Torn - Cynthia Eden Page 0,72
Her heart was beating too fast.
“Yes . . .”
“Self-defense, right?”
His gaze slid away from hers.
She straightened her shoulders and kept going. “Is that the only time you think it’s okay to kill? If you’re defending yourself? Because then it’s kill or be killed, isn’t it? There isn’t really a choice. I mean, if you’ve actually seen what he can do.” He. Oh, crap, that had been a slip-up. “If you . . . if you know the guy will really kill, that he won’t stop, what are you supposed to do?”
He wasn’t smiling any longer. “Victoria . . .”
Her breath came faster. So much faster. She couldn’t do this. Couldn’t let Wade lie for her. No, no, he didn’t even realize that he was lying. Because Wade was good. The cop. The stand-up agent. And when she said this, when she crossed this line . . .
It would be over for her.
Her hand lifted. Touched his cheek. “I’m sorry.” And she really, truly was.
Because she’d enjoyed being with him. No strings, that had been their rule. She’d started to break that rule. So maybe it was good, that the truth was coming out. Maybe it was long past time for her to pay for her crimes.
THE FOOL HADN’T even locked his front door. Talk about being easy prey.
He curled his gloved hands around the doorknob and swung it open, and the door’s hinges barely groaned. He slipped inside the little apartment. He’d been there before, of course, with Melissa.
Jim hadn’t been home, not then. He’d been at one of his night classes, and never even knew about the little visit.
So he moved carefully, avoiding the area of the floor that would squeak too loudly, and headed toward Jim’s room. Though he really didn’t have to worry too much about a squeak of sound. Jim had his music on, and the pounding beat drifted through the apartment.
Jim’s bedroom door was ajar, but a glance inside showed him that Jim wasn’t in the room. The music was pumping in there, but . . .
No Jim.
He turned without even a rustle of sound and headed for Melissa’s room. Poor Melissa. She’d always been looking for love. Wanting someone to adore her so completely—thinking that if she just found the right man, she’d fill the emptiness inside.
Nothing would fill that.
Her bedroom door was open, too. Jim was inside her room, standing at the foot of her bed, his shoulders slumped as he stared at the quilt that covered the mattress. He knew all about that quilt. Melissa’s grandmother had made it for her. The one thing she’d kept from the screwed-up mess that had been her home life. She’d said her grandmother had always loved her.
Such a blind girl. You never realized how much he loved you, did you? Melissa had died not knowing.
His fingers slid toward the knife that he’d tucked inside his coat. Jim never even looked back at him. He was too lost to his grief.
And then . . .
Got you. Just like that, he had the blade pressed to Jim’s throat. “You were supposed to make a trade,” he whispered. “Your life for hers. She died . . . so that doesn’t sound like a fair trade to me.”
Jim stiffened but didn’t fight back. How could he? One move and the man’s throat would be slit open.
Just like Melissa’s.
“Not fair at all,” he said, and he let the knife cut across Jim’s throat.
CHAPTER TWELVE
VICTORIA HAD TEARS in her eyes. No, no, he couldn’t handle that. He hated to see her cry. She couldn’t be in pain. When a tear spilled over and slid down her cheek, Wade caught it with his thumb. “Baby, it’s okay, whatever—”
But she shook her head. “You’re wrong, Wade. It’s not okay.” She licked her lips. “I—I did it.”
For an instant his heart stilled. “Viki—”
“I did it,” she said again. “The perp—he isn’t just playing a game. He’s found out what I did. He knows that I—”
Wade kissed her. He just had to stop the tumble of her words. This was the wrong place, and the wrong sort of people—cops—were too damn close by.
But Victoria pushed against him. “Stop it! Stop!”
He needed to get her out of there.
“Wade . . .” She pulled away from him. “Didn’t you hear me? I just told you that I—”
“No.” His growl cut off her words. “Not another word here, understand?” He caught her hand in his. “Let’s go outside. We’ll find out if Dace gets any evidence from my