Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 143(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 143(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
My entire body stiffens at the thought, but what other option is there? She’s a fucking witness, and I can’t leave fucking witnesses behind. She’s gotten a good, long look at me, too. No way she wouldn’t be able to identify me.
Focus. One thing at a time. I can practically hear my father’s voice in my ear. You can’t look at the entire problem at once, or else it’ll overwhelm you, and you’ll end up making stupid mistakes. Look at one thing at a time.
Okay. First thing, getting her away from the scene while being in control.
I take a step toward her, then another, careful to conceal the gun in my right hand. While sliding it into my waistband, I hold my left hand up, palm facing out. “I’m not gonna shoot you. Okay?” Even though I should. “Stay put. Don’t move a muscle.”
She lets out a little whimper. Pitiful, the sound, and something inside me hurts when I hear it. What’s that about?
“I’m not gonna hurt you. I swear.” With the gun tucked away, I approach with both hands up. “Just take it easy. Okay?”
Her eyes shift away from my face, over my shoulder. I take a step to the left to block the view of the dead man. “Don’t worry about him. He got what he had coming to him. So long as you play by the rules and do as I say, the same thing won’t happen to you. Got it?”
Her head bobs up and down. “Cat got your tongue?” I ask. Now that I’m standing closer, the stench of the alley is replaced with something sweeter. Her shampoo, I guess, though, there’s something else coming from her skin in waves, sweat. It’s not even that bad. In fact, it makes me wonder what she’d smell like once I got her good and heated up.
She shakes her head. “No.” Her voice is soft. Sweet. Just the way I would’ve imagined it. Nobody as angelic and fragile-looking as the girl in front of me would have a harsh, raspy voice. It wouldn’t fit.
“So, you understand what I’m saying? Tell me, you understand.”
“I understand. Only please, please, don’t—”
“Spare me.” I’ve heard it enough to make me sick. Please, don’t hurt me. Please, I’ll do anything. I have a wife and kids. My mom needs me. I didn’t mean to do anything wrong, I swear. Please, don’t make me pay for my stupid choices.
Her eyes go a fraction wider. “It’s just that I didn’t see anything. You know? Nothing at all, I’ll just go home and forget this ever happened.”
Right. Like that would be possible. I stop short of rolling my eyes at her, but just barely, before yanking the backpack from her shoulder before she has the chance to stop me. Not like she could if she tried, considering the size of her. “What’s your name, huh?” I make it a point to sound as menacing as I can because this girl needs to be afraid. Very afraid. It’s the only thing that’ll shut her up.
“M—Madison.” She wraps her arms around herself and trembles. So it looks like her body is finally waking up to what she witnessed. She’s starting to understand the trouble she’s in.
“Madison, huh?” Sure enough, the wallet I pull out of the front pocket of the bag confirms this. Madison Miller, age eighteen. She lives a few blocks from here.
“What are you doing?” It’s barely a whisper through chattering teeth.
“I’m learning what I can about you, Madison Miller.” I thrust the bag at her, wallet included. “And now I know where you live. You know what that means, right?” When she nods, I push harder. “Tell me what it means.”
Her brow furrows. “You’ll come to my place if you find out I told on you.”
I could laugh, I really could. She sounds like a little kid tattling in the schoolyard. Is she really that innocent? Or is shock turning her into this scared, whispering little girl?
Whatever it is, I have to take it and use it. “That’s right. I’ll come to your place—or, if you’re really unlucky, I’ll send somebody less merciful than me. You realize I could’ve blown you away by now, right? They won’t make it that easy, I promise.”
“I get it.” And oh, look here, there’s an edge to her voice. Not as sharp as it could be, but I hear it. And damned if I don’t respect her a little more now. She’s not as fragile as she looks.
Though she’s still a tiny thing, and this is a shithole of a neighborhood. I wouldn’t normally come here except to straighten somebody out. I look to the right, then the left. “You out here all alone?”
“Yes,” she gasps. “There’s nobody here with me.”
“What are you, stupid or something? For fuck’s sake. Who walks around out here on their own at this time of night? You’re practically begging to walk in on something like this.” I wave a hand in the direction of the dead man, his body half-hidden behind a row of trash cans, while I pull out my phone.