Page 59 of The Viper's Wife

The strap goes from my hand to hers.

Melissa grabs a pen off her desk and prods delicately inside the bag. I can’t see the contents from my seat, but I know what they should be—my empty water bottle, lipstick, my wallet, a beanie, and a scattering of bobby pins at the bottom. That’s all.

Except, like a magic trick, Melissas pulls out a small baggie filled with white powder.

Silence rings in the room like a gunshot.

She places the baggie on her desk and leans back in her chair. The firm, but caring grandmother disappears. She’s the steely-eyed police officer, and I’m the perpetrator. “Do you know where this could’ve come from?”

I blink back tears. Giovanni at the train station? Or whoever broke into my house while I was out with Nico? Even Stefano could’ve done it. He sees me leave for work with the same bag every day.

I wish the building would fall, that it’d crumble around my ears and bury me alive.

“You don’t seem surprised,” Melissa says.

What possible explanation could I give her?

It’s not my cocaine? I was holding it for a friend? I thought it was sugar?

“It’s not mine.”

Unsurprisingly, her expression of doubt doesn’t change. “Despite all evidence to the contrary, I believe you. But due to the nature of these circumstances, I need to treat this seriously. You’re going to be put on leave while we perform a full investigation.” Melissa taps a pen against her desk, once. “I’ll be honest with you, Valeria, if I were you, I would start looking for a new job. I’ll do everything in my power to defend you, but ultimately, if the tests confirm drugs in the bag, there’s nothing I can do for you.”

“I understand.”

The first breathof cold air as I step out of the forensic science building turns my blood to a slush of ice water. My skin and muscles are paper, offering me no protection.

I want to know who did this.

It’s pointless. It doesn’t matter when the damage has been done.

I’ve always been independent, but I’ve never felt this alone before.

The lamb taken from the herd.

I walk to the train station, my coat wrapped tightly around me.

I didn’t say goodbye to Trey or Connor. It was too embarrassing.

Four years of school and so many more of scraping together the money to afford it all circle the drain.

What’s left for me?

Nico’s ring sits heavily on my finger.

To be Nico’s wife? To bring children into all of this?

A low, simmering anger lights in my belly. This isn’t fair. I didn’t ask for any of this.

I think back to what Annetta said—that Nico wanted me because I was such an awful choice for him. How he wanted a scandal. How Giovanni told me to be silent and obedient.

I text Lacey and head to her apartment.

When she steps through her bedroom door hours later,she finds me on the edge of her bed where I haven’t moved since I entered her place.

“I got fired,” I say in a small voice.

“Oh, babe.”