Page 87 of Targeted By Desire

No one was coming to save - or kill - me.

Rage crawled up my throat like vomit. I couldn’t believe Logan would do something like this to me. To my father.

For most of my life, he was one of the most loyal and trustworthy people in the world. I had no idea he was nothing more than a snake waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.

I grasped the straps of the bag still miraculously hooked around my shoulders and pushed them down. After pulling it onto my lap, I sifted through the compartments for my phone.

The screen had cracks in it, but the light of the screen still shone when I clicked on the side button.

Already, there were multiple missed calls, voicemails and texts from Gabriel and Isabelle.

I frowned as I scrolled through the call log. Nothing would feel better right now than hearing their voices, but I didn’t know what to say. Or if I could trust them.

Gabriel has worked with Logan behind my back before. Who’s to say he wasn’t doing it now? Did he know about Logan’s involvement with this arms dealer? Was Gabriel part of the corrupt clique too?

I didn’t know. And I couldn’t risk finding out.

Isabelle…I just didn’t know if there was anything I could say that wouldn’t break her heart. Logan was just as much an uncle-figure to her as he was to me. She’d be devastated to hear about what he’s done. What I’ve done that led me to finding those papers.

My fingers stopped at the sight of my mother’s name coated in red on the screen. Not once, but at least five times.

Curious, I clicked on the voicemail she left and held the phone to my ear.

“Simone,” her voice filled with something other than indifference for once cooed through my ears. “Simone, please call me back. This can’t…this can’t be true. I can’t…I can’t lose you too. You’re all I… You’re all I have left. Please. Please call me, so I can hear your voice. So I can know this is nothing but a bad dream.”

“What?” I mused aloud.

Pulling the phone away from my ear, I checked my string of text messages.

Gabriel

Please pick up the phone.

I need to hear your voice.

I need to know you’re okay.

Izzie

CALL ME BACK

Let me know this isn’t real

Tell me you aren’t dead

“Dead?” I whispered.

Is this what death felt like?

Cold, alone, and throbbing in pain?

Maybe not for those who are truly gone. Maybe this is reserved for those who only died on the inside.

I almost flopped back down into the dirt. If everyone thought I was dead, then there truly was no one I could call. Not without putting Logan back on my tail to finish me off.

Like my dad said in his letter, there wasn’t much I could do about the information he’d found. Who knew how deep the corruption within the agency ran? Telling someone else, potentially with more connections to the crimes being committed, could put me in even more danger.

Maybe…maybe this was for the best.