Page 81 of XO Karma

“Anything else you stole I should know about? You got his left thumb hidden somewhere in that miniskirt?” My eyes wander up her long legs. Do not let the miniskirt distract you!

“No, of course not.” She hops off the couch and leaves the room. Twenty seconds later, she returns with something sparkling in her hands. “Just this.”

She presents to me a gemmed skull with a knife sticking through it. “What the fuck is that?”

Light reflects off the jewels as she rotates it in her hands, causing a rainbow effect throughout the room. “Vetrel had it. I thought it looked like Isla’s pieces, just a little less cheap. And he was super cagey about it.”

This woman.

“Let me get this straight.” I point at the “art” in her hands. “You went to the office of one of the most ruthless men in the country⁠—”

“Didn’t you say the city earlier?”

“Does it make a difference?!”

“It might,” she sasses, and I roll my eyes.

“So you went into his office, threatened to shoot his dick off, and then stole what’s likely a multi-million-dollar art piece?” My eyes narrow as I look more closely at the skull. “And possibly a real person’s head?”

Her eyes fall to it, expression turning to disgust, and she slowly sets the thing on my coffee table by the gun. She wipes her hands off on her skirt, then says, “I mean, you left out the part where I stabbed him in the shoulder and shot him in the thigh, but yeah, that about sums it up.”

My jaw all but unhinges. “You shot him?” I throw a hand over my chest, attempting to stop my heart from thumping out of it, unable to hide my complete and utter shock. The fact that she did all that and left the place alive is not only impressive, but a damn miracle. “What the hell were you thinking?!”

Her eyes widen. Brave persona immediately faltering. “Should I not have?”

“Not if you weren’t aiming for his head!” My brain works on overdrive, analyzing how this could pan out. The amount of damage control that might be needed. That’s definitely needed.

“I thought about it,” Lily admits, her voice softer. When my eyes meet hers, I no longer see the confident woman who joked about blowing his balls off minutes ago. She looks… distant. Unsure of herself.

I reach out and tip her chin so her eyes meet mine. “You should have let me handle this.”

She swats me away. “I didn’t need your help.”

“Oh, really?” I fold my arms over my chest, heat flushing my veins. “Thank fuck for you I didn’t listen and stay home! Were you planning to outrun them? I’ve seen you do cardio.”

Her lip twitches, face reddening. “We were going uphill for three miles!”

“You’ve got to stop acting like you don’t need anyone. I know you’ve been doing this by yourself for a while, but I’m here now.”

“And I still don’t trust you!” she shouts, and she might as well have slapped me in the face.

“You don’t have to trust me to let me help you. We both want the same thing.”

“And what’s that?” she asks, exasperated.

“To see Kodak taken down. To see this city safe again.”

She rolls her eyes. “I wish I was naive enough to believe getting rid of the Kodak Killer would make this city safe. Have you watched the news?”

“Baby, I am the news.” I gesture to a paper on the coffee table. “Yes, I’m aware… but it’s a start.”

Her frustrated eyes meet mine. “It is a start.”

“Does Vetrel know who you are?”

“No,” she assures me, and my lungs refill with oxygen. “At least, I don’t think so.”

Oxygen vacates. “Well, that’s not very comforting.”