Dani: No, I'm good. Sorry I was just caught up. I'll see you tonight when I get home.
The response comes immediately.
Devil: Are you okay? You're freaking me out.
I stare at his message, at the fake concern.
Dani: We need to talk. Tonight.
I hit send before I can second-guess myself. I need to keep this simple, controlled. I can't let him know what I've discovered, not yet. I need to think, to plan, to figure out what the hell I'm going to do with this information.
The response comes immediately.
Devil: Okay? Babe, we live together. We’ll talk, I’m sure.
I'm fucking this all up, because I'm trying not to let him know I'm on to him. My fingers hover over the keyboard. I want to scream at him, to demand answers, to throw his lies back in his face. But I force myself to stay calm. If I'm going to handle this, I need to be smart about it.
Dani: I just need to see you. I wanted to make sure you’d be home and not doing club business.
It's not entirely a lie. Something has been bothering me, the growing certainty that Tommy wasn't lying when he told me Devil wasn't who he claimed to be. Now I have proof, but Devil doesn't know that.
Devil: Are you okay? You sound different, and you're all over the place.
Dani: I'm good, just overwhelmed with going back to the greenhouse. I’ll see you at home?
Devil: Of course, babe.
I close my eyes, hating that this is where we are.
Dani: I'm on my way. See you there.
Devil: I'll be there. I love you.
Those three words hit me like a physical blow. How can he say that? How can he text me those words when everything between us has been built on lies?
Dani: See you soon.
I don't say it back. I can't. Not when I know what I know now. Within twenty minutes, I've pulled up to our house. His bike isn't here, so I square my shoulders, head inside, and wait for the fight we're about to have.
Chapter 23
Devil
"Are you okay? What happened?" I ask Dani as I hurry into our house. Her message has had me torn up for the entire fifteen mile drive from the shop to home.
Her back is to me and her body is ram-rod straight. When she turns to me, there are tears streaming down her face.
"Who else knows?" She questions, her voice deathly quiet.
"What are you talking about?"
"Who else knows your name is Derrick David and that you're a cop?"
The words hit me like a sledgehammer to the chest. My blood turns to ice in my veins, and for a moment, I can't breathe. How the hell did she find out? I've been so careful, so goddamn careful.
"Dani, I?—"
"Don't." She holds up a hand, and I see it trembling. "Don't you dare lie to me. Not anymore. I found the papers, Devil. Or should I call you Officer David?"
