Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 64320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 214(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 214(@300wpm)
“He can’t tell me over the phone,” Evan says as if that’s the end of the discussion.
“Is it good or bad?” I ask him, guilt and stupidity both weighing down my words.
“Good, I think.” He hesitates, but then adds, “He said it’s done and to come see him. I’m just waiting for the time and place.”
“It’s done?” I question, feeling my eyes widen with hope. My lungs stay perfectly still until Evan nods his head once.
“Just waiting for the time and place.” He turns his attention back to the television and then glances at the remote.
There’s an eerie feeling that settles between us, a darkness I can’t seem to grasp.
“You know I love you, right?” he asks as he brushes the hair out of my face.
My eyes flicker from his chest to his eyes as I say, “I do.”
His lips twitch into a smile and he leans forward to kiss me. It’s chaste and quick, but he rests his forehead against mine, his hand still on my jaw.
“I don’t like this,” he whispers.
I can’t respond. The words are caught in my throat and I have nothing to say other than, “I love you too. I’ll wait with you.”
Chapter 30
Evan
I stare down at the paper and then look back to Mason. I’ve known since Kat told me. Samantha’s the reason that coke was laced, and it wasn’t meant for me at all. It was James she wanted dead. I’m a fucking fool.
Anger rolls through me like a low tide. Slowly rising and each wave threatening to take more and more of me away.
“She was fucking him,” Mason says.
“Fucking who?” Kat asks, still clinging to my side. With my arm around her, I pull her in closer. She insisted on coming and at first, I didn’t want her here. I didn’t want her involved in this more than I already had.
Now though, knowing she went to Samantha, that she spoke to her, and was inside her apartment, so close to a woman capable of murder, I need her here with me.
She’s not allowed to leave my side until this is finished.
I rub soothing circles along her hip as I look past Mason and out through the picture window in his sitting room. I need to feel her. I need to know she’s still here, alive and by my side. Away from any danger.
“Samantha was fucking Andrew, the dealer. They planned to kill James and it went sideways. He was supposed to do the coke, not give it to Evan to share with Tony.”
“Do you have evidence?” Kat asks, and I look down at her. She’s standing there as if she just asked for a receipt for an item she wants to return to Nordstrom, not at all affected in the least.
“Enough of it,” Mason answers and I look back at him when I can feel his eyes on me. “Shots of her with Andrew taken from his own surveillance feed. You can’t tell it’s him, since it’s his back and he’s wearing a hoodie. More importantly, my guy was able to grab a sample.”
We can plant the tainted coke. That’s easy enough. Send the picture anonymously to Detective Bradshaw, plant the coke and boom, there’s the evidence they’ve been after. There’s the matter of what she’ll say when they come for her, though. Who she’ll blame and throw under the bus.
The details still need to be decided, but the truth is there. Now we know what happened.
“She wanted James dead because the divorce wasn’t going to leave her with anything?” Kat asks Mason and he’s quick to respond.
“She’s the one who cheated and according to their prenup, if we go by the gossip columns, a divorce would leave her without a penny to her name.”
“Better to kill him than to finalize the divorce,” Kat comments under her breath and steps away from me, walking to the far side of the room to pick up the cup of hot tea she left on the side table.
“What about James?” I ask him. “He really had nothing to do with this?”
Mason shrugs. “Still a prick, and now he’s onto his wife because of the nudge we gave him, but I don’t have shit on him.”
I break eye contact and wipe a hand down my face. I feel like a fool. Guilt and regret swirl together, and the mix of emotions makes me numb. I have to remind myself that all I need right now is Kat, just my wife.
“You were wrong,” Kat says from across the room.
“I wanted to kill him … I would have,” I admit to them, and it hurts to do it. The past few nights I’ve lain awake, thinking about all the ways I considered murdering him. As I stood outside of his house, I knew it’d be easy. I craved to see his body lifeless on the floor.