Torn - Cynthia Eden Page 0,88

toward the door. Make him follow us, baby. Make him.

“Before or after another woman is taken?” There was a shrill edge in North’s voice. “How can you risk that? I thought you—­you would keep looking. You would understand.”

Wade and Victoria were at the office door.

“I understand plenty,” Victoria said. She looked over her shoulder at North. “Just how long have you known what I did?”

Wade glanced back, too. He saw the shrink’s lips part on a quick, sharp breath. He also saw the flash of victory in the man’s eyes. Sick fuck—­the guy thought this was all some kind of game. It wasn’t. Not even close.

But he won’t confess. We need proof. Fucking proof. Detective Black can’t get a search warrant on this guy because we don’t have enough evidence to sway a judge. Right now, we’ve got our gut instinct—­and the knowledge that this prick knows Victoria killed her father.

They sure as shit couldn’t go to the cops with that.

And he realizes it.

Wade jerked the door open. He wanted Victoria away from Troy North. He wanted her out—­

Someone was at the reception desk. Melissa’s desk. A man sat there, his dark head bent forward, his shoulders slumped. He looked up, very slowly, and Wade saw that the guy’s hands weren’t empty.

Matthew Walker sat in Melissa’s chair, and he had a gun in his hands. A gun that he lifted and pointed—­right at Wade and Victoria.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

VICTORIA SAW THE gun, dark and deadly, in Matthew’s hands. His fingers were shaking that gun as he lifted it.

And pointed it at her.

Wade jumped in front of Victoria, shielding her. Her hands grabbed his back because she wanted to shove him out of the way. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t risk his life for her.

But he was an unmovable block before her. His hands were fisted at his sides and his attention seemed totally on the man with the gun.

A man the police had released hours before . . .

“Wh-­What’s happening?” Troy demanded. Victoria heard the fast scuttle of his footsteps. He wouldn’t be able to see Matthew, not with Wade blocking the door.

He can’t do this! He can’t risk himself this way!

But he was.

“I . . . cared about her.” Matthew’s gruff voice drifted toward them.

Behind her, Victoria heard Troy’s shocked gasp.

“She shouldn’t have been killed. Too fast. Too quick. That wasn’t the way.” Matthew sounded a bit lost. “That wasn’t the way it should happen. You don’t . . . you don’t learn anything that way.”

“Put the gun down,” Wade said, his voice calm. Almost easy. “Put it down, and we’ll all talk.”

Troy’s fingers closed over Victoria’s shoulders. They tightened, digging into her skin. “What is he doing?” His words were a hiss in her ears.

“That’s all that asshole in there ever does,” Matthew called out. “Talk and talk and talk. He thinks he’s so fucking smart. Like he’s the only one who can get a degree.”

Wade’s shoulders were tense before Victoria. She could practically feel him gathering his energy for an attack. Then she heard . . .

The squeak of a chair. Wheels, rolling back. She knew Matthew had stood up.

“I’m pretty smart, too,” Matthew said. “So I figured things out. You’re here, that means you figured them out, too, huh? You know what I know . . . that the bastard behind you, he killed Melissa.”

At those words, Troy jerked Victoria back against him. His arms wrapped around her and he held her so tightly she could barely breathe. She gave a short, involuntary cry at his movement, and Wade whipped around toward her. He took one look at her, trapped in Troy’s arms, and his face—­

It iced.

All emotion vanished. His eyes even seemed to go dead.

That’s not Wade.

She wondered just what he was preparing to do.

“What’s happening here?” Troy demanded as he stumbled back, pulling her with him. “What is going on?”

“Let her go,” Wade said flatly.

And then . . . then she saw Matthew closing from behind on Wade.

“No!” Victoria yelled. “Stop!”

Wade swung back around. He struck out with hard, vicious force. He slammed his fist into Matthew’s jaw, and in the next second Wade’s other hand flew out and chopped Matthew’s wrist. The gun fell from Matthew’s fingers as he cried out and stumbled back.

Wade grabbed the gun in an instant. He brought it up and aimed it right at Troy. “Don’t even think of moving again!”

Matthew was on his hands and knees. He’d tried to scramble for the gun. He’d missed it, by inches.

“Not