Dirty Law

“Because of your job at the FBI,” I mumbled.

“Because of my job at the FBI.”

“That doesn’t explain how you started working together.” Running a hand through my hair, I looked back at Riley. What a mess. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a sick thought popped into my head: It was easier when I thought they’d betrayed me.

“I knew Morris was a slime ball when he agreed to take the bribe GEM offered, but I didn’t know how far it went,” Law explained. “Becca went to the police that night and they ignored her just as they did you. Except instead of fighting back with the media like you did, Becca went back to work. I approached her a week later.”

“Just like that?” I turned back to Law.

“No,” Law said. “After he raped her again, I offered to help bring him down.” I sighed, hating that I felt sorry for Becca. It had been so much simpler when she was the terrible villain in my story. What Morris had done didn’t change her actions. She’d destroyed my reputation and she’d murdered Raskol. Still, her life hadn’t been easy, and the more I learned about her, the more I pitied her. The more I pitied her, the harder it was to hate her.

“So what am I?” I asked quietly.

“You were a complication in the beginning.” Law stood up off the desk and moved toward me. “Riley and I have been compiling a case to bring to the FBI to prove Morris is a serial rapist, has committed fraud, and has used public funds to hide his crimes, among other things. If the local authorities wouldn’t take it seriously, then we were going to make the federal authorities believe her. I started following you to keep you from getting too close. Then I got too close.” Law kneeled before me, trying to catch my eye, but I looked away.

“I can’t believe this.” I looked over Law’s head and at Becca, who was now tossing and turning. “Riley ruined my life. She killed my dog. She isn’t a good person.”

“Becca is a product of her environment. In order to get the information we needed, she had to go deep. She had to disappear. The Becca I met two years ago is dead.”

“So I should feel sorry for her?” I snapped, feeling angry.

“She did unspeakable things to you,” Law replied. “Maybe you don’t feel sorry for her. Maybe you just understand the way she is.”

“Well did you guys get what you needed? Is Morris going to jail?” I finally looked at Law. His cognac eyes were muddied and tired. His five o’clock shadow had grown past the hour hand and was full on scruff. I couldn’t think about his pain, though, because mine was blinding. I needed him to say yes, Morris was going to jail. All of it had to be for a reason. Riley had to have self-destructed, destroying me in her wake, for a reason.

Instead, Law shook his head slowly. I laughed, feeling broken. “Why am I not surprised?” I stood up off the wall. Even though I stood slowly, I felt lightheaded. Maybe it was the blood rushing from my head, or maybe it was having my world rocked to its core yet again.

Law gently grabbed my wrist. “Please, just stay the night.”

“How can I stay the night with Becca asleep on the bed?”

“She isn’t staying,” Law said, tightening his hold on my wrist. “She’ll go home, otherwise Morris will get suspicious.”

“I believe you,” I said. My eyes dropped to his hold on my wrist. I did believe him, I did. I believed everything about him and Becca and Morris. It was horrible and ugly, so of course it was true. “I believe you, Law, but that doesn’t make it hurt less.”

I gently peeled his hand from my wrist and turned to go. When I left, I didn’t look back; I couldn’t. His amber eyes would melt my resolve, and right then I needed to be strong. I’d said I wanted the truth, but I hadn’t known it would hurt more than the lies.

Nineteen

In my mind I saw an intricate web. In the beginning it was only three fibers: me, Morris, and my mission to destroy him. Enter Law: enigmatic, mysterious, and a bit of a dick. What I thought to be a just a single strand turned out to be the spider. Law wove the reality around me.

I tried to disentangle the web, but it was too vast and convoluted. Where one strand ended, four others began. I huffed, turning on my side, and pulled the blanket tight around my shoulders. It was three in the morning, hours after I’d left Law at his hotel, but my mind was reeling. Once again I was thinking back to the beginning. This time I wasn’t thinking about Morris, though. I was thinking about Law.

He’d never been anything but kind to me. Even when I was an utter shit to him, he’d treated me gently. He’d listened to me. He’d seemed to know what was wrong even before I did. He’d saved my life. Even when I was at my most vulnerable, he’d never taken advantage of me. Law was perfect, except for, you know, one tiny problem: Law lied. About everything.

Law lied about his job. Law lied about the company he kept. Law lied and lied and lied until he was wrapped so comfortably in his lies that they became his reality. His lies even shaped the reality of those around him. Unfortunately, I was around him. I pulled the blanket tighter, tossing around on the couch until my gaze stared straight at the ceiling.

Knock knock.

My head shot to the side at the sound of rapping at my door. Nice people didn’t knock on doors at three in the morning. I should have been wary, but then again, I didn’t have any nice people in my life. Sluggishly I rose from the couch, keeping the blanket wrapped around me. I still couldn’t afford heat and my place was much colder at night. I could see my breath in the air, like wispy tendrils of smoke.

I opened the door without checking who it was. At that point in my life I didn’t care if someone was there to kill me. Every part of my being was

utterly obliterated. My heart had been put through a meat grinder. My mind had been fucked, defaced, and effaced. There was nothing left save a body, so why try and save the body?

I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting what stood on the other side of the door. I thought maybe it was one of Morris’s henchmen finally coming to finish the job. I figured it could be some paparazzi who’d discovered where I lived. Never in a hundred nightmares did I imagine what it really was: Law covered in blood.

Speechless, I took him in. Blood covered the hands that had always been so gentle with me. Red stained his t-shirt. Eyes widened, I swallowed the sight of him. Bloody, disheveled, but not hurt, it appeared. Before I could ask what the hell happened, he spoke.