Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75748 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Yes to all.
But there was no time to wallow.
I might still have faith that Nico was coming—even as the sky lost the blush of sunset and settled into inky darkness—but that didn’t mean I shouldn’t try to save myself. Or, at the very least, delay my potential torture.
When I was on my knees, I reached out toward a load-bearing beam, wrapping my arms around it in a tight hug that made my ribs scream. Then I pulled.
And if I screamed, so what?
Ronny would probably think I was still fighting with creatures that wanted to eat me.
Sweat poured down every inch of me with the effort. But what felt like a lifetime later, my feet were on the ground and my legs were (mostly) holding my weight.
“Okay. Alright,” I whispered to myself, taking a few deep breaths. “It’s not that far,” I added, glancing toward the door all the way at the other end of the parking garage. Which was, roughly, the length of a football field. But, hey, being delusional might just be what got me out of this mess of a situation.
I crept across the floor, wincing as things nipped and scraped at the bottom of my feet.
First order of business when I got out of this: tetanus booster. Then a long bath. A couple of ibuprofen. And a big hug from Nico. Not necessarily in that order.
It felt like an insurmountable distance. But I took it on one shuffling step at a time, watching the parked cars loom larger as I got closer.
I wondered if anyone had been hassled enough trying to manage their bags and kids to forget to lock their car.
Maybe I could get inside one and sit down for a few minutes, try to get my strength back before continuing on. Or just lock the doors and hunker down if I didn’t feel strong enough to continue on.
“Almost,” I murmured to myself, almost able to touch a large SUV if I put my hand out.
But just when I thought I might get a break, the light pierced through the darkness and I could hear Ronny’s rushed footsteps as she came up behind me.
Pain sliced across my scalp as she grabbed a handful of my hair, wrapped it around her fist, and yanked down hard, forcing me to lower if I wanted to ease the pain.
Tears pricked my eyes as my knees landed hard and hope deflated in my chest.
“More grit than I thought you’d have. But not as much as me.”
“Grit,” I spat. “Like killing your own son.”
Those words had her dropping my hair.
I just barely resisted the urge to reach out and rub my aching scalp.
“I would never kill my Matty.” Her voice cracked. And I almost wanted to feel sorry for her. If she wasn’t actively plotting to have the man I had fallen for killed. Along with everyone he knew and loved.
“Then why is he dead?”
“It was his own fault,” she said, sniffling hard. “He was getting cold feet. We finally got a buyer… and Matt backed out, hid the paperwork, got rid of his laptop.”
Matt had a change of heart?
That was something I was going to unpack later.
“I got the threat. But Matty didn’t answer his phone. And then…”
“You might not have pulled the trigger, but you did get him killed.”
“I had nothing to do with it!”
“It was all your idea. Matthew never would have come up with that plan.” Not out of loyalty, but because his mind just didn’t work that way.
“If he’d just gone along with it…” She trailed off, sniffing again.
Did it feel wrong to poke at her with the death of her firstborn? Yes. But this was survival. I had to do what I had to do.
“Yeah, who’d have thought that Matthew would have some integrity.”
“He was a good man. The best,” Ronny snapped.
“He plotted the murder of his best friend, the man who’d always been there for him, who gave him money with no questions asked, who gave him a place to stay, who—”
“Matty deserved to—” Ronny started.
But there was a noise that had us both sucking in our breath.
Pop-pop-pop.
“Ma!” Danny yelled, sounding pained.
“No!” Ronny shrieked. “Not my baby!”
I didn’t stop.
I turned and rushed toward one of the cars, then flattened myself down and shuffled under, body tense, as more cries, yells, and gunshots rang out.
Alone, trapped under a car, I tried to focus on breathing, on slowing it down, on not making myself pass out from hyperventilation.
Then, out of nowhere, light flicked on, illuminating the whole parking garage.
“Blair?” a familiar voice called out.
But this time, a welcome one.
The only one I wanted to hear.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Nico
Objectively, it was way too soon to confess the things I had to Blair.
That said, ours wasn’t a normal “new” relationship. I had years of knowing her from afar, of collecting the little pieces of her and keeping them on a shelf, dusting and caring for them, despite knowing I would never get to have her myself.