Page 62 of Wicked Promises

“Shut up.” He scans the paper, then tosses it across the driver’s side to me. “They were trying to hide this piece of shit in plain sight.”

I open the page slowly. It’s a receipt for an oil change, with the owner’s name printed neatly in the upper corner.

Lead stones drop into my stomach.

“Do you know who it is?” Liam asks. There must be something alarming in my expression, because he whistles for the other guys and comes around the vehicle.

He pries the paper from my hand and shows it to Eli and Theo.

“That name sounds vaguely familiar,” Eli comments.

“It should.” I take the paper back and stare down at it, just to make sure I didn’t hallucinate.

This situation just got a whole lot more fucked up.

“Tobias Hutchins,” I say, staring at the name. “Also known as Keith Wolfe’s public defender. The one my mother bribed to botch his plea deal.”

Chapter 19

Margo

Ipace in my room, practicing flipping open the knife I found. It’s a folding one. I was lurking in Caleb’s basement room, trying to wait to surprise him, but then I got bored.

And then I found the knife. It would be so much better to be able to protect myself, right? Imagine my stalker came after me, and I hadthisin my pocket?

I jab the air, slice it, twirl around and pretend to stab it into someone’s eye.

I debate practicing on a pillow but quickly dismiss it.

My actions slow when the garage door rumbles open. Josh and Norah are in the city. Although they’re due back tonight, I doubt they’d come back so soon. Which means Eli and Caleb have returned. The door downstairs slams shut. Voices drift upstairs. More than two.

I flip the knife closed, sliding it into my pocket, and drift into the hall. I was hoping to catch Caleb alone, but now… I smell food.

My stomach growls, and I head downstairs without delay.

Caleb is the first to see me when I walk into the kitchen. They’re raiding the fridge for drinks. There’s a stack of pizzaboxes on the kitchen island. Eli is half hidden behind the door, tossing out cans of soda.

Caleb’s eyes narrow, moving up and down my body.

Oh, right.

I should’ve put something on over my tank top, but I’m too heated.Literally. It’s work keeping the frustration off my face. And I was kind of working up a sweat pretending to fight people off like a fencer.

Caleb should’ve told me about my mother.

“I need to tell you something,” he says to me.

“It’s a little late,” I snap.

I march up to him, stopping a foot away. Close enough to touch, but I don’t dare reach out. Neither does he.

“Margo—”

“No. We went to the diner Matt took you to, okay? I saw?—”

“Youwhat?” Caleb’s face pales.

It’s not often that I catch him by surprise. Almost never, I’d say. But today—today is the exception.