At least, I am until I see the news.
It’s been three days since what happened at the clinic and I’m sitting on the couch in Lachlan’s living room eating one of the pastries he brought back from the bakery.
Flynn comes in from his shower, his dark curls still damp and a fresh bandage wrapped around his waist. He goes to grab a Danish and Lachlan, without even looking up from his newspaper (yes, an actual physical paper), says, “Touch my pastries and die.”
Flynn’s mouth drops open. “No fair, Hazel gets one.”
I freeze midway through taking a bite out of the delicious, flaky pastry.
Lachlan gives Flynn a look drier than the Sahara. “Hazel saved your idiot ass life. She can have as many pastries as she likes.”
I grin.
The two of them keep bickering but I lose focus when the image on the TV changes, the reporter now standing in front of a cordoned off crime scene. My stomach shifts, like a snake coiling in my gut. I find the remote and turn up the volume.
“Early this morning the body of a young man named Tommy Skater was found by a group of joggers. This comes just twenty-four hours after Senator Claren and police captain Derek Pierce were found murdered in the free clinic the senator was building. While details of the case are still unfolding, we can confirm the police are treating Tommy’s death as suspicious.”
The TV switches off, the screen going black. I turn around to find Flynn standing behind the couch with the remote. “You don’t need to be watching that, Lilac.”
I look back at the blank TV, Flynn’s silhouette reflected on the glass. “He was already dead, wasn’t he? When you broke his neck. I’d already killed him.”
Flynn tugs on my hair, tilting my head back till I’m looking up at him. “He signed his death warrant the second he laid a finger on you.”
My stomach squirms, the snake heavy and dark. “That’s not a no.”
We’ve already gone over what happened at the clinic and Olivia’s discovery that Derek was Hope’s boyfriend, but we didn’t talk about Tommy. I’d actually almost forgotten it even happened. But it did happen and now Tommy’s body has been found.
I push up from the couch, crossing my arms over my tummy as I pace across the rug. “I need to turn myself in,” I say.
“Hazel—”
“It was self-defense, he broke into my house and tried to kidnap me.”
“He did,” Flynn says slowly. “And if that’s what you want to do, then that’s what we’ll do. Lachlan will represent you, he’ll claim self-defense. The video they found on Claren, along with my blood, means they already think what happened in the clinic was the work of the Vigilante Choker.”
My breathing quickens and I look at Flynn. “You won’t try to stop me?”
The Adam’s apple in his throat bobs, his jaw feathering. “No. Not if that’s what you want to do.” He takes a breath. “There is another option though.”
I stop pacing.
Flynn walks over to the island and opens a drawer. Lachlan must have left at some point because it’s just the two of us now. Flynn takes out a large brown envelope and my feet draw me towards him.
He hands the envelope to me. There are two passports inside, along with some other documents. I open one of the passports to find a photo of myself beside the name Hazel Olive Taylor. My heart hammers my ribcage.
I open the other passport.Flynn Taylor.
I close the small booklet, my mind firing as I process what it means. That’s when I see the word Canada on the front of the passports. I gasp.
“Canada?”
Flynn lifts a shoulder, a flash of vulnerability across his face. “You said you’ve always wanted to go there. The paperwork’s all sorted. There’s a house waiting for us on Vancouver Island.”
I bring my hand to my mouth, tears stinging my eyes. Could it really be that easy? Flynn and I living our happy ever after?
I shake my head, pushing away from the island and the forged documents that would let me live my dream. I can’t take them. I don’t deserve them.
“I killed two people, Flynn. There should be consequences.”
