When Twilight Comes - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,53

it.

He quietly closed his car door and slid down in the seat. This wasn’t going anything like he’d planned, and it was starting to make him very angry.

“LEXI?”

The child jerked free as a woman Charlene had never seen came running in the front door.

Charlene tried to grab the little brat, but realized it was futile. Lexi ran to the woman, crying again, saying, “She hurt my mommy.”

Charlene shifted the box to get to her gun as she continued to run for the front door. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lexi launch herself into the woman’s arms. Who the hell was that?

As she reached the front door she saw a man coming in. She fired at him when she saw him going for a weapon. He dived to his right, but she saw him clutch his side, grimacing in pain. She’d shot him!

She was hit with a blast of cold, wet air, then was out the door, across the porch and heading down the steps.

She didn’t look back, couldn’t. She ran as if she was running for her life. She was.

Once she reached the pavement of the parking lot, she looked over her shoulder. She saw the man limp inside, the front door of Fernhaven closing behind him. No one chased after her. She’d gotten away.

Charlene slowed, breathing so hard she couldn’t hear over her gasps. She’d never moved that fast in her life. She laughed. She didn’t even notice the rain.

Because of the storm, an odd darkness had settled over the landscape, creeping her out almost as much as the hotel had. She half ran, half walked toward her car. The box was so heavy, and she was still having trouble catching her breath, especially at this altitude. She was used to sea level. She was also in terrible shape.

She wasn’t even sure who she was running from anymore. She’d seen things back there in that hotel that she never wanted to see again. Felt things that would haunt her until the day she died.

But at least she would have money. More than twenty grand.

She’d parked near the edge of the lot, thinking to hide her car beside the dense vegetation. Now she wished she’d parked right at the front door.

A damp, cold breeze stirred the trees and bushes, with a rustle like a hoarse whisper. Dark shadows moved in and out, in sync with her frightened breaths. As Charlene moved away from the lights of the hotel, she felt as if she were falling into blackness.

She slowed to rest for an instant. The air felt heavy. The dark clouds low. She labored to breathe, straining to hear over the clamor of her pulse.

Through the pouring rain she thought she glimpsed another vehicle parked near Alfredo’s in the trees. She was almost to her own car when she heard it.

The scrape of a shoe sole on the parking lot pavement.

She didn’t turn—just ran, lumbering toward the little red car, the nicest thing she’d ever owned.

She never reached the car.

He hit her from behind.

She fell forward, unable to break her fall because of the box in her hands. She went down hard, landing on the box, which knocked the air out of her.

Charlene rolled over on her back and looked up. At first he was only a large black shadow. No features. No real shape. Just a faceless monster in the dark.

“You stupid bitch.”

Still gasping for breath, she pushed herself up into a sitting position as he began to take shape before her eyes. Lorenzo. She’d know that voice and that attitude anywhere.

“I tried to call you,” she said.

It was the wrong thing to say, and she knew it the instant the words were out of her mouth.

He kicked her in the thigh, the pain excruciating. Charlene let out a howl and bent over her leg.

He was on her then, grabbing a handful of her hair and snapping her head back so she was forced to look into his face. The face of the devil.

“Shut up or I’ll cut your throat,” he growled between gritted teeth as he knelt beside her.

The knife glittered in his hand, and she didn’t doubt for a moment that he meant every word. She endured the pain, biting down on her lip.

He wanted something, needed something from her, or he would have already killed her.

“Where is Jenna?” he asked, tightening his hold on her hair, making her gasp back another cry of pain.

“Room 318. I got your package for you.” Charlene tried