Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“It was you,” I say, continuing to walk toward them, my pace steady if slow.
“Me what?” Ethan asks.
“You killed Sly.” I gesture to the ring. “You took it the night you did it. It’s on camera, Ethan. The police are on their way,” I lie. I don’t know if the police are on their way or not.
“He deserved to die, and you know it. Get in the pool, bro.” He waves the gun to gesture, but I keep walking toward them. I’m too far from her. If he pushes her in, she’s done. She can’t swim, and even if she could, her hands and her feet are bound.
“Why’d you do it?” I ask.
“Why not? He was a piece of shit, and it came down to him or me. Besides, he was going to lose the company anyway. To you. Life insurance would cover the loan though so hey, he fucked up but, in the end, he paid for fucking with me all my life and for fucking up in general when it came to signing that loan from you.”
“I forgave the loan. You know that.” Did he? Sly could have put the contract away and that’s why it wasn’t on his desk.
He shrugs a shoulder. “Yeah, I did. But it doesn’t change who he was. Hell, once things got back to normal and he had the company again, what do you think he’d do to me? He was counting on the old man dying. Greedy bastard. Never had enough, our dad, did he? How can you not be happy he’s gone?”
I’m closer now—still too far to disarm him and get to her if he shoves her into the pool, but closer.
“Oh, I’m not unhappy but honestly, I stopped caring about Sullivan Fox a while ago.”
“That so? Change of heart?”
I look at O who is looking up at me, eyes wide. I nod. “Yeah. Let her go, Ethan. She has nothing to do with this. This is between you and me. It’s always been between you and me.”
“Yeah, but here’s the thing. I kill you and,” he shrugs a shoulder, “it’s done. Over. Boring. But hey, I’m going to give you one more opportunity to rescue her. In about one second, Phee here is going to go for a swim. And I’m going to start shooting when she does. If you’re already in the pool, you have a chance to save her. I’ll even give you a head start getting her out before I shoot. If not, well, I guess you’ll have her blood on your hands. Now get in the motherfucking pool.” He sets his dirty shoe on Ophelia’s back readying to push her in.
I hold up my hands. “Tell me something first. Tell me one thing and I’m in. Tell me why you hate me. Because I never understood that. Couldn’t have been jealousy. He treated me like shit. And you and me, Ethan, could have been good. We could have been brothers,” I say, not sure I believe it, but remembering the boy sobbing as his father beat him that day so many years ago.
Ethan’s eyebrows disappear into his hairline before he snorts then laughs. He outright laughs. “Brothers?” he asks. “You and me?”
I look at Ophelia. She’s trying to get the tie she’s bound with undone without alerting Ethan.
“Are you fucking kidding me? You know what he’d always tell me? When he beat the shit out of me any time you pulled some shit? Because yeah, he punished me for your sins, asshole. The night he broke your nose, you think I got off easy? I didn’t, motherfucker. I didn’t. And all the while, with every fucking hit, he’d ask me why I couldn’t be more like you. Because at the end of the day, you are like him, aren’t you, bro? You walk the same. You talk the same. You even look the same. Everyone knows it. Everyone fucking knows. All they have to do is look at you. Now get in the fucking pool or I shove her in. You’ll go in anyway to save her, I know you will, but then you’ll both die rather than just one of you dying. So choose. Choose who dies. One of you or both of you. I don’t give a fuck either way.”
Police sirens in the distance have us both turning. I don’t know if they’re coming here or not but neither does he.
“Police are on their way, Ethan. You don’t want this. You don’t want more blood on your hands,” I say, taking one more step toward him. But I miscalculate and he raises his leg to shove Ophelia. I jump, fully clothed, into the icy water. I go under, the sound of water pounding my ears deafening before I surface again. “Stop! I’m in. I’m fucking in!”