My wide eyes shot to Eddie, but he just smirked at me. I couldn’t get enough air. My chest ached, fear and guilt squeezing my heart until I thought it would stop beating.

It wasn’t because I’d told anyone what Ward had done. I hadn’t. My guilt was because I’d gotten involved with him in the first place. I’d let him into the mess that was my life, even knowing the secrets I hid. The kind of monster I was running from.

And now Ward and his found family were left vulnerable.

“You’ve got to be careful who you trust,” Eddie said on the recording.

“Yeah,” Ward rumbled slowly. “You do.”

Eddie pressed a button and pocketed his device. He didn’t speak.

He didn’t need to.

The recording cut deeper, hurt more than anything Eddie could say.

My own silence wasn’t working. I needed to switch tactics and stall for time.

Ward will come back. He has to come back.

“Let’s go… back then,” I offered, unable to force myself to call it home. “I’ll pack real quick, and we’ll—”

He backhanded me suddenly, a burst of pain exploding in my cheek. The force knocked me to the ground, my head cracking against the leg of my desk.

I blinked away stars and a surge of nausea that threatened to unload the contents of my stomach.

“You know,” Eddie started, his words muffled as blood rushed in my ears. He stepped closer to loom over me. “When you first left, I figured it was only a matter of time before you came crawling back. And I’d have put my feelings aside because I know you have no one else.”

I rolled onto my side and saw it. I’d forgotten I still wore it. I just needed to move slow enough, careful enough, that I didn’t tip Eddie off.

But my fingers shook too bad. He was too close. My skin was too slippery with sweat.

And blood.

It was harder to remove than a typical watch crown, but I finally got it out. I just had to hope it actually recorded.

I just had to hope Glitch or someone got an alert.

I just had to hope I stayed alive long enough for them to come.

I just had to hope they came.

* * *

Hollywood

Standing on the sidewalk, regret punched me in the chest.

I shouldn’t have left. If I had known Mac wasn’t with Ophelia, demons from hell wouldn’t have been able to drag me away.

But I’d thought she was gone.

Maybe she was. Maybe she was at the station like the detective claimed.

Christ. I didn’t know what to think.

Didn’t know how that smug detective knew about Martin.

Didn’t know why Mac lied about her name and whose house it was.