Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
When I slide into the passenger seat, Bill shakes his head.
“This fucker really pissed you off.”
“He messed with someone important to me.”
Bill nods and puts the vehicle into drive. We speed off, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust to prove that we were ever there.
Bill and I don’t speak on the journey. Carter is livid at his capture, thrashing around as much as he can, making threats that he’s in no position to carry out.
He thinks he’s going to make me cower, but his ease with extreme violence only bolsters my conviction.
“You won’t fucking get away with this, you fucking wasters. What the fuck is this?”
I snort, rubbing my hands over the worn denim encasing my thighs. My hands itch to squeeze Carter’s neck until his eyes bulge and to hear him beg for his life.
“What do you want? Is it money? I’ve got plenty of fucking money. Name your fucking price.” Although his voice is muffled through the sack and the car interior, the hint of fear and desperation rises in his voice with every word.
No amount of money would tempt me to release this man back into the world.
I flick on the radio, blocking his muffled shouts with upbeat country music.
Bill says nothing as he drives with one hand on the wheel, as though we’re taking a trip to the beach. I watch the trees blink by, like a scene in a flick book.
My pulse intensifies with anticipation as Bill pulls up slowly at a bend in the road and turns in. The car jerks and dips over the gravely surface and eventually comes to a stop.
We turn to look at each other.
“I’ll make the call.” He pulls out the burner phone I gave him.
I nod and leap out of the car, resting my rifle on the ground before I slam the passenger door and round the vehicle. Ripping open the trunk, I drag Carter out by his feet this time. His body hits the ground awkwardly, and he grunts with discomfort. “I’ve got a daughter. I’m a father. She’s only a baby.” He tries to keep his voice even, but there’s a waver in it. Just the mention of Hallie has my blood boiling.
Bill turns the Defender and crawls away back down the trail. I watch him go as the beams get dimmer and dimmer until the vehicle speeds away.
At my feet, Carter starts to thrash and growl. I lift my right knee up at a right angle before jamming my foot into his gut with every ounce of strength I have.
He groans and curls in on himself as I issue a second kick to his shoulder, and then I drag his limp body further into the trees, pulling him into a kneeling position. All my anger, my bitterness, my resentment at the loss of my childhood at the hands of a man just like this one surges to the surface. Skye’s broken and pleading eyes drift into my consciousness. The way her body shook as she sobbed at the loss of her baby.
It won’t be difficult to do what needs to be done.
For her and for my own peace, I’d go to the ends of the fucking earth.
I return for my rifle before tearing the sack from Carter’s head.
His eyes are wide, staring up at me as bloody drool drips from his split mouth.
The smell of his piss catches in the air.
Coward.
The night is dark, but the light of the moon casts a low beam, allowing us both a degree of visibility.
I’m glad he gets to see my face.
The shovel I left here earlier glints and the deep hole I dug yawns closely.
I wait.
“You don’t have to do this.” It’s a whisper, a moment of gentle pleading from a man with so much blood on his hands and misery in his wake, he’s heading straight to hell.
I lift his chin with the tip of my rifle.
At nine pm, the rumble of tires on the road and the glow of headlights creep toward me.
Bill is still listening to the country channel I selected, which amuses me. He was always more of a rock man. I open the rear door, checking that he’s fulfilled the last part of the arrangement.
The car seat nestled in the backseat contains a sleeping baby with rosy cheeks covered by a soft pink blanket.
My heart squeezes in an unfamiliar way that tightens my throat.
Amongst all the darkness in the world, there is innocence and beauty.
I haven’t had much of it, but that’s about to change.
I close the door as quietly as possible, wanting to avoid waking our precious cargo, and climb into the passenger seat. Bill passes me the burner phone that I’ll destroy later.
His eyes drop to my rifle as I place it next to me.
He was my partner. A man I should have been able to trust with my life.