with me.

And that feeling intensifies when she turns directly into my apartment complex.

There is a single beat of crippling anxiety that I have somehow given myself away long before this. That she actually knows who set up her website. That she knows who I am.

But then she is exiting her car, and a neighbor I recognize approaches her. His hands in the air as he shouts in her face.

Bran lives across the hall from me, one of the unlucky neighbors that’s always fighting.

She lives here too?!

The thought is a harsh slap to the face. And as soon as I think it, I know it’s true.

It’s why the data tracked her location to me. Because she was so nearby.

This changes everything.

Before, I was going to get the piece of paper and then end this charade… But now?

A plan solidifies into my mind.

A way to enact my revenge.

To change the outcome of my future.

Without ever getting my hands dirty…

I am exiting my car before I can think anything else through.

14

Nice to Meat You

Cinnamon

“There are RATS in my apartment!” Bran screams in my face.

His breath is ladened in the alcohol I am sure he has consumed, and I lean back against my car to get as far from it as I can.

“Okay… Have you tried cleaning?” I ask. “I don’t have rats.” At least I hoped I fucking didn’t, but now I would have to check.

A vein pulsates in Bran’s temple, and for a single instance, I think he might actually hit me.

But then a door slams, and Bran jumps back and out of my space.

My attention bounces to the newcomer. He’s only a few cars away in our parking lot.

Holy hell, he’s hot.

“John! This is the bitch I keep telling you about, the one who is bad luck.” Bran’s words slur as he gestures to me.

My throat dries as the man, John, approaches.

“Surely you weren’t about to hit her for your bad luck?”

“Fuck, man. I know you’re a detective, but I promise it was nothing like that. Stay around her enough and you’ll see what I mean. She is the worst.”

I can’t argue, Bran isn’t wrong. Except he doesn’t even know the half of it.