Descent (Black Heart Romance presents Heaven & Hell)

number. If you have any further questions, you can ask him. Hallie has been through enough, she
doesn’t need you treating her so aggressively.”
The nicer officer jumps in. “I can finish up the interview.” Looking at his partner, he says, “Why
don’t you go wait in the car and I’ll be right down?”
The mean officer’s pupils seem to double in size. His nostrils flare like a bull as he looks back
at me, but then he glances at Calvin and clutches the lawyer’s card.
“Fine,” he says shortly.
We all wait for him to get in the elevator and go downstairs, then the remaining officer turns back
to smile sheepishly. “Sorry about him,” he says. He’s a tall, gawky-looking guy with skin so pale he
looks like he never leaves his house. “He can be a little intense.”
Once that guy is gone, things are much less stressful. Calvin invites Officer Davis in to sit at the
table, and I recount a seriously edited version of what happened last night. I keep everything that
happened in front of Lance accurate so our stories match, but obviously I can’t tell him what
happened after that.
I get nervous when we get to that part, but this officer isn’t pushy. He steps gently around asking
what happened after the assailant shoved me in the car, then tells me that DNA evidence could
potentially lead them to the culprit.
The only DNA evidence they would get off me is Calvin’s. Which is fitting because he is the
culprit in all of this.
Obviously, I can’t say that.
I consider it for the faintest glimmer of a second. I know it would be a little tricky considering I
was asleep at his apartment when the police arrived. It’s not lost on me that if I tried to actually
explain Calvin Cutler’s role in my life and all the villainous shit he is currently responsible for doing,
I’m the one who would come off sounding like an unhinged psycho.
In the end, I don’t tell on Calvin. I know the opportunity sort of presented itself with cops
literally showing up at his apartment when I have his DNA all over my body, but I haven’t had time to
think it through and I think doing it impulsively would be the wrong move. Once I open that box, I
don’t think it can be shut again, so if I’m going to open it, I need to be sure.
And he has all that crap on Charity.
I still can’t believe that. Some part of me thinks maybe it isn’t real, that somehow he fabricated
all of it to use against me because surely Charity wouldn’t do that to Tyler. Yeah, I saw her flirting
with the bartender, but it was harmless.
I don’t know how to ask, though. It’s not like I can say, “Hey, by the way, I know this is a crazy
question and I’m sorry, but some rich guy is trying to blackmail me into living with him with ‘proof’
that you cheated on Tyler the night before your wedding… That’s crazy, right? That definitely didn’t
happen… right?”