Page 226 of Safe Word

Back inside, he buckled up with a grunt. ‘You’re not checking your crib?’

‘It’s charred,’ I said flatly and slipped behind the wheel.

The engine growled awake, and the city moved for us, the road already smearing with the yellow glare of streetlamps.

‘Birdie asleep when you left?’

‘Who?’

He shot me a look as if I’d asked him to define gravity.

And suddenly it hit me – apart from Travis, her writing, and a few small titbits, I knew little about Paula.

The idea had me clenching my teeth tighter, feeling somewhat bad for punishing her for lying to me. Omitting the truth – a tiny voice in my head corrected.

Great, even my alter ego was on her side.

‘Paula. Dad used to call her Birdie – said she was always zipping around the house like a sparrow. Loud and lively.’

That detonated something wrong in me: her breath hitching, her body twisting beneath mine as my fingers gripped her wrists tight – that tattoo right beneath my palm.

‘Loud and lively,’ I echoed, though the version I was thinking of was much different than his.

Not even a beat passed before he opened his goddamn mouth again. ‘Who was that old bastard earlier?’

Nosy little shit.

‘The man who…’ I trailed off. The words hung somewhere between my throat and a question mark. Raised me wasn’t quite right. Owned me may have once been closer, but now?

I cleared my throat, but the words didn’t come. A fucking writer without words.

‘Someone I know.”

Matteo didn’t push. He felt the tangled web of the past and let it be.

He may have been nosy, but at least he knew when to stop poking the beast.

Before he could fire off another question, I yanked the wheel, skidding across two parking spots I technically owned, and killed the engine. Didn’t even wait. I was out of the car before the wheels stopped spinning in my head.

The building loomed ahead – dark where it shouldn’t be.

Fourth floor – lights out.

A cold breath slid over me.

The car door thudded shut behind me as Matteo rounded the hood, his jaw already set to thug on the premises that made neighbours draw curtains.

Good boys, I snorted to myself. But amusement died quickly when I didn’t see Vinnie’s car or his scooter – and my heart kicked into high gear.

I jabbed at my screen and hit call.

It rang once. Twice. Three times, but no answer.

Something twisted in my gut.

Guilt bled into me as cold sweat broke down my back.

Fuck…