Page 163 of I Know Your Secret
“Don’t worry, pretty poison, I won’t let you suffer… long.”
epilogue
Greer
“He really thought he’d get away with this,” Raymond says, his eyes locked on the interim director’s hardened gaze.
Everyone surrounding the table is in a dark suit. I knew walking in here hand in hand with Koen that this debriefing would be tense, but the air surrounding us is so thick, I’m liable to choke on it.
Detective Lasko sits across from us, still very much alive even though Koen was tasked with his takedown.
Lucky for him, Koen’s not as bloodthirsty as Helms had counted on when he ordered him to clean up his dirty work.
“He really did,” Lasko adds.
I catch his stare and give him a small smile, which he returns, tipping his head in my direction.
There’s a look in his eyes that says Koen might not have kept him alive and acted so humanely if it weren’t for my presence in his life, but I don’t believe that.
Though no bodies have shown up in the national forest lately, and I did spy an article about the copycat Nightstalker going silent once more.
But if I were to re-enter the dating pool, the blood would flow through Oakland’s streets, dark crimson, with my name floating in it.
“How’s your daughter?” I ask Director Raymond.
“Great, thanks to you two. She’s getting the help she needs upstate. I’ll pick her up in a few weeks.”
I smile sadly, knowing the nightmares I’m dealing with are probably the same haunting her.
“Do we need to talk about how the new regime won’t be hiding the amount of bloodshed you were doing off books, Mr. Grady?” the new director asks, Pines, I think his name was.
“No, sir. Especially since I won’t be continuing my work with the company, I’ll be retiring.”
This is news to me, and I squeeze his knee beneath the table to catch his attention.
Koen keeps his eyes on the director, his demeanor stoic.
While I do agree that a lot of what he did, especially in my name, wasn’t right, his skill set is a great asset when it comes to saving innocent girls from monsters.
I’d hate to be the reason he quit.
“You know what that means, Mr. Grady?” Director Raymond asks, “You’ll be labeled R.E.D., and we’ll never stop watching you. You know too much and are far too dangerous if you decide to pick up your gun again.”
“I never said I’d be putting my gun down. I think freelance work will suit me a bit better. Something more… flexible.”
Director Raymond’s eyes narrow. “We’ll still be watching.”
“I have no doubt.” Koen’s smirk lifts the side of his face, where my glare is currently burning a hole.
More is discussed that’s over my head before we’re dismissed, and then I’m walking out of a black site, my hand still clutched into that of my once stalker’s.
“What’s R.E.D.?” I ask as I hop onto the back of the bike, fitting my helmet down over my hair that’s currently matted to my head from the ride over here.
Koen kicks the stand up, his massive legs the thing keeping us from toppling over now.
“Retired, extremely dangerous.” He tosses me a grin over his shoulder before shoving into his own helmet.
“Hang on, pretty poison. Wouldn’t want you falling off after how hard I worked to get you all to myself.”
