Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 103552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
“What did Ford do to you?” I pressed. “Why pin Dad’s murder on him?”
“Ford was the one who set them up.”
“Set them up? What do you mean? Like on a date?” I couldn’t make that picture work in my head. Ford had his failings, but I couldn’t see him helping our father commit adultery with the wife of someone he’d considered a friend. “I don’t believe you. Ford was your friend. He still thinks he’s your friend.”
“I’m not fucking done with Ford,” Cole spit out. “But he’ll know exactly where we stand before the end.”
“So, what do you mean he set them up?”
“The charity event they co-hosted. It was Ford’s idea,” Cole said, voice flat. “Ford was the reason they spent so much time together. Went hiking, had lunch—”
“Fell in love,” I finished quietly.
“Fuck love,” Cole snapped. “Your father didn’t know what love was. He knew power and manipulation. He didn’t understand love—what it is to die for someone or kill for them.”
I’m not sure you do either, I thought to myself. But remembering his comment about Anna Novak’s smart mouth, I kept mine shut.
“Ford could be flattered into not paying attention,” Cole went on. “Your father—well, he’d do anything if it profited him. But Griffen was more complicated. I could already see it, even at twenty-two. Then he was out of the way—”
“Out of the way of what?” I interrupted.
“Of whatever Prentice and Edgar, and I wanted to do.”
So, this was all about business? I couldn’t get my head around that. Killing because his wife had betrayed him—not really okay, but I understood. Ruining people’s lives to make more money. Didn’t they already have enough? I was a businesswoman. I understood the need to make a profit, to keep the doors open. I got wanting to have nice things, but I wasn’t going to kill anybody for them.
I wouldn’t kidnap and murder anyone either. Obviously, Cole Haywood was working with a completely different value system—one that included dumping people down wells to solve problems. I twisted my wrists against the binding, but whatever he’d tied me with held as if it were iron shackles.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
We turned off the gravel road onto a narrower path that wasn’t much more than a wide hiking trail. The car bounced and dipped over the rough terrain, and we drove deeper and deeper into the woods. No one was going to find me back here. Even if there was some way they could track me, we were deep enough in the mountains that there might not be any way to pick up a signal. Cell phones worked better close to town. We were nowhere, just as Cole had said.
The silence was creeping me out. I was almost jolted off the seat as Cole drove over a log. His sedan wouldn’t be much good to him after this. He didn’t seem to care, which was almost as unnerving as the silence. After another hard bounce, I braced my legs to stay in place and tried to figure out what to do with the little time I had left.
I had to keep Cole talking. If I was going to die for Cole Haywood’s fucked up revenge fantasy, I needed to know why. And I couldn’t take another second of the quiet. Once he shoved me in that well, I’d have all the quiet I could stand. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to fight the hopelessness. I couldn’t give in to fear. I still had more questions.
“Why did you wait so long to kill Prentice?” I asked as conversationally as I could manage. Caro had died a few years before Prentice was murdered. Why not kill him then? “And why try to kill Griffen?”
Ignoring my question about Prentice, he said, “Griffen was exiled for betraying his father. Why should he get to slide back in and take the reins just because Prentice was gone? He would undo everything we’d worked for and poke his nose into things that were none of his business. It seemed easier to get rid of him.” He let out a sigh. “I underestimated how good his training had been. I did my best. Well, maybe not my best, but I gave it a good effort. He refused to go down easily. So, I moved on.”
“To Royal?” I pressed. “And the Inn? And Vanessa?”
“Vanessa also had a smart mouth. And sharp eyes. She figured it out before any of you even got close. Tried to blackmail me.” He let out a gust of laughter. “What a fucking moron. She could be so smart and so stupid. She thought those tits and long legs would cloud my mind. But I was married to Caro. When you’ve had the most beautiful woman in the world, a cheap imitation like Vanessa is nothing.” He paused, considering.