flared hot, bursting through my terror. “What the fuck do you think is going to happen? He just lets you walk away? At least save yourself!”
“Hold her still,” Mal ordered. He emerged carrying restraints. “We have to hurry. I’ve been here too long.”
Quickly, he bound my wrists and ankles. At our last encounter, I realized what was going on when we turned a wrong corner and found Mal standing at the end of it. I threw open the car door and rolled out, making a run for a crowded street where he was forced to give up on me. Mal would not let that happen again.
“Please, don’t do this. I d-don’t want to go.” Rivulets soaked my face. “Why can’t you just let me go?”
“Shh,” Mal crooned like I truly was a child afraid of the dentist. “It’ll be okay. I’m taking you home.”
He opened the door and let the guard toss me bound in the back seat. Mal towered through the window, staring down at me with what could only be described as triumph.
“My money,” the guard demanded. “Now.”
“Did you do what else we discussed?”
“He’ll be there Friday at noon. If you’re a minute late, he’s gone.”
“Then our business is done.” Mal bent over me and reached under the driver’s seat. “Let me get my tablet.”
My eyes widened. “No.” My voice trembled to reach above a whisper. “Please.”
Mal lurched back, leveling the gun between his eyes.
“Whoa, wait—”
“No,” I shrieked. “Daddy, no!”
Bang! Bang!
The bullets ripped through my screams. The man dropped out of sight—dead. Malcolm stepped over him like so much trash.
He climbed in, started the car, and met my swollen, red-rimmed eyes in the mirror.
“We’re finally together,” he said, “and I promise, this time nothing will keep us apart.”
Chapter Twelve
Nathan
“I don’t understand, sir. Who is Malcolm Byrne?”
“He’s who took her!” I burst out. “Am I fucking speaking to myself? Can anyone actually hear me?”
“Nathan, please.” Rosalie rubbed her temples, wincing like my very voice would break her. Tears still clung to her eyelashes, and her skin was pale and drawn. “Just tell the detectives what they need to know. Preston is waiting for us.”
That forced me to take a breath. Paramedics were speeding my best friend to a hospital, and Belle was...
“Malcolm Byrne has been stalking Belle for years,” I said in a controlled tone. “He’s obsessed with her. Two years ago, he manipulated us into breaking up, and five years before that, he attacked Belle and Carter in the woods—wounding him.
“By the time I came to and raced down the hill, all I saw was a black car speeding off in a cloud of dust, but you can be sure Byrne is responsible for our dead friend in the dirt.”
Ortiz was a stocky, balding man with leathery skin and heavy-lidded eyes. His partner, Hanson, was tall with a hawk nose and long, fine red hair. What they had in common was the matching notepads they were standing there scribbling in, instead of taking action.
“But you didn’t actually see this Malcolm?” Detective Ortiz asked.
Balling my fists, I seriously considered going down for assaulting an officer. Didn’t I just say I only saw the car? How much time are we going to waste on stupid questions!?
I was bursting out of my skin to go after Belle. After getting to her too late, I ran inside—dialing 911—to get help and car keys. Hendrix spilled his tea on his lap when I busted in on him and Rosalie having breakfast in the solarium.
Rosalie fell over herself rushing to Preston and wouldn’t let me go anywhere until I told her everything, and then repeated the story to the cops. Any chance I had of chasing the car down was gone, and if fucking Ortiz and Hanson were on the case, Belle needed me more than ever.
“No, I didn’t see him,” I gritted out. “Belle described him as dark-haired, tall, and unnaturally handsome. Someone like that blows onto a small island, people have to notice.”
Hanson shook her head. “Tall, dark, and handsome isn’t as rare as you think. You could be described the same,” she said. “Do you have anything else for us to go on? Age? Identifying marks? Tattoos? Proof he’s even on the island?”
“Your proof is on the way to the morgue,” I snapped. “Belle made it sound like he was pretty distinctive. He would’ve had to feel out the security team to find the bastard who would flip. Ask them if a guy like that approached them.”