Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96978 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96978 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“We need to see your surveillance footage; it can clear all this up. If you have nothing to hide, it will show it,” Detective Sanders says.
“Fine.” I reach for my pack of cigarettes. “I’ll send it over.”
“Good. Here’s my card.” I take it, tossing it on the counter.
“The sooner the better. Ms. Stewart is not pressing charges yet. But she’s saying she came back here, and that’s the last thing she remembers until she woke up in her car outside.”
And I take a deep inhale on the cigarette. “My lawyer will be in touch.”
“Yes. Well, we can find our way out.” They turn and start toward the door, then turn back. “We also need to talk to Ms. Falcon and Nicholas Cullen…are they here?”
“No. I’ll have Nuke contact you when he gets back, as for Courtney, you can talk to her through her lawyer.” They both look at each other like that’s really bad, and I fight myself not to shake my head.
“You got until the end of the day, Mr. Adams, to send over the footage, or we’ll get the judge to get it for us,” the short one says, which I ignore because I need to get ahold of Rafe. Where the fuck is my cell?
This is fucked-up shit. I knew Rachel was crazy? But this is another level, like fucking evil.
“Fuck” Tossing my cigarette in the sink, I immediately walk toward my elaborate security room. It’s where all the monitors are, and all the areas inside and outside are filmed. Usually I have to call the guy who watches everything, but with Courtney staying here, Ace has a team in place.
“Ammo?” My pulse leaps to my throat as I turn and see her.
She stands in the middle of the main room, her hair down, dress wrinkled, but it’s her flushed cheeks and puffy eyes that make me stop. I should keep walking, not move toward her because this could change everything.
“Is it true?” she croaks, all thoughts except the ones about her are gone, my phone, Rachel, all gone as I concentrate on her.
“What?” She is actually asking me if I raped Rachel. If she doesn’t know me deep inside, know and trust that it is an impossibility, then the reality is that we have nothing.
“Is it?” she whispers as she holds her hand to her lips as I stop in front of her. Her scent makes my nostrils flare as my hands cup her face, my lips kiss hers, and she clings to me.
“Don’t…baby.” My lips move to her black lashes that are spiky with tears.
“I love you, it kills me to see you cry.” I kiss one eye, then the other, as her breath stutters and she pushes back so our eyes lock.
“Did you rape Rachel?” Her voice is hoarse as she asks me again, almost as if she can barely get it out.
But she did.
“What do you think?” I demand as my hands drop and I take a step back from her. “Do you actually think I’d drug and rape that cunt?” My anger, and all the pain making it hard to take a good breath because she’s shaking her head no, but her eyes…
Her eyes can’t lie, and she’s unsure. If she had taken a knife and stabbed me, I think it would it be easier to deal with the pain than seeing her doubt.
“You don’t trust me.” It’s not a question, she doesn’t, and the betrayal almost brings me to my knees.
“I do. But you have to understand that you—”
“Stop!” I command, because there are things that should never be said, because once you utter those words, you can’t take them back.
She reaches for me, but I can’t look at her, can’t really see straight as I let myself acknowledge the fact that she just destroyed me.
Gutted me.
“It’s true, you don’t. Fuck, Courtney, you never let your guard down enough to even tell me how you felt about me. You don’t love me.”
“That’s not fair. I might never had said it, but you had to know that…that…” Tears are streaming down her face, but she still holds herself back.
“You don’t. Because if you did, you’d never have had a doubt.” My voice is dead, much like I feel. She took my heart and ripped it out of my chest so she can piss on it.
“Don’t you dare make me the bad guy,” she screams. “Put yourself in my spot. Rachel has been there for me for years, I trusted her…if Rafe came to you and said what she had said to me, what would you have done?”
“Simple, Courtney. I’d fire his ass, tell him to get the fuck out. Because I know you’re not capable of doing anything that evil…you know why?” My voice makes her jump, but she needs to hear me, needs to own this shit.