Page 27 of Tied Bond (Bonded Duet 2)

I blinked and tilted my head, repeating her words over in my head, sure I’d heard them wrong. “What did you say?”

Her gaze met mine, and she wasn’t hiding the pain she felt. She allowed me to see it all. “What?” she whispered.

“What did you just say?”

“He…he killed Stella and Justin.” My breaths came faster, my chest rising and falling as I tried to keep calm and not show her what was going around in my head right now. Brody hadn’t told me Curtis had killed Stella and Justin, and it wasn’t in her statement either. Was it? Had I missed it?

“Did you tell your dad?”

She shook her head and looked away from me. “I was about to tell Uncle Jord and Ky when Mom turned up. I…I never got to tell them and—”

; “Fuck.” I scrubbed my hand over my face and tried my damn hardest to get myself under control. She didn’t need to see me losing it right now, not when I wasn’t sure what this meant. Belle and I had been the only ones to see Stella and Justin’s bodies before the local police department had taken over the investigation, but I’d known from the moment I’d seen them that it was the cartel’s doing. Which meant that Curtis was lying.

Or was he working for them? Was he part of the cartel? He couldn’t have been, not without me knowing. I’d investigated Garza for months, and not once had Curtis come onto my radar, not even when I’d done a background check on him months ago. Which meant he had to be lying.

“Are you sure that’s what he said?” I asked her, needing to know for sure. Maybe she was mistaken, maybe he was just trying to hurt her with his words as well as his violence. I couldn’t stop myself from reaching for her now. The temptation was too much to resist.

“He said they were in the way, just like Leopold was.” She hiccuped a sob, and I held on to her hand tighter. “Do you know if they’ve had a funeral for Leopold?” She turned to face me, and a tear streamed down her cheek.

I shuffled closer to her and cupped the side of her face, swiping it away with my thumb. I needed to concentrate on Belle now, anything else could wait until I went back into the office and could do some digging. There was nothing I could do right now, and if I was honest, I wasn't sure who I could and couldn’t trust any longer. “I don’t know, but I can find out.”

“Would you?” she asked, her tone hopeful.

“I’d do anything for you, Belle.” I moved closer to her and glanced at her lips, remembering the way they felt against mine. Now wasn’t the time to think about that, but I couldn’t stop myself. “Anything.”

She rolled her lips and looked away from me, and I was sure I’d gone too far, sure I’d crossed some invisible line, but when she asked, “Can I sleep here tonight?” I knew I hadn’t. “I’m just…I feel so alone at home, but when I’m with you, I don’t feel so lonely.”

“You can stay here anytime,” I told her, and I meant it. “You never have to ask.”

She closed her eyes, and I moved my hand off her face as she shuffled down the bed. I went to let go of her hand, intent on allowing her to settle, but she held on tighter. “Lie with me?” she asked, and there was no way I could turn her down.

* * *

BELLE

I reached for the gun, stretching my fingers as far as they would go, and finally, they connected with cool metal. My breath caught in my throat as I pressed my finger on the trigger, turned onto my back, and fired several shots out.

Curtis’ eyes were wide as the bullet tore through him, but then the color changed. Gone was the almost black, and in its place was hazel. His ink-black hair faded shorter, turning gray in parts, and his jaw morphed into someone else’s.

“Ford?” I gasped as his body started to fall forward, and I tried to catch him, but he was too heavy. “Ford?” My heart beat out of my chest as the life drained from his eyes.

“Belle,” he whispered, and blood dripped from the side of his mouth. “Belle.”

I placed my hand on the side of his face, the tears flowing from my eyes freely. There was nothing I could do to save him. Nothing.

“I’m so sorry, Ford.”

He lifted his arm, his hand covering mine on his face. He opened his mouth and tried to say something, but no sound came out, and then his arm went limp. He was gone. Gone forever.

I shot up in bed, crying out from the pain in my body and the agony of the images I couldn’t get out of my head. My heart pounded in my chest as I stared into nothing. The room was spinning, the edges of my vision hazing in and out.

“Belle?” a deep voice asked, and a sob broke out of me at the sound. The creak of a door opened, and I looked in that direction, but I couldn’t make anything out. A paw touched my arm, and then a hand touched my face, turning it to the left. “Belle?”

I blinked several times, and the fog started to clear. “Ford?”

“What happened?” he asked, his hazel eyes full of concern. They weren’t lifeless, they weren’t drained. They were very much alive.