She woke up annoyed, everything triggering — the sun in her face, the sweat-soaked sheets clung to her chest, a rogue hair tickling her nose — she growled, scratching her face, every single thing annoying the fuck out of her even before the reality kicked in, last night coming back in a furious blink of an eye as her gaze fell on the other side of the bed with its empty sheets.

Well, good; confronting him now was the last thing she was in the mood for.

She flinched when the phone rang on the little wooden nightstand. Number unknown. A dozen missed calls. Had to be him.

A knot tying in her stomach, she crawled out of bed and headed for the kitchen.

Wherever the hell he was — she couldn't care less. She was going for a run.

When the phone rang again, she went back to the bedroom and put it on mute. Annoying bastard; he really had the nerve.

She walked over to the sink and filled an empty plastic bottle with fresh water, and took a sip, the snippets of their conversation springing up in her mind randomly.

Well, she wasn't going to dwell on that. They'd both crossed the line last night, he wasn't the only one to blame. She should've bitten her tongue a time or two, to be fair, but — and this was starting to worry her, by now — she'd always been short-fused, but these days it was from zero to hundred in a split second, and the very fact she couldn't control it only made it worse. She really should get a grip on it; they weren't going to survive another week under one roof, otherwise.

She kept walking around the house, absent-mindedly focusing on every little detail her eyes fell on, trying to take her mind off the thought starting to gnaw at her — of what was inevitable, and what she'd been putting off for too long by now.

But it was time.

Seating herself on the sofa with her bag on her lap, she unzipped it and fished out one of the simcards tucked in the hidden compartment along with several burner phones, out of which she chose one and inserted the card in it. It was nice of him to get her a phone and she was happy to use it with him, but she wasn't stupid enough to convey all her other communication through a device that was likely cloned and mirroring all its contents on the screen of a phone that he was probably holding in his hand right now.

Having found the rooter and the wifi password on it, she went online and opened the web browser.

Surprisingly, there was no trace of the video Alexis promised to share with the world, which meant it wasn't out yet. She wouldn't miss it otherwise; it would've gone viral the second it hit the web.

No, there was just coverage in local press.

"…missing police officer found dead… broken artery… the deceased was identified as the long-time employee of the local police department…"

"…are investigating the mysterious death… the body was discovered in the outskirts of the city…"

She tossed the phone aside.

Blood.

Gareth had shot and wounded her, her blood was on him. The knife had her prints on it.

She got up and walked outside. The pool looked tempting.

What was the difference, anyway? Alexis was going to rat her out sooner or later. What did it matter, if she'd end up on wanted posters today or two weeks from now?

A subtle wave of dizziness hitting her, she walked into the little grove and followed the narrow serpent of the stone path which she knew led to the canopied bed from yesterday. She closed her eyes, breathing deep; and struggled to push away the flashes of him that filled her mind the moment her head touched the mattress.

She glanced at her phone again.

There was one thing that didn't end up. She'd gone awol, hadn't showed up to work for almost a week. For this reason alone she would expect at least one Whatsapp missed call or unread message. It wasn't possible they wouldn't have tried to reach her. Every officer that's ever been undercover — even if for a day — was checked on regularly, and not turning up at work, not to mention days in a row, would normally mean she had people looking for her. Which wasn't said wasn't happening right now.

But they would've tried to get in touch first.

She opened the app again. There was nothing.

Like she never existed.

She turned from side to side, restless. It was starting, what was going to, eventually. Reality catching up with her. It was starting, and it was going to be painful. The last several days got her to a place it was now going to hurt as hell to fall down from.

She exhaled, rolling onto her back, then to her sight side, and grunted as she felt the unpleasant pang in the back of her head, all of it overwhelming — work, Alexis, and now him on top of that — and if she couldn't have a partner in him, this — having this child with him — it was going to be a nightmare. They weren't on the same page about anything; anything that mattered; and couldn't even talk it through without losing their shit.

She lost the thought and sat up, something catching her attention. At first she wasn't sure, but after she walked out onto the bedroom patio, she saw it up close, the strings of little light bulbs hanging over the shrubs and tree trunks.

He remembered.

She drew a deep breath, guilt tugging at her gut anew, stronger now.

"I'm not gonna take morality lessons from scum like you." Her own words now cut through her ears, making her stomach tighten.

He didn't deserve it. And she didn't mean it. She was just on edge, he'd pushed the wrong button. And it had only gone worse from then on.

"You don't know shit about taking responsibility."

"Good to know. After all, you're the expert on taking responsibility — shouldn't you be doing time for all those terrible crimes you so hate yourself for? But well, what do I know."

God, it had made her livid; she'd felt herself sweating when he said that. The truth. Because that's what it was, the truth, right there in broad daylight, stabbing her in the gut like a knife.

How ironic, that it was him confronting her with it.

And right now — she couldn't fucking think about it any second longer.

A good, long jog along the beach, that was what she needed. Not thinking. Thinking was the last thing she needed right now.

And a bottle of water.

She glanced at the half-empty plastic vessel in her hands. She reached for the tap to refill it, but her hand then went to the bottle cap instead, for whatever reason, semi-consciously, like someone was steering it with a remote.

Her mind going hazy, she closed the cap and headed outside.

She was on the doorstep when her phone chimed with a Whatsapp notification, making her step back.

Number unknown. She tapped on the screen, opening the message. "How are you, darling? Hope you're having as much fun as we are… well, your baby daddy is — I'm feeling a bit like a third wheel here."

A chill run her through, her heart pounding when she tapped on the photo that followed. Two men in black suits, a huge, broad silhouette of his back unmistakable, walking into a room, followed by two long-haired blondes.

She locked the screen, her eyes closing as she drew short little breaths.

She didn't know what she did with the phone, but she was no longer holding it when she closed the door behind her. She didn't remember closing the door, either.