he says, sighing. “You’ve been standing in my way of getting what I want for too long now. And after Jean spoke to you, both her and Anne went missing. What did you say?”
“Nothing,” I say, wondering how the hell I’m going to get out of this. “She came to tell me that she didn’t kill my dad, that it was all you.”
He laughs without humor. “Of course she did. After I kill you, I’m going to get your uncle and then I’ll be right where I deserve to be, sitting on top of a drug empire. One by one my enemies will die. No hard feelings, right?”
His finger moves on the trigger, and I’m not going to stand here and wait to be shot, so I do the only thing I can right now: I run.
I run through the garage, and he shoots two bullets at me, but lucky for me, he misses. He doesn’t know this warehouse like I do, and that’s the only thing I have going for me right now. I hide in the garage behind a car Crow is working on for fun, and try to control my breathing. I’ve never been one for guns or weapons, but right now I’m wishing I were a little better equipped to handle a situation like this.
I didn’t prepare myself, and now I’m going to die.
I find a tool set and pull out a big wrench. Now if only I can dodge the bullets, maybe I can hit him with this and then run away.
A big bang has me lifting my head, and then I hear Crow’s voice yelling my name. “Bronte? Where are you?”
I stand up and slowly walk out, wrench still in hand, body on alert. “I’m here.”
“Oh thank God,” he says, running to me and pulling me into his arms. “Can you feel my heart? Fuck, I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life.”
I look over to see Temper standing there with Jasper lying on the floor, his foot on his back, Jasper’s gun in his hand.
“What do you want to do?” Temper asks me, eyes on Jasper.
“What do you mean?” I reply, frowning. “Call the cops.”
“You sure you don’t want to handle this ourselves?” he asks, lifting his head.
I look to Crow, my mind working. I know they are against this, but I think right now this is the best option for us all. “Call the cops.”
He nods, and pulls out his phone.
I don’t want them to get into any trouble because of me. My revenge can be him behind bars.
“The cops are on the way, everything will be fine,” Crow says, wrapping his arms around me.
“How did you know?” I ask, brow furrowing.
“We have a live camera feed,” Crow says, taking the wrench from my hand. “We have a control room and someone always checks to make sure everything is running smoothly. One of the new prospects was on duty, saw you and called me right away. Temper and I were on our way somewhere else and got here as soon as we could.”
“He was going to kill me,” I say, my body starting to shake. “Just look me in the eye and kill me.”
“I know,” he replies, jaw tight. “But you’re safe, all right? And he’s going to be arrested.”
Crow needed to save me again. Next time something happens, I want to save my damn self.
The police come and take Jasper away. Temper hands over the security footage of the night, and that’s all the proof they will need to lock him away.
“He admitted to killing Billie because he thought she was me,” I say to Crow, tears pooling in my eyes. “It really was my fault.”
And I don’t know how I’m going to live with that.
“Did you get shot?” Crow suddenly asks, touching my skirt.
“No, why?” I ask, frowning. I glance down and see blood.
And then everything goes black.
* * *
I wake up in the hospital, Crow sitting on a chair next to my bed, him holding my hand. My mind is fuzzy for a little while, and then everything that happened comes back to me.
Jasper.
Billie.
Crow coming to save me from being next on Jasper’s list.
What I don’t remember, though, is how I got here, or why I’m even here.
“What happened to me?” I ask Crow, my voice groggy.
I try to sit up, but Crow stands and gestures for me to rest again. “You fainted,” he replies, his voice raspy. He avoids my gaze, and by that action