Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 121460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 486(@250wpm)___ 405(@300wpm)
“Have a good evening.” I got in my car and wasted not another thought on her. Or anyone else who allowed their jealousy to control their words and actions.
Shaking off the unpleasant encounter, sure it might not be the last, I drove through Golspie and onto Brora to pop into the pharmacy there. My phone rang, connecting to my car, and Brodan’s name came up on the screen. I hit the answer button on my steering wheel. “Hello, handsome,” I answered, smiling just at the thought of him.
God, I made myself sick with how loved up we were.
“Hello, my love,” he answered in that deep voice that made me tingle all over. “Are you on your way home?”
Home.
My grin deepened. “Not yet. What are you making for dinner?”
“I was actually thinking we could eat at the Gloaming tonight, now that the paps are gone.”
“Aye, that’ll work.”
“I’m just heading home from a meeting in Inverness with Thane about the house. I can’t wait to share the new drawings with you.”
Excitement bubbled inside me. “Me too.”
“So, where are you now? Will you beat me home?”
“Um …” I didn’t want to lie totally, so noting the package on my seat I’d collected from the post office during my lunch break, I replied, “I’m driving to Brora. The gift I got you for your birthday that didn’t show up in time was delivered to Brora’s post office instead of ours.” It was a half lie. The truth was that I had ordered a gift for Brodan’s birthday (January 3) before Christmas, and it had taken weeks to arrive. I’d had his first script turned into a book, leather-bound and everything. There had been some interest from a director, but nothing solid had come of it yet. But I still thought his writing it was momentous and should be celebrated.
“So, you’re on your way to Brora?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, I will probably be home first, then. See you soon, Sunset.”
“See you soon, handsome.”
I will not feel guilty, I told myself as I hung up. There was no point telling Brodan my suspicions until I knew for certain.
Once I parked in Brora, I shoved my hair under my knit wool hat, feeling paranoid after the last week. I didn’t want anyone to recognize me and leak it to the internet that I’d bought a pregnancy test. Bloody Nora, I should have called Sloane and asked her to buy it for me.
Well, I was here now.
The pharmacy had a few people in it, but I kept my head low, found a couple of tests, and brought them to the counter. Thankfully, the young man at the till was so bored he didn’t even look at me as he rang me up. I left the store breathing easy that I hadn’t been seen and got back into the car.
It was growing dark as I drove back down the A9 toward home. The traffic had been fairly busy on the way here, but it had thinned out, and my headlights were the only ones on a stretch of road. There was a field on my left and the sea beyond that and a low stone wall set before woodlands on my right.
Headlights suddenly appeared on the opposite side of the road. I thought nothing of it.
Until the lights swerved onto my side.
My heart leapt in my throat as the vehicle raced straight toward me.
“What on—” I cried, instinct making me yank my wheel to the right to avoid a head-on collision. My body jolted, head slamming backward as the airbag burst from the steering wheel. A bang exploded in my ears, followed by a crunching sound and a loud hiss. Dazed, shaking with adrenaline, pain radiating down my neck, I tried to make sense of what had happened.
Before I could, my door was yanked open, and I felt the cold press of metal to my temple. Disbelief filled me as I glanced up and saw a masked figure peering into the car. The metal at my temple belonged to the muzzle of the gun in their hand.
Terror cut through my discombobulation.
“Get out of the car,” a male voice demanded. Was that voice familiar?
What the fuck?
“Now!” he barked.
Trembling, I unclipped my belt and pushed the airbag out of my way. My upper body groaned with pain from the crash, and as I staggered out of the car, I saw the front of it had crumpled when it hit the stone wall.
Headlights beamed in the distance, and I felt a surge of relief …
Until pain shot across the back of my head and everything went black.
36
Brodan
Monroe should have been home by now.
A feeling of dread came over me not long ago, and I’d called Monroe to check on her. No answer. I paced the cottage and tried phoning her again.
She hadn’t answered her phone in thirty minutes.