Forbidden With Me - Leigh Lennon Page 0,77
never kept the progress of the case from me, but neither one of us thought Smith would ever hurt Annie, let alone my entire family.
“I didn’t believe the lying bitch, not one bit. I’d seen how you looked at her, and she was so upset when she got in the car.”
His voice rises, “Because you made her give up her best friend, you fucking psycho.” Smith is loud, but I don’t have to see when the sound of fists hitting bones is apparent.
“So, why did you kill her?” I call out. “And why my whole family?”
He positions himself in front of me to begin. “Because I wanted to hurt the entire family, wipe you all out. Curtis had a thing for Gracie, and we just knew Victor would end up with you.”
Curtis continues, his head popping up from the computer. “If one of you bitches hurt one of us, we knew all of you would, and if we couldn’t have you, no one could. We couldn’t leave witnesses, I slit Gracie’s throat, and your dad ran with you. He’d not seen me. I knew you hadn’t. I finished with your family, and Tim worked on your dad. Vic was too young to murder, just being eleven, but we let him kill the Mastilles to see how it felt.”
“Killing is fucking freeing, and there are five people in this room,” Victor starts. “Who will breathe their last breaths in here, and I can’t wait to kill them. But Malia will be ours.”
Tim answers for me before I can ask. “You’ll belong to Victor. We’ll go somewhere overseas, and we’ll find our own partners…”
“You have a family, a wife, kids,” Stewart begins, and this is news to me.
“Tim,” Curtis calls, ignoring Stewart, “Detective Shanahan is here.”
“Ah, let the fun begin, motherfuckers.”
Chapter 29
Wells
I pull up in front of the door as I’ve been instructed, and when I do, a gun is pointed at me. “Get out, motherfucker.”
So original, a perp using language like this. “I need assurances that everyone is okay, and you’ll let them go!” I yell with my demand.
“And I’m the one with the gun, you son of a bitch, so tell me, do you think today is your lucky day?”
Another man, who bears a strong resemblance to the person in front of me, approaches with another gun in his hand. “Come in here and join everyone. It’s a big fat party.”
“Are you Victor?” The barrel of the gun points directly at my temple.
“Yeah, what’s it to you?”
“Your brothers, they’ve talked you into something bad. I can help you.”
His barrel pushes farther into my head. “I’m too far gone anyway, so you can kiss your girl goodbye. My brothers have saved her for me. Their girls were whores. Mine is not. We’ll be together, and we’ll give her the family she lost.”
Is this guy for real? Was he dropped on his head as a baby? “Tim,” I begin, looking ahead of me. “You have a family. A wife. Why leave them, why make them mourn you, and your decisions?”
“My obsession has been with Annie Strickland, and she made me kill her. I’ll find joy watching Vic have Malia. It will be our family, and one day, I’ll find someone who’ll take Annie’s place.”
These men are delusional, at best. And I hope my SOS has been found. “Come on in, we have a party of six, and they can’t wait to see you.”
I want to keep them outside for when the cavalry arrives. “Wait, how did you get the drop on Vanessa? I need to know.”
The young one with the gun laughs in my ear. “All I had to do with that bitch was bump her car. She got out, and I’d already had my gun drawn. Stupid whore.”
“And Higgins, my partner, how did you get the drop on him?”
“Fuck, man, stop the twenty questions. You hear me?” Tim, the eldest of the three, yells. “Victor, push his ass in here or drop his body right there.”
“Ah, you heard the boss. Let’s go.”
“Tim?” another male voice calls from the other end of the door. “Get the hell in here.”
Tim moves into the large warehouse, and this is where I take the opportunity to duck down, elbowing Victor in the groin as he drops his piece. It’s in my hand, and I clothesline him around the neck.
“Tim!” Victor’s scream is more like a shriek.
“Shut the fuck up!” I yell, pulling him behind my car, the only shield I have against his brothers.
“You’re a