Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
I studied him. The guy was on trial for first-degree murder. I was gonna give him a break. “What happened?” I repeated.
He sighed, scrubbing his hands down his face. “You guys were on your way out with the merchandise. I was clearing the last room of the warehouse when I heard a girl crying. I thought we had missed one. I turned back and went to investigate, and lights out, man. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in some abandoned house with a lump on my head the size of a beach ball. I made it home and the police were knocking at the door an hour later. That’s all I know.”
I took a deep breath. “Just like we thought. An ambush. Fuck. You know we went back in for you, right? We realized you were gone and went back in for you. You had disappeared like a ghost.”
“I know you’d never leave a man behind. I didn’t question that for a second.”
I gave a quick nod. “He knew we were coming.”
“Yeah. And he fucking shot a girl in the head, Carson.”
“He’s a sick fuck. We already knew that.”
He frowned and then laced his fingers together behind his head and leaned back. “Yeah. No surprise.”
I studied him for a second. “All right. I gotta get out of here. We are going to get through this. Dylan is working on it; we’re all trying to figure this out. We’re gonna get a break, okay? We’ve got your back.”
Josh closed his eyes for beat. “Never doubted it for a second.” He looked up at me. “Thanks, Carson.”
I nodded and stood up. “Stay put. Anything you need will be delivered. The police know where you are, but no one else does and you cannot come near Trilogy. No going out to pick up some woman. No going next door to meet your pretty neighbor. Stay put.”
“Sounds like fun,” he said. “Merry fucking Christmas.” But when I frowned at him, he said, “Yeah, yeah, stay put. I got it.”
“Hey, beats MREs in a cave, right?”
He chuckled softly. “Barely. But yeah.”
I said goodbye and left the condo. Twenty minutes later, I was pulling into the garage at Trilogy.
__________
I walked into Leland’s office later that night. “Are you taking off?” he asked.
I sat down in the chair across from him. “I don’t know if I should. If there’s anything—”
“There’s not. If you stay here over the holiday, you’ll just end up pacing in your office. It’s better if we don’t show our faces very much. Dylan is staying here to work on the digital side of things, but there’s nothing any of us can do to help him with that. Plus, if anything comes up, you’re only six hours away. It’s probably best that you get out of town.”
“All right. Are the girls all taken care of?”
“Yeah. I wish we had gotten them all out before the holiday. I don’t like to have to keep the guards posted over Christmas. But that’s the way it goes. We just didn’t get the paperwork in time. Dylan did everything he could.”
“I know. Sucks, but another week and it’ll all be worked out.”
“Right. Have a Merry Christmas, man.” He stood up and walked around his desk to shake my hand and clap me on the back.
“You too, Leland.”
“I will. Drive safely.”
Back in my office, I grabbed my duffel bag and then made my way to my truck. Fifteen minutes later, I was driving out of town.
I wondered where Grace was spending Christmas. She hadn’t contacted me since the night I left her house. I wasn’t going to harass her. She knew what I wanted. The ball was in her court. Still, it left a knot in my gut. I had a shitload of stuff going on and I still couldn’t stop thinking about her. Getting out of town was going to help—or so I hoped.
I pressed down harder on the accelerator, putting Vegas behind me as quickly as I could.
CHAPTER 27
Grace
“I swear I forgot something,” I said to Alex for the fifth time.
“Sweetie, you’ve gone through the list. You didn’t forget anything. And if you did, you can replace it when we get there. Relax.” He patted my knee.
“You’re probably right,” I murmured as the plane doors opened and the line of people started to move forward. “Yeah…” I trailed off as we both stood up.
Alex grabbed our small suitcases from the overhead bin, and I moved out in front of him, taking the handle of mine and pulling it up so that I could wheel it behind me.
I had woken up feeling distracted and just off. Maybe I was coming down with a bug. I was going home for the first time in a while and I should be feeling relaxed and excited. Instead, I couldn’t shake a nagging feeling that I had left something behind, something necessary. Something vital.