Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 77719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Oh my God, Mrs. Abbot’s cane.
Our previous tenants had decided to move out after Mrs. Abbot had fallen in the yard, breaking her leg. They knew they’d be safer in a retirement home, but she’d taken the time to convalesce before the move, knowing it was too much to do by herself.
When I’d moved in, I’d found the cane her physical therapist had given her in the closet, and I’d put it under the bed so I could keep it safe while I moved my stuff in. I’d planned to return it to her afterward, but with everything that’d happened since, I’d forgotten I even had it.
Pulling it toward me, I tightened my grip around the hollow, metal pole. I wasn’t sure how much damage a hit from something like this could do, but it was all I had.
Holding it to my chest, I waited. My phone was charging on the opposite side of the bed, and I didn’t have a house phone in my bedroom, so I couldn’t even send a text out, hoping it’d wake someone up.
I heard it the moment the handle started to go down, the squeaking of it almost deafening in the silence.
“Call them off, bitch, or I’ll shoot your fucking dogs.” The voice was feminine and sounded like she smoked eighty cigarettes a day.
I couldn’t place it, but I wasn’t willing to lose my dogs for whatever she’d come for.
Standing up on shaky legs with the cane behind my back, I whistled for them to come to me. Bash jumped down and stood next to me, but Mento remained where he was, his growl turned into a snarl now.
The moonlight shone off the barrel of the gun as she raised it and pointed it at my baby. “Swear to fuck, I’ll shoot it through the head.”
“Mento, come here.” When he didn’t move, I whistled and called out again for him to come to me.
This time he moved, backing away slowly and never taking his eyes off her.
“Your alarm system ain’t gonna get your knights coming. See, I ain’t as dumb as they think I am. That’s how I managed to poison your dogs.”
Mento had almost reached me now, and it was hard keeping an eye on her while at the same time making sure he was still moving out the way of her gun. “Why did you do it?”
“I hate you.” The words were spat out with such venom it shocked me.
“What did I do to you? I don’t even know you.”
Her laugh sounded like it was painful as it croaked out of her throat. “You know me. I made sure of it.”
I felt Mento’s muscles bunch up beside me like he was going to lunge and grabbed his collar to hold him back. If I could buy some time, maybe one of the guys who checked on the house or Jordan would see the electricity was off and help us.
Taking a deep breath to try and gain some control over the anxiety, I tried a new approach. “Are you sure you have the right house? Maybe you—”
“Really?” she hissed, take a step forward, her face becoming clear in the light coming in through the window now. “Don’t treat me like I’m stupid, Sienna Blake.”
Jesus Christ, it was like looking at one of my nightmares in real life. From what I could make out in the dim lighting available, Hazel had changed a lot since I’d last seen her. But I had no doubts in my mind now that it was her.
Still, I had to try something. “Okay, you know my name, but I don’t know you. Let me put the dogs in the kitchen, then we’ll go into the living room and—”
“Wait for Jordan to get home? Is that what you want to do?” she asked sarcastically, waving the gun around as she spoke, and making me tense up every time it moved toward where we were standing.
“His name’s Jinx. I think you’ve got the wrong person.”
“His name’s Jordan,” she shrieked, pulling a fistful of hair with her free hand, and tugging it painfully. “Jordan, Jordan, Jordan.”
Swallowing painfully, I watched as she started pacing in front of the door. The windows were locked tight, and it’d take me longer to open them fully than I had time for, so the door was the quickest way out. I needed to get her away from it.
“Leave the dogs there and come over here.” She used the gun to point from where I was to the space in front of her.
“They’re good boys and follow me everywhere,” I said quietly.
“If they follow you, I’ll shoot them. Easy as that, bitch.”
Glancing around the room, I noticed my robe on the chair in the corner of the room closest to me and Jordan’s belt hanging out from under it. I could use the belt from my robe and his belt to tie them to the frame of the bed.