Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 94220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
That’s all that fucking matters.
32
ZANE
After Isaac passes out, Leif helps me out of my restraints with my knife, which he’d discovered in Isaac’s jacket pocket with the zip ties. He helps me remove my gag, and then we restrain Isaac.
“The gun?” Leif says, securing a second set of ties around Isaac’s ankles. “Why didn’t it go off?”
I’m on a third zip tie around Isaac’s wrists. “It wasn’t gonna fire. Isaac turned the thumb safety off, like any idiot would think to do. But that was a modification from the guy I bought it from. Isaac didn’t notice the trigger was locked down.”
“What do you mean?”
“I keep the trigger locked down and the safety on so the gun has to be reset before you can fire a round. Guess Dad was right. Only two kinds of men in the world: those who know guns and those who don’t.”
That was an attempt at making light of this wild-ass situation, but Leif doesn’t look amused. Hell, after what just happened, I don’t blame him.
If Isaac had known, we’d both likely—I shouldn’t even think it.
After we call the cops, I tell Leif about the conversation I had with Isaac: How all this was a trap for me. How he bought our ruse, and he’d shown up because he needed to grab me before I checked myself into the psych unit. How he’d planned to kill Leif and frame me for the murder before abducting me. How he killed my brother.
That last part is pure hell.
Adrenaline courses through my veins, my body clearly unconvinced the threat is gone. Or maybe just realizing there’s a different threat now—that the grief of knowing the truth will be too much for me. That I’ll fall into a dark despair knowing that Mike is gone.
The only thing keeping me from losing myself is knowing that I haven’t lost everything, not as long as I still have Leif.
*
When the EMT finishes checking us out, I adjust the blanket around Leif, making sure it’s tight against him.
Between the cops and the paramedics, there’s a lot of business going on around us. We’ve both been interviewed by uniformed officers, some of them asking the same questions, and I’m not sure I’ve answered them the same way each time. The further we get from the incident, the harder it is to hold on to the details.
Placing my arm around Leif, I kiss his cheek.
“How are you feeling?” he asks.
“Overwhelmed and numb. You?”
“About the same.”
He turns to me, inspecting my expression before he reaches over and rests his hand on my cheek.
“What?” I ask.
“Your face. It’s still all red on the sides.”
“It’s fine. It was only tape. At least I’m still alive. And you’re still alive. Those are the only things that matter.”
But judging by his apprehensive expression, I suspect he knows better.
Since now I know Mike isn’t here.
“I’m so sorry, Zane,” he says, not for the first time.
If anyone else said that to me after what I just found out, I’d tell them to go fuck themselves, but I know Leif. Can see how much he cares. How much he wishes he could make this better.
But nothing can.
A tear escapes my eye.
Fuck.
“I’m fine,” I say.
“You don’t have to be.”
“Let’s not talk about it now. There’ll be plenty of time for that later.”
He nods.
I glance around uneasily at all the traffic and sit in the back of the ambulance, then rest my head against his shoulder.
The front door of the house opens, and Detective Roth steps out.
We already spoke to her briefly. She and Detective Berkley arrived during all the commotion. I could see the guilt in her expression straight away, but she kept things professional. Didn’t get into our past.
She approaches the ambulance, and I’m kind of wishing we didn’t have to have this conversation. Not now.
“Hi again, Zane. Do you want me to say you told me so, or would you rather be the one to say it?”
“You kind of already took it from me.”
She smirks, but for less than a second. “I’m sorry about Mike.”
My chin quivers as I fight back the tears. “Did you get anything from him about that?”
She bites her lip and glances around. She can’t share details about the case with me, but she knows she fucking owes me.
“Zane, he’s saying you framed him for this. So we’ll have to wait and see how long that holds up. Berkley did get a warrant to search his home. That’s where he is now, and they discovered a room in his basement. A room where we believe he may have kept…people. But other than that, we’re still trying to sort through this mess.”
That’s where he kept Mike. That’s where he planned to keep me.
I nod. “I hope you’ll keep me posted. If you need to talk to Dman, I found him. He still remembers that note, like the one Leif got.”