Page 78 of Mended Souls
Hunter pressed her lips together, her cheeks turning a few shades darker. “Yes, and I was the reason she has access to everything. I should’ve known. Everly wanted to know things about the Reapers and you, but I wouldn’t say anything. I wouldn’t betray you like that. I never understood why she didn’t like you.”
I think back to the first time I met Everly. It was six months after I lost my wife, and I wasn’t in a good head space. I hated everything and everyone, and contemplated suicide many times before Hunter knocked some sense into me. Everly looked at me with disdain. Now the fake smile she plastered on was filled with malice and ill intent. At the time everyone had a look of disdain and judgement, so it didn’t send red flags.
But there was one time she wanted me to fuck her. I was drunk and barely remembered the exchange, but I had enough common sense to tell her to fuck off. That was around the time I swore off sleeping with the people who worked for me. If she tried earlier, she might’ve got the upper hand and put a knife in my chest if she managed to get in my bed.
She slipped into my club, got close to my second, and used information to hurt me. Everly stabbed a knife in Kadence’s back, pretending to be her friend while plotting to kill her. Betrayal hurt a lot worse when she planned for me to kill her. She got close to Kadence, infiltrated her friend group, saw the way I reacted to Kadence when she first arrived in my town and started working for me. Kadence told her everything thathappened between us and Hunter; she probably let something slip as well without meaning to.
How did Everly work for me without letting her hatred and rage show? If she was fucking Elijah West or doing anything with him, she should’ve been angrier than she was, but she just seemed pissed all the time.
“Are you positive it’s her?” I questioned. Last time I jumped into something head first without questioning anything, I hurt the woman I loved. Everly meant nothing to me, but I wouldn’t hurt someone innocent, especially since Hunter had feelings she wouldn’t admit for the woman.
“Yes. When I saw it, I used my security measure. I saw her on camera, Blaize. She took my codes. And I might’ve hacked her laptop. She’s been planning your downfall for years. Your routes, your weaknesses, the best ways to hurt the Reapers. It was hard to do anything until Kadence got here. Once Kadence got here, she had a window of opportunity.”
I clenched my jaw tightly. I knew emotions caused weakness, but now I had to protect Kadence. She was my biggest weakness, and I refused to let this traitorous bitch hurt her to get to me. And then I remembered Damon telling me a name. “Did Everly go by a different name? Or is Everly the fake name?”
Hunter quickly looked through some files on her iPad. “Ava?”
“Fuck. Send me what you have, unless you want to take a trip with me to Bellevue?”
She tensed, but quickly hid it. “No. I’ll send you a file. I should’ve caught it sooner when she told me to quit and break ties with you if I wanted to stay with her.” Hunter threw her iPad down, frustration radiating off of her like a furnace. It took a lot to get a reaction like this from Hunter.
“You loved her.” It wasn’t a question because I knew the truth. She wouldn’t react like this if she didn’t have feelings for Everly.
“What I felt for her meant nothing, because she betrayed us and hurt Kadence.”
“What do you need? I know you, Hunter.”
“I’m fine, Blaize. I’m always fine. I’ll figure out where she is, and then I’ll kill her myself.”
CHAPTER 60
KADENCE
Iwoke up to Blaize crawling back into the bed and wrapping her arms around me. She nuzzled her face into my neck as she traced soft circles on my hip. Something was wrong. I turned in her arms and faced her, cupping her cheeks. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I want to protect you,” she whispered. “I’m failing because I’ve had a traitor under my nose for years without even realizing it.”
“Who?”
She sighed, burying her face in my neck. “Everly.”
My body tensed.Everly betrayed Blaize?She was the one who killed Layla and shot Fallon? Did she pretend to be my friend? It was a game. Everything. Everly was the reason Blaize… “She set it up?” I whispered. “S-she made you hurt me?”
“I don’t know how she did it, princess, but I am going to find out, and then I am going to kill her. I’m so sorry. If she was never here, it wouldn’t have happened. I wouldn’t have fractured our relationship.”
I caressed her cheek. “Hey, the fracture wasn’t your fault. Well, it was, but not fully. You reacted based on the evidence youhad planted by Everly. I’m not angry or hurt anymore, not with you or Hawke.”
“I’mangry, Kadence,” she said with more fire in her tone. “She did this, and I didn’t catch it. She caused so much pain. She…I don’t know how Hunter will handle this betrayal.”
I pressed my lips together. “Did she love her?”
“Hunter won’t admit it, but yes. I’m assuming in the three years they’ve been scening together, Hunter fell for her, which meant she trusted her with her trauma and darkness. Hunter doesn’t let people in.”
“She let me in. Maybe I could talk to her and see if I could help her?”
“If you want to try. I need to go and see Damon. Now that we know who it is, I can show them her picture and find out if they know anything.”
I leaned forward and kissed her softly. “Be safe and come home to me. Okay?”
