One Tiny Lie – Jennifer Youngblood Page 0,63

worry.

“I hope Todd’s okay,” Beverly bit her lower lip. “If anything happens to him …” Her voice dribbled off to silence.

Tears filled Ava’s eyes. “This is all my fault.”

Cash touched her shoulder. “It’ll be alright.”

“I left my purse in the trunk of the car,” Beverly said in distress.

Ava blew out an impatient huff. “Why’re you worried about your purse at a time like this?”

“I need my phone … my things,” Beverly countered.

Luna held out a hand. “It’s okay. I’ll go get the car. I can drive it to the hospital and meet y’all there.” She recognized that Beverly’s plea for her purse was her way of trying to hold onto what shred of normalcy she could. It was how Beverly dealt with crisis situations. That’s why she was so keen on her parties and gatherings. Those were aspects of her life she could control.

“Thank you,” Beverly said with an appreciative smile.

“See you at the hospital,” Ava said.

“Sounds good.” Luna looked at the corner where Hudson and his parents had been. With a sinking heart, she realized that they were gone. Hudson had not even said goodbye. Her heart squeezed. She swallowed, pushing aside the despondency. Right now, she had to focus on getting the car and going to the hospital. She hoped Todd was okay. Please let him be okay, she prayed.

Luna pulled into the parking deck at the hospital, driving around the concrete maze until she found an empty spot. She’d just gotten out and was standing by the trunk, about to get Beverly’s purse out when she heard movement. She spun around and gasped as Spencer Wellington grabbed her arm.

“Did you really think you could get away without paying me the fifty grand?” His face was an ugly red, his eyes raging with fury.

“It’s over,” she hissed. A smoldering anger kindled inside her as she met his eyes full on. “What happened to your mother was a terrible thing, but it wasn’t my fault. Your dad is a predator. I was sixteen years old when he pursued me. He’s a criminal!” she spat, disgust rolling over her. “You had no right to try and blackmail me.” She ground her teeth. “If you ever come near me again, I’ll go straight to the police.” She grasped the keys with both hands.

A cynical laugh rasped in his throat. “It’s not over until I say it’s over. There’s more than one way for me to extract payment.”

A cold, sinking despair turned Ava’s heart to glass when she saw the lust in his eyes. It occurred to her that they were alone in the parking deck.

She pressed the alarm button on the keypad. The car horn started blaring loudly.

“Let go of me,” she screamed as she tried to pull her arm away from his grasp. She was determined to put up the fight of her life. A sharp pain streaked through her when he slapped her face. He wrenched the remote out of her hand and clicked off the alarm.

“Nice try,” he laughed.

Adrenaline surged through her as she kneed him in the groin. He grunted in surprise as he doubled over, dropping the keys. She made a break for it, sprinting, but she didn’t get far in her heels before he caught her ankle. She went sprawling, catching herself with the palms of her hand. Her purse had been on her shoulder. It went flying.

Spencer let out a string of vile words as he got on top of her, pinning her hands down. Nausea overtook her when she saw the look of cold pleasure in his eyes over what he was about to do.

Then, just like that, Spencer was pulled off her. She felt the liberating weightlessness. She saw the towering form of another man, heard Spencer’s grunt of surprise and the loud pop of his jaw as he fell to the concrete, moaning. The man had punched Spencer. She looked up. Recognition pinged. It was the man who’d been with Cash earlier.

“Ramsey?” she said hoarsely.

He reached to help her up. She was shaking all over. She looked at her palms, scratched and bleeding. She looked down at her knee. It was also scraped.

Spencer swore as he got back to his feet. Ramsey pushed Luna gently out of the way and then edged a couple of side steps away from her. He was in a crouched position. It dawned on her that he was trying to get her out of the line of fire. Spencer charged full force, but Ramsey easily sidestepped