Total pages in book: 193
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 184001 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 920(@200wpm)___ 736(@250wpm)___ 613(@300wpm)
Focus.
Remembering what Finnegan confessed on that cliff, I spin and spin and spin my web of lies.
“Before I fled the States, I had more than suspicions. I had proof.” It’s a fucking bluff since I have jack shit but Finnegan’s word to go on, and he’s deader than dead.
I pray the sheriff won’t call me on it, but why should he? He wants to believe that Thorin, Khalil, and Zeke are innocent, so I hold on to that lapse in his judgment and spin some more.
“My uncle hired those men to kill me months ago. He was just waiting for the right time to strike. I knew that if I didn’t get away from him, he’d succeed, so I got as far away from him as I could. Obviously, I didn’t count on my plane crashing and nearly doing his dirty work for him, but I survived and fought my way here. When Thorin, Khalil, and Zeke found me, they wanted to turn me in,” I say, my tone inundated with desperation as if I was a fugitive on the lam and they were the good ole Boy Scouts the sheriff believes them to be.
“You gotta remember, Aurelia,” my uncle schools. “There’s the truth and then there’s your version and theirs. Everyone enters the room with their own notions and what they are willing to believe. The trick isn’t changing their minds. It’s using it against them to get what you want.”
So I turn the tables and I make the sheriff believe that I corrupted them instead of the other way around. Men have been blaming women for their troubles for centuries. It wasn’t Khalil, Thorin, and Zeke’s lust and frustration and loneliness that made them kidnap me and lie to the sheriff.
It was me.
After all, it was Eve who tempted Adam into eating the apple, right?
The sheriff isn’t just searching for a truth he can believe. He’s searching for a villain to blame, so I give him one. It’s a role I know well.
“I told them what my uncle planned and begged them to help me hide until I could figure out how to stop him. I knew my uncle would send men to make sure I was gone, so they agreed to shelter and keep me safe until the coast was clear and they could get me home without alerting my uncle.”
Once I’m done spinning my not-that-intricate web of lies that could unravel with a soft breeze, I exhale and wait for the verdict that will determine my mountain men’s fate.
And mine.
The sheriff wants to believe.
“Miss George…” Sheriff Kelly removes his uniform hat and runs his fingers through his thinning gray hair with a sigh and shake of his head. My heart drops. “Forgive me if I have a hard time believing your story.” He drops his hand and gives me a pointed look. “Especially since this is not what you told me earlier.”
To their credit and mine, my mountain men nor I react, but I know it’s coming later when we’re in the clear and blissfully alone.
“Earlier, I didn’t know if I could trust you.” I make a point to narrow my eyes as if I still find him suspicious. “For all I knew, you were on my uncle’s payroll since you’re the one who led the assassins he hired right to me.”
The sheriff reacts like a man with a guilty conscience, the fight leaving his body in an instant with his weathered cheeks reddening with shame.
I…feel like shit.
But I’d feel twice as bad if he died because I couldn’t convince him to back off, so I shrug away my own guilt and search for the old Aurelia. The me who wouldn’t give a shit about hurting anyone’s feelings. I may not like her, but I can’t deny she’s useful.
“And if you still need proof, there are eight corpses buried under an avalanche that might clear some things up,” I blurt.
Behind me, Khalil softly swears.
Telling the sheriff and his deputies where the bodies are buried is a risky move, but it’s the only play we have left. They just have to trust me like I trusted them when I decided to stay.
“Is this true?” The sheriff’s hopeful eyes bounce from Khalil to Zeke and then Thorin, waiting for one of them to confirm. I stop breathing when the crucial seconds that the sheriff’s gullibility will last stretch and thin until his bushy brows are furrowing once more and I see doubt start to creep back in.
What the fuck?
I can’t stop myself from searching them out this time, uncaring if it unravels my carefully fabricated lie. Why aren’t they answering? The goal post is right there.
Thorin’s shoulders are bowed, his gaze pinned to the floor so I can’t see what he’s thinking, but he must feel my attention because he suddenly looks up and…I stumble back a step, colliding with Khalil’s chest at the sheer amount of regret swimming in his pale blue eyes.