Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 99040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Her mouth snapped closed. Cold sweat rolled down her spine.
“You’re here because I wanted to give you a chance to come to your senses. To admit you made a huge mistake. I’ll forgive you if you do it, Jo. If you leave him, we can go back to working together as if nothing happened. I can save you from them.”
It was official. Andrew was out of his fucking mind. Go back to working together after he’d lured her here under false pretenses and pulled a gun on her.
“Andrew…”
“Don’t tell me you won’t fucking do it!” He pointed the gun at her with an alarmingly steady hand.
“I wasn’t going to say that.” She’d tell him he was a flying unicorn if it got her out alive.
“There’s only one acceptable answer here, Jo. You have until I count to five to tell me what I want to hear before I do something I really don’t want to do.”
“So don’t,” she shouted with a thread of panic in her voice.
“One.”
“Andrew! This is crazy. You can’t shoot me. I’m a police officer.”
“Two.”
“You’re a police officer.”
“Three.”
Jesus. She glanced around with frantic movements of her head, but even though her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she found nothing to help her.
“Okay, okay. You’re right. I made a huge mistake.” She’d beg, plead, apologize until she turned blue, whatever she had to do to stay alive. Then she’d give Andrew his wish and make sure the Handlers became his true enemy.
“Four.”
“I’ll leave him. I’ll walk away tonight.” She breathed so hard she felt lightheaded. “Please, Andrew, don’t do this. I’ll leave.”
His face went from furious to sad. “I don’t believe you,” he whispered, sounding as though it broke his heart. He lifted the gun.
She held her hands out. “Andrew, no! Please.” Tears fell and a harsh sob broke from her.
“I’m sorry, Jo.” His finger moved to the trigger.
A loud crash and the sound of shattering glass had her whipping to her right in time to see an enormous tree branch crashing through the window next to her.
There was no time to run. She screamed and raised her arms to protect her face, but it was no use. Hundreds of sharp shards pierced her arms, face, neck, and legs. A hot slice of pain in her side had her crying out a fraction of a second before the branch slammed into her.
She crashed to the ground, pinned beneath the tree limb.
With another cry of pain, she covered her face to shield herself from the shower of falling glass. The wind howled a nightmare-inducing shriek through the broken window, and rain blew in the house.
When the debris stopped battering her, she inhaled a choked breath and tried to assess her situation. Blood covered her face and arms, but she couldn’t tell how serious any of the cuts were. Something, probably a giant shard of glass, had embedded itself in her side. It hurt like a bitch, but she didn’t think it was deep enough to cause serious damage. Still, she’d learned in an EMT course not to remove any foreign bodies. If an artery had been hit, the glass could be the only thing keeping her from hemorrhaging.
She groaned, then tried to roll over, but a searing pain shot up her leg. “Shit!” she shouted as she looked down. The tree branch had landed on her shin, and she didn’t need to be a radiologist to know it was broken.
“Andrew, help,” she shouted to her partner, who still stood in the center of the room stunned, but far less injured than she was. Rivets of blood ran down his face, but all his cuts appeared to be superficial.
He blinked and shook his head as though coming out of a trance.
“Help me! I’m stuck. We need to move the branch. I’m pretty sure my leg is broken, and I think there’s a wedge of glass on my side. It’s bleeding a lot.” Too much.
He still held the gun, but it hung limp at his side. With a frown, he wiped at one of the bloodier cuts on his forehead. Then he stared at his hand as though he’d never seen a drop of blood before.
“Andrew, help me!”
Surely, he wouldn’t let her lie there and bleed out on the floor.
He walked over to her. “Tragic deaths happen during a strong hurricane,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry it had to end this way, Jo.”
“Wait! No. Andrew, you can’t leave me here. This is your cabin. They’ll know you were involved.”
He shook his head as he stared down at her. “No. I do have a cabin here, but it’s not this one. I’m sad you think I’m stupid enough to bring you to my own place. You always thought you were smarter than me. Guess this proves you aren’t.”
He bent down and picked up the keys she’d dropped when she fell.