The Man I Thought I Trusted - E. L. Todd Page 0,81

distance.

Simon didn’t react, assuming it was a police car zooming by to a crime scene. We were in a bad part of town where crime was rampant. But the sirens came closer and closer, until the red and blue lights lit up the window.

And there were at least a dozen cars—right outside the building.

It was the first time Simon Prescott didn’t look like the cool and calculated suit that he was. He quickly turned to his men and nodded.

I knew he’d given the order to kill me.

I threw my body hard, so my chair toppled over.

The guy missed his shot and hit Simon Prescott in the leg.

He immediately collapsed, dirt covering his suit, blood dripping to his shoes. “What the fuck are you doing?”

It was pandemonium. Glass broke as the windows were shattered by bullets, and Simon continued to scream at his incompetent men. One of them ran to his side to lift him up from the floor and get him out of there, but then he was shot and collapsed to the floor.

I was on my side and strapped to the chair, seeing Simon grab his ankle then look at his palm, studying the blood smeared across his skin.

The police burst through the door, their guns aimed, covered in bulletproof vests.

Simon looked at me, furious.

I smiled.

The police swarmed into the warehouse and secured the perimeter. Some chased the cronies who had made it to the other side of the warehouse on foot. Others secured Simon Prescott in handcuffs instantly. And another came to me, lifting me from the chair and cutting the tape.

I guess I had more lives than I thought.

I didn’t have a scratch on me other than my bruised eye, so I didn’t have to be sent to the hospital. I was escorted out of the warehouse and to the sidewalk so I could be taken to the police station to give my statement.

A blanket was draped over my shoulders, and the officer escorted me to the car.

“Carson!” Charlie’s loud voice came from behind me.

I quickly turned around and slammed the door shut so I could get to him.

He sprinted to me then gripped me tightly, squeezing me hard as he breathed in a rush. “Fuck, are you okay?” He pulled away and pulled off my blanket so he could look at me. His hands touched me everywhere, checking for bullet wounds, even though I was fine.

“Charlie, I’m okay.” I placed my hands on his chest. “It was Simon Prescott. But I don’t think we need to worry about him anymore.”

“Jesus…”

“How did you even know I was here?”

His eyes softened. “When I knew you were missing—”

“Sis!” Denise ran into me next and nearly knocked me over. “Oh my god…”

Kat and Matt came after her, rushing into me and holding me, surrounding me in a group hug that was more bulletproof.

I closed my eyes and cherished the love. I was reunited with my friends, reunited with my family. My life had almost been taken from me, but I was given another chance…for some reason. “I’m okay, you guys. How did you know I was here?”

They dispersed sideways so there was an open path in front of me.

And that was when I saw Dax, his eyes wet with tears, his breathing hard like he was about to collapse right on the pavement. The longer he stared at me, the wetter his eyes became, unashamed of the emotion that took him.

Charlie spoke from beside me. “He was the one who found you and told the police. He traced your phone.”

Dax came closer to me, his eyes shifting back and forth like he couldn’t believe I was real, that I was standing in front of him.

I hadn’t thought about how the police knew where I was. It all happened so quickly, and I didn’t think twice about it. But now, it didn’t make sense. No one would have figured out where I’d gone in time to save me. “You saved my life…”

He moved farther into me until his hands slid to my cheeks, bringing our bodies close together, the tears in his eyes growing so large that they dripped down his cheeks. All he did was give a nod because he didn’t have the ability to speak.

My friends started to back away so we could have some space.

Charlie said one final thing before he stepped back. “He broke a lot of laws to find you, used his engineers to hack into the OS system on your phone, then called the police.”