Page 71 of Rascal

“To a degree. I’ve been trying to figure out what made Kira turn like this. I can’t think of a single event.”

“Kira was always the quiet one in class,” Rascal mused. “But I remember stopping some kids from bullying her once. And while you weren’t Miss Popular of the Year, you had a wide group of friends and classmates liked you. Maybe when people compared you, she got bit of an ego boost. And then when I helped her out, Kira twisted that up?” Rascal suggested.

“Could be. Until Kira’s caught and we speak to her, we’ll never know,” I replied.

“You think we’ll take her alive?” Rascal snorted.

“You don’t?”

“No. Kira’s going down in a hail of bullets. She can’t have me, and she can’t steal your life anymore. Kira’s unravelling at a terrifying speed. Plus, she won’t come peacefully because her illusion is being shattered. It’s tragic, but she’ll suicide by cop,” Rascal said.

“Or by one of us,” I murmured, feeling a chill sweep through me.

“Yeah. Kira won’t let anyone bring her in because that means she’s in the wrong. She won’t be able to accept that. She’ll take the harder road and will fight her way out. That’s going to be bloody, messy, and end in at least her death.”

“Does it sound bad, after all Kira’s done, to say I feel sorry for her?”

“No, it just shows you’ve some empathy left.”

“Don’t mistake me. I really want Kira to pay, and I wish everything that happened to me to happen to her. But there’s something sad in not being confident in your own skin that you need to steal someone else’s. Rascal, I still don’t understand how Kira thought this would go. Did she believe she could walk into my life? That you’d forgive ‘me’ for ‘my’ actions?”

“Hallie, without knowing what’s in her mind, nobody can say. As said, I don’t think we’ll ever know. Kira certainly won’t tell us before striking,” Rascal replied.

He settled down further into the bed, and I closed my eyes. My gut told me this was coming to a fast conclusion. And I’d no idea who’d walk away. Hell, I couldn’t even predict Kira’s next move. That annoyed the hell out of me because I hated not being in control.

Harlequin

I gazed at the flowers and wanted to stamp all over them.

“There’s a message,” Jinx said.

I nodded as I pulled it out. Opening the envelope, my lip curled up. It was a picture of me with a bullet hole through my head. Nice. Bad enough we had Rascal’s psycho stalker to deal with, and now April’s was amping back up.

“You telling Chance?” Jinx asked.

“Yeah. Prez needs to know. What the hell is happening lately? Ain’t shit meant to have quietened down after the war?”

“Oh, it was worse than this before,” Fanatic said, joining us.

“Bull,” I retorted, and Fanatic shook his head.

“Seriously. We had kidnappings, murder, mayhem, abusive assholes; Clio was hauled out of a moving car; this is tame compared to that,” Fanatic stated, and I held his gaze.

“Surely a lot of that was exaggerated; we all like bragging,” I replied.

“Nope. Chaos reigned and still does. Trouble follows an old lady. Although a few brothers had some drama in our background,” Fanatic snorted.

“Everyone has secrets,” I agreed.

Fanatic’s eyes landed on Jinx before moving away. “Yup. And some are terrified they’ll lose everything when the truth emerges.”

“Who wants another drink?” Jinx asked, getting to his feet. After taking the orders, he walked away.

“You’re frightened he’s hiding something big.”

“No. I know Jinx is. Whatever that is, terrifies Jinx, but I’ll stand by his side when it comes out. I owe him,” Fanatic replied.

“Me too. You believe whatever his shit will implode?”