Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 97724 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97724 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
“Fuck, Irish. That took ten years off my life.”
“How did you find me?” She sniffs, and she keeps her eyes on mine as if she can’t bring herself to look away.
“Miller,” I reply. “He did whatever he does and knew you’d be here. Thank fuck you weren’t on that plane yet.”
“I kept trying to talk to him,” she says, swiping at her tears. “Tried to reason with him, to have a conversation, to just bloody stall him.”
“It worked. My clever girl.”
She’s shaking more now, and I can see the shock setting in.
“He’s … dead?”
“Yes, baby.” I pepper more kisses on her face. “He’s gone. It’s over.”
She nods, and her teeth start to chatter.
“Hey, look at me. Give me your eyes, Irish.”
Those beautiful orbs fill with water again as she raises them to mine. “I n-never wanted anyone to die.”
“I know.” I don’t tell her that I regret that it wasn’t my own hand that killed him. That I didn’t get to make him hurt for every moment of agony that he put my girl through. “But he wouldn’t have stopped, baby. And he has too many people in his pocket that would have let him go free. Not to mention, he had a gun pressed to your fucking head. So yeah, he had to die today.”
She blows out a breath and curls into me.
“I’m going to have questions.” I didn’t even hear Chase walk up behind me. “But they can wait for later.”
“We leave for London tomorrow,” I reply.
He nods. “That’s what Connor said, too. I can ask my questions when you get back from that trip. It won’t change what happened here today.”
“No, I’ll answer you now.” Skyla squares her shoulders. “I don’t want any part of this hanging over my head while I’m in London. I need it over.”
“Are you sure?” I hold her face in my hands, and she smiles up at me.
“Yeah. Let’s finish this.”
With a nod, I step back, and Chase addresses Skyla.
“Can you state the victim’s full name? We will, of course, confirm identity,” Chase adds.
“Of course.” Skyla swallows hard. “His full name is Lewis Spangler. I don’t know his middle name.”
“There will be an investigation into which bullet was the kill shot and whose gun it discharged from,” Chase says. “Just letting you know.”
“Makes sense.” I nod but look at him. “You okay?”
“Needed to be done. He had a gun pressed to her head and then turned it on all of us.” He holds my gaze for a moment before turning to Skyla. “Let’s make this quick so you can go home, okay?”
“Aye, please.”
I stand nearby as Skyla tells Chase about waiting at the studio for me, going into the back room and hearing the door, thinking I was there to get her.
Jesus, if I’d just been there, none of this would have happened.
She cries when she tells us about Lewis hitting Riley, and it splits my heart in two.
“And then he put me in his car, and made me leave my boy, and brought me here. I tried to distract him, to slow him down, but I didn’t know if you knew where I was. You know the rest.”
“I’m sorry to ask this, but can you tell me why he abducted you? He’s a long way from home, and I’d like to get an idea of motive,” Chase says. Skyla swallows hard. Fuck, I hate this for her.
“A few years ago, we dated very, very briefly. I called it off and thought he’d been okay with that. Turns out he wasn’t, and then the stalking started.” She looks down, and I can see how hard this is for her. I’m about to tell Chase she’s done when her eyes flick, and I see pure strength in her face. “He was incredibly clever to taunt me but never do anything, or rather be seen to be doing anything illegal.”
“We’ll search his apartment in New York City. If there’s evidence of stalking, we’ll ensure it’s destroyed in due course, Skyla. No one will get access to evidence.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
“Do you have any records of the deceased reaching you by phone or email?”
“No, I’ve deleted everything. I never thought it would get to this … level of depravity.” That’s one word for it.
Chase nods, then looks over at me. “That’s all I need. Have a safe trip.”
He pats my shoulder and walks away as Conner and Miller approach us.
“We’ll wait a day to go to London,” Connor says, but Skyla’s already shaking her head as Connor wraps her in a blanket from the back of the SUV.
I need to get these clothes off her and get her in the shower to rinse his blood away.
“No. We won’t wait, and that’s final. He doesn’t get to feck up my life anymore, not for one more minute. I’m mostly packed and ready for tomorrow. Oh God, I have to tell Mik.”