Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
“Uh, sure. Yeah.” Victor gestured to the kitchen. I moved ahead.
As I rounded the corner, I spotted Gina standing in front of the island counter. She wasn’t alone. Emily was in her arms, her legs wrapped around Gina’s waist and her head on her mother’s chest.
“She heard some of the noise,” Gina said, giving me a cold smile.
I forced a smile and grabbed the door handle, lugging it open. I searched the outdoor table for my gun, the last place I saw Gina put it, but it wasn’t there.
“Rose?” Victor called.
I looked over my shoulder at him, heart thudding, pulse swimming loudly in my ears.
“You’re probably looking for this.” He raised my weapon in the air, smiling again. Only this time, the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
When the smile vanished, he pointed the gun at my face.
CHAPTER FIFTY
“Eddie!” Gina screamed as she stepped back. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Get inside,” Victor demanded, still glaring at me as I threw my hands in the air.
Call me crazy, but he looked like a completely different person now. That cheeriness he carried was now concealed by a darkness I couldn’t comprehend. His hazel eyes were murky, his lips pinched tight, his nostrils flared.
He seemed like such a simple man before. Not overly toned. Not very tall. Your average build. But as he stood there in this moment, I could see that he had strength. With his spine stacked and his chest out, he looked sturdier.
Deadlier.
“Eddie!” Gina yelled again as she clung to her daughter.
“Take Emily back to her room, Gina. Now.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on!” she cried.
“There’s nothing to understand!” he barked over his shoulder. “Just fucking take her!”
I stepped away.
He noticed.
He grabbed my forearm and yanked me into the kitchen. I yelped as he wrangled me close.
“Eddie, please,” I pleaded.
“You shouldn’t be so fucking nosy, Rose. But you can’t help it, can you?” he growled in my ear. “Fucking reporters. Can never stay out of people’s business. Go that way.” He released my arm to shove me away, then pointed at a door on the opposite side of the kitchen.
I shuffled forward, biting back tears.
“Open the door,” he ordered.
I twisted the doorknob, only to be greeted with darkness. He reached around me and tugged on a string connected to a bulb, revealing a long stretch of descending stairs to a basement.
“Go on.” He nudged the center of my back with the gun.
“Eddie, I don’t understand,” I breathed, taking the stairs down slowly. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I’m not stupid,” he muttered. “I know you know.”
“Know what?”
“About me and Eve.”
I shuddered a breath. “I don’t know anything.”
Scoffing, he nudged me again. When I made it to the basement floor, he moved around me but kept the gun pointed my way. The basement was mostly empty, minus a kayak and a few folded chairs.
Grabbing one of the chairs, he unfolded it, then pointed at it with the gun. “Sit down.”
My legs were like Jell-O, but I did as he instructed.
Someone clambered down the stairs and it didn’t take long for Gina to appear. “Eddie! What in the hell are you doing?” she hissed at him. “You’re scaring me! You’re scaring Emily!”
“Gina, grab that rope over there,” he called out, ignoring her.
She frowned, looking to where he was pointing with his free hand as he stood behind me. Her mouth trembled as she took all the stairs down and looked from him to me.
“Eddie, I’m not letting you do this.” She squared her shoulders, attempting a defiant stance, but I could see the fear in her eyes. “You’re being stupid. Always getting yourself mixed up in these terrible situations! This woman didn’t do anything to you!”
“Gina. Get the damn rope,” Victor growled through gritted teeth.
Her breaths came out unsteady as she waited him out. Then she caved in and turned for the rope stacked on top of a box in the corner. She handed it to him, but not without giving me an apologetic look first. I looked away, trying to stop my body from shaking.
“Is this about that girl?” Gina asked, stepping back as Victor placed the gun down. I glanced at it as he began to unravel the rope. He’d placed the gun too far away, but if I lunged quickly enough, I could make it.
“The one who called my phone?” Gina proceeded.
“Just go back upstairs,” he muttered, shaking the rope out.
I glanced at the gun again. Then at Gina. She was eyeing the gun too. Her eyes connected to mine, and she shook her head, silently pleading with me. I could imagine her thinking don’t do it, don’t do it.
Fuck that. I was doing it.
I shot out of the chair and yelled as I pushed past Victor. He dropped the rope just as I was about to grab the gun and shoved me to the right. Gina shrieked as I fell down on my side. Victor stormed my way and started to reach for my throat but I caught his wrist. I wrapped a leg around his ankle and brought him down to the ground with me. A move I’d mastered in my jiujitsu defense classes.