Page 141 of Creeping Beautiful

Until he needed to be dealt with.

Did Carter do this to Indie? Did he escape and then come back for revenge? Is this some elaborate plan to get even with me for taking his place when it should’ve been the other way around?

Or was Indie his girl from the very beginning?

She never said his name when I questioned her. She never said, Carter did this to me. But I have always suspected. I could feel him in there. In her mind. It was like he left fingerprints.

PSYOPS was done with Indie by the time she arrived on the island. Not as in her mind control was complete. But as in she was not a suitable candidate the way they had hoped. She was rebellious and tough and those were always necessary traits when you train up a Company child to kill people. But she was also… wrong. There was something wrong with her. Everything they did to her—she wasn’t ever scared. And it wasn’t a ploy, either. She just doesn’t understand fear the way most people do.

She doesn’t feel things the way most people do.

My grandfather didn’t think she’d sell at the auction. But not only did she sell, she was the highest-priced girl that whole night. People were calling in proxy bids from all over the globe to bid on Indie Anna Accorsi. What all those other men were planning on doing with her, I didn’t know. Nor did I care.

But I should’ve cared.

That should’ve been my first clue that everything about this girl—from her appearance, to her attitude, to the secrets she was keeping in that little vault inside her mind—they all pointed to Carter.

Because I see it so clearly now. I see what happened that night we were pulled apart wasn’t the end of Carter Couture.

It was the beginning.

And everyone who bid on Indie that night knew it before I did.

I truly did think I could save her.

But I see my mistake now.

I understand what it takes to save a Company killer like Indie.

It takes more than I ever gave her.

I look up and find the clock, realize several hours have gone by since McKay left and decide to go check on Indie and see if she needs anything.

It’s the least I can do after failing her so miserably.

I didn’t close the door to the office when I left her in there. But it’s closed now.

My heart actually skips. A hard, thump inside my chest. Then nothing. Like I am dead. Then another hard thump.

I open the door and switch on the light.

“Indie?”

She’s gone.

Holy fucking shit. She’s gone.

I walk around the house, calling her name—“Indie!”—throwing open doors and peeking into all the rooms.

Nothing.

She is gone.

I go outside and call her, the way McKay used to call her when she was small. “Indie! Indie Anna Accorsi! You come home right now!”

Nothing.

She’s gone.