My Undercover Life | ✓

Chapter 28

It’d been four days since the whole killer-finding-about-my-real-identity-mess, and so far, nothing. With my cousins tightening up security and Megan sticking to me like glue, the killer hasn’t left me any messages. No note, letters, or texts. In fact, Bradlee hasn’t even been in school for the past few days. The last time I saw him was when he took care of me, and that was on Monday. And surprisingly Hunter hasn’t been showing up either. It’s like they both disappeared altogether.

        The only person that even showed up to school was Ian. He was back to his cheerful, upbeat self, skipping around in hallways, and singing to his hearts content. When he saw me on Tuesday, he practically tackled me in the hallway, screaming about how much he’d missed me. After letting go, he started apologizing like a crazy person for leaving us in the middle of lunch. And since then he hasn’t left my side either.

        At first, I was a little bit apprehensive about it, but with my cousins and their fellow agents watching his every move, I knew nothing bad would happen. And so far . . . nothing did. Both Demitri and Skylar were ninety percent positive that the killer wasn’t Ian anymore. Their money was on Hunter, but if they knew that Bradlee whispered my actual name . . . they’ll jump to conclusions and arrest him on the spot.

        I knew I was crazy for keeping this information from them, but for some reason I couldn’t say anything. Every time I opened my mouth, my heart would scream at me to stop. Like, it wanted to protect Bradlee in a way. Even though I knew it was wrong, I still couldn’t do it. But it wasn’t like I was going to keep this secret forever. Once the DNA results gets back to the agency next week, they’ll have their conclusion. And if Bradlee’s DNA matches with the DNA found at the crime scene, then I’ll confront him about it. But into then, I’ll keep on hoping—hoping for his sake that he wasn’t the killer.

        “Alright, Avery,” Megan said, her voice snapping me back to reality. My lids blinked rapidly when realization hit me—class was starting. “I’ll see you after class.” She gave me a wide smile, pulling me into a quick hug before she rushed off to her first class of the day.

        When I saw Skylar in the corner of my eye, mopping some invisible dirt away, I couldn’t help but chuckle quietly before heading inside the classroom.

        My eyes widened immediately in surprise when I saw Bradlee sitting in his regular seat all the way in the back lab tables. Sucking in a big gulp of air, my smile vanished when I took in his physical state. His arms were covered in white elastic bandages, and from what I could tell, his face took a nasty beating from something or someone.

        As I got closer towards him, his wounds became more visible and more prominent. My heart spiraled into a deep abyss when I saw the skin under his right eye in a sickly dark blue color—my heart raged with burning desire to find the person responsible for this.

        Feeling a sharp pain shooting up my arms, I looked down to see my knuckles turning white as my nails digged slowly into the palm of my hand—enough to draw blood.

        Cursing slightly under my breath, I looked up to see Bradlee glancing at me. His eyes quickly drew towards my hands before looking directly at me. I didn’t have to look twice to know the warmth they once held was gone. Instead they held a deep hatred—as they burned with anger, seething with disappointment, and revenge?

        “B-bradlee?” His eyes flashed suddenly, looking like he was about to say something before he decided against it. Shaking his head, he ducked his head down, ignoring me completely.

        My jaw dropped, completely shocked. H-h-he ignored me. Did something happened while he was away? Was he taking his anger out of me? Or was that anger in his eyes directed at me? Is that way he’s ignoring me? Because he’s mad? But what did I do . . . ?