Page 152 of Pucked Around and Found Out

“And Fiona was there,” Carnage adds, and his voice drops. “Tried to kill her too. Toren knocked her unconscious with a pot, then set the fire.”

“Where's the fucking bitch now?” I ask, my voice deadly quiet.

“We pulled her out,” Carnage says. “She's secured. Unconscious when we left, but she should be waking up soon.”

My phone buzzes in my pocket.

I pull it out and see a text from an unknown number.

Carnage gave me your number.

Fiona is awake.

If you want in on the interrogation, get here within the hour. After that, I'm not sharing.

I stare at the messages. I know who it's from.

Then I look at Toren, still unconscious. She's stable, I tell myself. She's breathing. She's safe. But Fiona is awake. And she tried to kill them. She helped cover up the crash, she was involved with taking Emery, Neave and Miles from me.

“Who is it?” Carnage asks, his tone careful.

“Alex,” I say. “Fiona's awake. He's offering me a chance to... play with her.”

Carnage goes very still.

“You're thinking about going,” he says. Not a question.

“She tried to kill Toren,” I say flatly. “Tried to kill the baby and helped my father and Steven cover up the fucking crash!”

“And Toren is unconscious in a hospital bed,” Carnage points out, his voice hardening. “She’s pregnant with your kid and you’re gonna leave her here?”

“You're here,” I snap.

The words land wrong.

I see it in the way Carnage's jaw clenches.

“I'm not who she needs,” he says quietly. I can tell it pained him to admit that. “When she wakes up, she's going to want you. Not me.”

“She's not waking up anytime soon,” I say, looking at the monitors. “Doctors said hours, maybe longer.”

“You don’t deserve her,” he snarls, and now there's anger creeping into his voice. “We just broke you out of a CIA black site. I coordinated an assault to save your ass. And the second Fiona's available to torture, you're leaving Toren here alone.”

I tamper down my anger and fight against the urge to assassinate this son of a bitch. “She's safe here.”

“She needs you,” Carnage interrupts.

We stare at each other. All the partnership from earlier—the coordinated assault, the mutual goal—crumbling under the weight of this moment.

“You don't get to tell me what the fuck to do,” I say quietly.

“Someone needs to,” Carnage shoots back. “Because you're about to make the same mistake you always make. Choosing revenge over her.”

“Fiona tried to kill her⁠—”

“And you're going to torture her instead of holding Toren's hand,” Carnage cuts me off. “Instead of being here when she wakes up, scared and alone. Instead of⁠—”

He stops himself, jaw clenched.