Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Holy shit. She kind of wanted to fist pump. The therapist was evil. Therapy sucked, and Lena proved it. She sighed. Or Lena was a plant. She could still hold it over her dad’s head for all of time.
It had been a good day. She had something to hold over her sister’s head, and now her dad had forced her to go to therapy with an evil minion. How bad was it? The worse it was, the more her dad would have to grovel. Also, she got to keep Coop for the rest of her life. That was the best part. But also the other stuff. She kind of bounced down the stairs. She needed a pizza. But first she would call her dad and tell him all the “Lena is evil” stuff. “Okay. So are you working for the shits in the Agency who want to take down my parents? Or someone else. Huisman plays a long game.”
“You little bitch. I guess we have to do this the hard way.”
Kala got to the bottom of the stairs and realized she wasn’t alone. Her stomach dropped. Eve McKay stood there, tears shining in her eyes and one hand to her heart.
Fuck. It might not be a good day. Not if Eve was here to tell her to stay away from Cooper. She wasn’t sure what the hard way was, but she had to deal with the situation at hand. “I’ll have to kill you later. Bye.” She hung up and straightened her shoulders. She’d told herself she didn’t have to fight so much, didn’t have to be defensive. But this was one fight she couldn’t back down from. “Hello, Eve.”
She was wearing her normal outfit. Eve was always stylish, with elegant lines. Where her mom wore a lot of trendy clothes, Eve stuck to the classics. Tailored slacks and a silk blouse with a Chanel necklace that Kala would absolutely use as a weapon if she had one. Those suckers were well made. Eve had blonde hair that reached her shoulders. The only thing that marred her perfect looks was the angry expression on her face. “Who were you talking to?”
“It doesn’t matter.” She wasn’t sure why Eve would want to know about Lena. How much had she heard? Was she pissed she’d just found out about the possible depression? Maybe she thought she hadn’t treated her therapist the way she should. She kind of felt like she was fifteen again and this woman thought she was going to wreck her perfect son’s life.
“It matters. Was it the Agency woman?”
She needed to not get mad. Calm. She had to prove to Eve that she was working on her anger issues. “I’m not going to hurt her.” A lie, but a necessary one. Lena’s murder would happen off the books and only after she figured out why the woman had been placed there. “It was a joke. Look, this is Agency business. I think we should probably talk about why you’re here. I can go wake up Cooper, if you like.”
Eve ignored her. “She’s had you in sessions for weeks, Kala. I want to know what she said to you.”
“I thought that was supposed to be secret.” It was kind of what they preached. What happened in therapy stayed in therapy. Though if Lena was working for someone bad, she probably didn’t follow the rules.
“I heard what that bitch said. I want to know what she’s been filling your head with, baby girl.” Eve’s voice cracked, and Kala realized the angry expression might not be directed at her. Eve walked right up to her, heels clicking on the stained-concrete floors. She got into Kala’s space and cautiously brought her hands up, giving Kala plenty of time to step back if she wanted to. “You are not poison. There is nothing wrong with you. You are smart and bold and strong. You are resilient. You hold people accountable when they need it and you forgive when they deserve it, and I am so grateful you forgave my son.”
Damn, she thought she’d cried it all out, but the world went watery again. “I think she’s working for someone who wants to break up the team. Or maybe Huisman, though it feels more personal and Huisman doesn’t have any ties to her. So if it was Huisman, she was probably doing it for the money and wouldn’t have folded so fast. It sounded like she hates me. I’ve pissed off a lot of people at the Agency.”
“So you didn’t listen to her? You know the things she said were manipulative and wrong?”
Kala hesitated. “She sounded reasonable at the time. She didn’t say the things she said on the phone just now. She told me how much better off I would be on my own.”
Eve’s head shook. “She is not supposed to have an opinion. She is supposed to ask questions so you figure out what your motivations are. She is supposed to lead you down a path, not make one up and put you on it.”