Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 71625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Fender nodded. “Anderson.”
I closed my eyes with the confirmation.
“Fuck.”
I started walking through the house.
Conleigh tripped at my side, but Fender caught her other arm and helped her along, but all the while neither kid let me go.
***
“I want him found,” I ordered softly so as not to wake Winnie, who’d been admitted for the night for observation due to smoke inhalation.
They’d given her a few breathing treatments and started her on some antibiotics prophylactically, but otherwise, they’d given her a clean bill of health.
She’d passed out only moments before firefighters had found her. Having known the room that she was in, they’d come right to her.
The fire had been put out moments after she’d been pulled from the house, but it wasn’t the fire that had been so destructive. It’d been the smoke.
“We’ve got every agency in the state looking for him,” Fender said. “Called other chapters. They’ve got everyone looking on their ends, too. He’ll be found.”
I took a deep breath and then blew it out.
“Go home. Get some rest. Thank you for your help.”
Fender smacked my back and then left without another word.
“You need anything?”
I looked over at Sean, who was standing next to the door.
He was working tonight, but he’d stopped in on his way out to make sure that Winnie was all right.
She was, thank God.
“No,” I paused. “But Sean?”
He straightened himself up off the wall. “Yeah?”
“Don’t let your guard down. This fool is all for Winnie and, by association, Conleigh. Don’t let them out of your sight.”
Sean nodded. “Truth and Ghost have the safe house locked down. Don’t worry about them.”
I laughed. “I wish it was that easy.”
Sean left a few minutes later, and Winnie woke up, she broke my heart.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?” I asked, leaning down and pressing my lips against her cheek.
“For burning your house down.”
“It wasn’t you,” I countered. “Don’t worry your pretty little face about it.”
She smiled. “It was Anderson.”
The confirmation was good to hear, but I’d already known. “I know.”
“I’m sorry.”
And she kept saying she was sorry for the next ten minutes until her voice finally gave out. Even then, she kept saying it with her eyes.
“I love you,” I promised her, causing her eyes to fill with tears. “Now stop worrying. The kids are safe. Every cop in the freakin’ state of Alabama is looking for Anderson. Don’t worry.”
She closed her eyes, and then opened them again, indicating a ‘yes.’
When she silently puckered her lips, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Too soon, it turned out.
***
Six hours later
My eyes snapped open as I heard the window break. Glass crashed to the ground.
I was at the safe house, along with Ghost and the kids, and trying to catch a few hours of shut eye before I started my own personal hunt for the douchebag who’d made our lives a living hell.
I’d been in the throes of deep sleep when the crash had woken me.
And then I heard the whoosh that only meant one single thing to me.
Fire.
I jackknifed out of bed and started running in the direction of Cody and Conleigh’s frantic voices which were steadily rising in volume.
I found them in the bathroom that connected the bedroom that I was in with theirs.
My gun was still tucked securely in the waistband of my jeans, thank God, because I used the butt of it to knock out the glass.
Which was my mistake.
Because in doing so, I indicated to Anderson, who I now knew was outside, where we were. I yanked my face away from the broken window just in time, too.
I almost lost my face to a bullet seconds later.
“Fuck!” I hissed, backing away.
“Both of you out,” I ordered, gesturing to the door.
Conleigh opened the door and moaned at the sight of the fire.
“I hate fire,” she whispered just barely loud enough to be heard over the crackling flames that were quickly overtaking the curtains on the wall the bottle hit.
I agreed but didn’t say it.
“Go,” I ordered, pushing them both into the hallway before closing the door.
They went, and I pushed them around the fire, herding them into the room on the opposite side of the house.
It was the room that Ghost had been staying in, but when I pushed it open, there was no Ghost.
The window, however, was open and the curtains were flapping in the breeze.
A gunshot sounded again, echoing into the room, and I felt my stomach clench.
Then return fire sounded.
Ghost.
“Ghost!” I called out the open window.
“Present!”
I would’ve laughed had I not been so fucking scared.
Having two kids in a gunfight was definitely not something I wanted to experience ever again.
Add a fire to that gunfight? Well, let’s just say I know exactly what my nightmares will consist of for the rest of my fucking life.
“Yo!”
Ghost came running out of the woods, and I blew out a breath. “Come on, you two.”