Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 141556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 708(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 708(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
“You’re not a father.” The words come out raw. Anguished. “You’re a tyrant. You’re the thing we’ve all been afraid of our entire lives. And I’m done. I’m so done.”
Everything happens at once.
Roman swings his gun toward Kade.
Calder moves, shoving me backward, down, trying to get me out of the line of fire. He succeeds, but I can still see everything with horrifying clarity.
And Kade shoots.
The first shot catches Roman in the shoulder, spinning him. The second hits center mass, and I see the shock on Roman’s face, the disbelief that one of his own sons would actually pull the trigger.
The third shot puts him on the ground.
I’m on my knees, ears ringing from the gunfire, watching Roman Bishop bleed out on the expensive hardwood floor of his dining room. His gun falls from his hand, clatters across the wood. His breath comes in wet, rattling gasps.
Calder’s still standing over me, still between me and danger, even though the danger is dying three feet away. His shoulders are heaving, and when Calder finally looks down at me, his eyes are wild. Unfocused.
“Are you hurt?” His hands are on me, checking for wounds, for blood. “Saint. Are you hurt?”
“No.” I catch his hands and hold them still. “I’m okay. I’m okay.”
Around us, chaos erupts.
Sawyer is on his phone, probably calling for medical help even though we all know it’s too late. Levi stands frozen, staring at Roman’s body like he can’t quite process what just happened. And Kade.
Kade drops the gun.
It hits the floor with a heavy thunk, and he sinks down next to it, knees giving out. His shaking hands cup his face. The realization of what he’s done finally hits him.
He just killed his father.
Somewhere in the distance, sirens blare. The FBI, probably. Or local law enforcement. Someone responding to the gunshots, or to Sawyer, or maybe whatever signal Calder managed before everything went to hell.
Calder pulls me to my feet, and I press against him, his heart hammering against my cheek. His arms come around me, crushing me close, and his trembling matches my own.
“It’s over,” he says into my hair. “It’s over. You’re safe.”
But I’m not thinking about safety. I’m thinking about the wire.
The small device pressed against Calder’s chest, still recording, still transmitting. Evidence. Proof. Everything the FBI needs to convict not just Roman, but potentially others. And Calder just admitted on tape to participating in illegal operations, to following Roman’s orders for years, to doing terrible things.
My husband might have immunity. Agent Reese might have promised him protection in exchange for his cooperation.
Or she might not. People lie. Agents make deals they can’t keep. And I’m not about to let Calder go to prison after everything we’ve been through.
I lean into him, wrapping my arms around his waist. He thinks I’m seeking comfort, seeking safety in the aftermath of trauma. He doesn’t realize I’m carefully sliding my hand up under his jacket, fingers finding the edge of his shirt.
“I’ve got you,” he murmurs. “I’ve got you.”
The wire is taped to his chest, right over his heart. I can feel the hard edge of it, the slight bulk that would be invisible to anyone not looking for it. My fingers close around it, and I hold still for just a moment. Thinking. Weighing.
Then I rip it free.
Calder jerks, but I’m already moving, stepping away from him with the device clutched in my fist. He stares at me, confused, mouth opening to ask what I’m doing.
I don’t give him the chance.
There’s a glass of water on the table. Sawyer’s, probably, still full and untouched. I cross to it in three steps, drop the wire into the liquid, and watch it sink.
The tiny device fizzes once, twice. Then goes dark.
“What did you just do?” Calder’s voice is low. Dangerous in a different way than Roman’s ever was.
I meet his eyes. “Protecting you.”
“Saint.”
“They have enough.” I gesture toward Roman’s body, toward the blood pooling on the floor. “They have him. They have Kade’s confession about what just happened. They don’t need whatever else was on that recording.”
“I had immunity.”
“Did you?” I keep my voice steady even though my hands shake. “Or did they promise you immunity and plan to use whatever you said tonight against you later? I’ve seen enough crime shows to know how the FBI works. How they make deals that fall apart in court.”
“Reese gave me her word.”
“And Roman gave you his word too. Multiple times. How’d that work out?”
The words hang in the air between us. Harsh but true.
Behind us, footsteps pound through the house, heavy on the hardwood. Voices shout FBI identifications. The cavalry arrives too late to do anything except clean up the mess.
Calder stares at me like he’s seeing me for the first time. Really seeing me. Not the frightened girl he kidnapped, not the wife he tried to protect, but someone else entirely. Someone who just destroyed evidence to save him, who crossed a line she can’t uncross.