Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
“What?” Autumn asked. “Who are you talking about?”
The Fox turned to her. “Jake. The guy that visited your neighbor sometimes. Turns out, she used to run a not-for-profit after-school centre. Jake and some of his friends would go there to get away from their home life. That’s why she called him one of her boys. And why my research into her didn’t show up a connection between them. He’s actually a good guy.”
Right. Okay. Jake was a guy called the Broker. But why was Brad worried she’d seen him meet with him?
“What does the Broker do?” she asked.
“Helps arrange for people to be killed,” the Fox explained. “He’s a middleman.”
Good. Lord.
“I never saw him at your house,” she said to Brad.
“You arrived at my place with my dry-cleaning about five minutes after he left,” he explained. “When I saw him visiting next door to where you live now, I figured maybe it would trigger a memory . . . that you might get chatting . . . and he might reveal something. But he said he wouldn’t do that and I told Laura to stay away from you!”
“Oops. Seems I didn’t get the memo,” Laura said with fake-innocence. “Figured I’d do my job as Brad’s loving fiancée and try to ease his worries. By getting rid of you. So I hired a man to take you out. Only by the time I found someone to do it, you’d disappeared.”
So Autumn was lucky that the Fox had taken her when he had or that asshole Laura hired might have grabbed her.
“You cow!” Brody leaped at Laura and the Fox had to grab him, pulling him back. She cuddled up to him as he shook, straining against the Fox’s hold. “We should have done worse than get you put in jail.”
“What?” Laura asked. “You had something to do with those false charges?”
“We did,” she said proudly, even though it was all the Fox.
“Stupid bitch,” Laura spat at her. “We should have been on our way to the White House. Instead, we’re here, stuck in this house together.”
“Yeah, that’s been fun,” Brad said sarcastically “I swear, I never wanted you harmed, Autumn. I didn’t know what Laura did.”
“But you hired someone to kill John.” Laura’s ex had always been a quiet man. She’d liked him and she felt sick knowing what they’d done.
“Yes.”
She swayed. It was all too much and she couldn’t focus.
The Fox replaced their gags, even as Laura screamed for help. Brody pulled Autumn against his chest so she didn’t have to look at them. Then the Fox tugged them out of the room, hugging her tight against his chest.
“I’m going to take you two home then come back,” he told them.
“That will take ages,” Brody said. “They could get free. You could get caught.”
“The boy is right,” a raspy voice came from nowhere, making her jump. She stared around but couldn’t see anyone.
“You’ll watch them for me while I take care of things?” the Fox asked.
She didn’t want that. She wanted him with her.
“Why don’t I take care of the two of them? You take your two home.”
The Fox stiffened. She expected him to argue. He’d want to do this himself.
But then he picked her up, holding her tight. “Make it look like an accident or a murder-suicide.”
“Of course. I’m no amateur.”
“I owe you.”
There was nothing else. She wanted to ask who he was talking to, but she kept quiet as they left the house and got into the Fox’s car. Brody sat in the back with her huddled up against him. The Fox didn’t even object to her not sitting in her car seat.
“I can’t believe Jake is some criminal,” she whispered. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“The Broker was never a threat. He is actually rather protective of you because you look out for Mrs Ellison. I thought it was taken care of. And it was safer for you not to know.”
She guessed she understood that.
The Fox drove them home a strange way, stopping by a river. “I need your necklace, baby girl.”
She wrapped her hand around the necklace, but then nodded and handed it over. He was gone longer than she thought. When he returned, he started up the car without a word.
She didn’t need the locket to remember her parents. Still, tears dripped down her cheeks as the Fox drove them home.
Thirty minutes later, the Fox carried her into their bedroom. She didn’t seem capable of walking. Of doing anything. In silence, the Fox stripped her and put her in her favorite onesie. Brody appeared with a bottle for her. The Fox held her tight, feeding her the bottle as he sat on the bed with his back against the headboard. Brody hugged her from behind.
Eventually, she tapped his hand, done with the bottle.
“I can’t believe she wanted me dead. That she’d do that to me.”