Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 98755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
His words hit me like a truck. I’ve been following her for months now. I know Hope better than anyone. I should’ve known he’d be desperate enough to dig further and further to the point of no return.
“I wanted to tell you first before we took it to the station to arrest her. She’s been using you, Braxton.”
My jaw grinds as I look down at the evidence he’s presenting me. “How many people have you told about this?” I ask as I look over to my crime board near the dining table. I’ve had the case cracked for months, and memorized since the bodies began to appear.
“I came here first. We’ve finally got her,” he says, his eyes clearing. “I can finally put this to rest for my sister.”
Remorse sours my stomach as I nod at my partner. “You really did figure it out, didn’t you? Except you’re missing one piece.”
“What do you mean?” he asks, glancing at his evidence and then me.
I strip away my humanity, as I’ve had to do many times before. I pull my badge over my head, looking down at it sentimentally.
I knew it would come to this. I fought it for as long as I could. Because up until now, Lucas had served a purpose. He was a pawn on the board, but then he tried to become more.
“Braxton?” he asks, looking at my badge, confused.
With rapid speed, I twist behind him and wrap the cord of my badge around his throat. He drops the evidence, his fingers clutching at the cord and trying to work their way under it.
“I understand. I’ll reunite you with your sister,” I whisper into his ear as I tighten my grip.
It saddens me to have to do this. I liked working alongside Lucas, but the deeper he dug, the harder it became for me to play the pieces.
“Brax—” He chokes, trying to fight me. His senses had dulled over the last few weeks as he tiredly worked on this case, and I put all my efforts into covering the tracks of my messy little devil.
“This is how one of your friends died, by the way. Send my condolences. It was nothing personal,” I confess to him. I hadn’t wanted to kill them, but they’d become an immediate obstacle. If the families knew we were sniffing around them, it would have drawn attention to me and how closely I was watching Hope. I couldn’t have anything interfering with my obsession. I’m sure it pisses Hope off to have two other murders added to her “serial killer” reputation, but it was also the easiest way to throw off the scent of the killer being a singular woman. I was even the one who interfered with her boot print outside his sister’s murder scene. “Oh, and Tyson works for me.” I’d be sure to reprimand him for being careless.
Lucas’s body begins to go limp, and I turn my face to the ceiling, sending up a little prayer for him. It’s not that I like doing this, but it’s a necessary measure. I can see the media headlines already. Detective Hangs Himself After Sister is Murdered.
I have every intention of staging his death in his home. It’s unfortunate, really. I’ll have to reset everything with a new partner. But it’s how I’ve survived so long.
“Farewell, friend,” I say as the final gasps of air echo through the room. I didn’t want it to end this way.
But I have something more precious to protect.
More precious than myself.
His body goes slack, and I let out a shaky breath as a trickle of emotions begin to come back.
The bathroom door opens as I’m lowering my partner’s body to the ground, and Hope stares at me wide-eyed, a pair of scissors and a phone clutched to her chest. Her mouth opens and closes in complete shock.
When I stand to my full height, I growl, “You’re in big trouble, Shortcake.”
This all became a disaster because of her jealous little fit over Kylie touching me that night. Had that not happened, he might’ve never dug deep enough to connect the evidence I’d been hiding.
As I take a step toward her, a gunshot goes off, exploding the door handle to pieces. My head immediately whips to the door as I pull out my own gun. Someone kicks the door in, and I feel the bullet hit me before my own shot goes off. And at the last minute, as I recognize the face, I shift the course of my aim, barely enough to just clip him in the shoulder.
And then I’m falling with the acute realization that something really fucking hurts.
I guess every man comes to the day when he’s reminded that he, too, will bleed.
CHAPTER 43
Hope
Everything stops. My heart. My life. My understanding of life and death. Suddenly, it’s not as beautiful as I once thought, as Braxton hits the floor.