Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
“You’re lying.” She pressed the tip of the blade against my side. “If you were a good sister, he wouldn’t have needed to convince you to visit him there. You would have wanted to see him like I do. But that’s okay because Paul won’t need to worry about having your negative influence in his life anymore. And we will be able to reunite soon…at your funeral.”
12
SILAS
It was all I could do to force myself to leave Phoebe in that bed looking so sleepy and fuckable. I hadn’t been kidding when I told her that I would bust my ass to get through the PT as quickly as possible so I could get back to her.
As I started my car, I felt a tingling on the back of my neck, almost as if someone were watching me. I glanced around but didn’t see anyone lurking nearby. I spotted a figure sitting in a blue compact, but they had their head down and a phone to their ear. They were probably just finishing a conversation before going inside.
I’d been driving for almost ten minutes when my phone rang, and I answered it by pressing a button on my steering wheel.
“Where are you?” Deacon demanded.
“On my way,” I reassured him. “I won’t be late. Are you seriously calling to check on me, or has there been a development?”
“I think you need to turn around and return to Phoebe’s place. We finally got a hit on the person stalking your woman. The reconstructed prints brought up some local junkies that had been arrested, so we looked into each of them and found a woman recently discharged from the same rehab facility as Phoebe’s brother. Stephanie Dalton. We don’t have a location for her yet, but she drives a blue compact.” He rattled off the license plate number, and I cursed as I yanked my wheel to the left and made a quick U-turn. Thankfully the road was empty.
“I saw her car in front of Phoebe’s apartment when I left.”
“Fucking hell. I’ll call the police and smooth things over with the brass here.”
He hung up, and I raced back to the parking lot, my tires screeching as I turned in and stopped the SUV in front of the building. Not caring about anything but getting up to Phoebe, I threw the vehicle into park and leaned over to get my gun out of the glove compartment. I assembled it in seconds and shoved in a full clip before hopping out of the car, not bothering to shut my door as I ran toward Phoebe’s apartment.
I grabbed the knob and twisted as I pushed, bursting inside and causing the door to slam against the wall. For a moment, the world stopped spinning, and fear like I’d never known engulfed me.
Phoebe was backed up against the wall, holding her robe tight around her as she tried to shrink herself as much as possible. A woman stood in front of her yelling and waving a big knife around. Startled by the loud crash of the door, she whipped around, nearly slicing Phoebe’s arm.
The fear instantly morphed into utter rage, but my training kicked in, and I remained calm.
“Put down the knife and step away from her,” I ordered. The girl blinked a few times, her bloodshot eyes glazed over. Son of a bitch. She was clearly high, which meant that what little common sense she might have possessed had probably gone out the window already.
“Who are you?” she squawked, her hands gesturing wildly.
I kept my eyes on the sharp blade as I took a slow step forward, keeping the hand holding my gun hidden behind me. “I’m Silas,” I told her.
“Stay back! You’re the boyfriend, aren’t you?” she asked as her eyes narrowed. “She doesn’t deserve you! Why should she be happy when she ruined my life?”
I didn’t know exactly what story the girl had convinced herself was true, but from her comment and knowing she had been in rehab with Paul, I felt like I had a pretty clear picture of what was going on.
“Maybe you’re right,” I said with a sympathetic smile. “But killing her won’t solve the problem. You can’t be with Paul if you’re in jail.”
The girl laughed hysterically, and her eyes bounced around as if she couldn’t keep her focus on any one thing. “When she’s gone, Paul and I will run away together. He won’t let anything happen to me.”
The girl spun around and screamed, “She has to die!”
Before she could raise the knife, I aimed my gun and put a bullet in her shoulder.
She screamed like a banshee, and her hand flexed, dropping the knife to the ground. Phoebe scrambled to pick it up, then made a mad dash over to me. I shoved her behind my back and trained my gun on the girl’s head.