Page 124 of When He Plays

Logan did not release the knife. He might have…kept carving with it.

“Logan!” Detective Meredith Reece thundered. “Let go of the knife! Get away from him!”

Charlotte immediately put her body in front of Logan. “He’s the good guy!” Though she could see where that might be a bit hard to believe given the situation.

Behind her, Logan laughed. “Sweetheart, we both know that’s a stretch.”

He was good to her. “Don’t you dare shoot him! He just saved my life!”

Meredith Reece stepped into the light. Her gun was drawn. Aimed up at Logan. “I just saw him stab a man in the chest.”

“That man is a serial killer,” Charlotte retorted. “He abducted Harper Channing. He tried to kill me. He would have killed me, if Logan hadn’t stepped in. I saw him attack Logan—Carmichael had a knife of his own. It’s literally on the floor near me right now. Logan had to defend himself! He. Is. The. Hero.”

She felt Logan come up closer behind her. That was good, wasn’t it? Him coming closer meant he’d moved away from Carmichael and was following the detective’s orders.

Logan’s breath blew against her ear. “I’m not a hero,” he whispered. “But you are fucking delightful for saying so.” His hands curled around her waist. And, low, in her ear, just for her, “I was always going to kill him.”

“Put your hands up! I want all hands up!” Meredith bellowed. Then, “Shit! There’s another vic on the floor!”

“Sebastian!” Harper ran out of the cage. She rushed toward Sebastian and fell to her knees beside him. “Sebastian?”

He wasn’t moving.

The cops were swarming.

Detective Reece entered the cage with slow steps. She crouched near a prone Carmichael. She looked down at his chest. A low whistle. “You carved him open.” Her gun didn’t waver from Logan.

His fingers slowly slid from Charlotte. He backed away from her. Logan raised his hands, showing that he wasn’t armed. A quick glance down showed Charlotte that the brass knuckles were about two feet away. As for the knife Logan had used on Carmichael— Charlotte’s favorite knife was still in the serial killer’s chest.

“Had to do it,” Logan admitted. “He tried to take my heart. So I took his.”

What?

“Back away from the woman!” Meredith ordered. “Now!”

Logan was no threat to her. He didn’t need to back away.

Charlotte spun toward him. Just in time to see him take a few steps away from her.

Uniformed cops had spilled into the cage. One stepped forward and cuffed Logan.

“Stop it!” Charlotte gaped at the cop. “He saved me!”

Looking both determined and way uncertain, the young cop gulped. “Ma’am, he just confessed to carving a man’s chest open…”

Okay, fine, Logan had done that. They’d have a chat about not making confessions. An important chat.

He tried to take my heart. So I took his.

Ignoring the cops, she closed the small distance between her and Logan. Her hand lifted and pressed to his cheek. “What did you mean by those words? Tell me. No games. No manipulation. Just the truth. When you said he tried to take your heart⁠—”

“I love you.”

She could not breathe.

“Don’t look so surprised, sweetheart.”

Someone was reading Logan his rights. Why were they doing that? He was the hero.