Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 72196 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72196 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 241(@300wpm)
And that’s when I saw it.
Her.
Allegra.
Standing there, a gun in her hand.
I heard my brother’s words in my ear.
Deep Breath. Look around. Assess the situation. Make sure the surroundings are clear. Draw. Aim. Fire. Swift. Smooth. No hesitation. Hesitation kills.
Hesitation kills.
I used to joke about that with my brother ever since he told me that phrase.
“Hesitation kills!” I used to say when he rethought turning in front of another car. “Hesitation kills!” I used to tease when he thought twice about picking up that third donut.
There was nothing funny about the situation I was facing, though.
Nothing.
The teachers that were standing on either side of my car were now hunched down by the front fender. My girls were shoved under the car—most likely by what I said.
And there Allegra stood, a shotgun pointed at me.
Just as suddenly as I identified the threat, I had a gun pointed right back at her.
My finger was already squeezing the trigger of my 9mm.
It took all of three-tenths of a second to make sure that everything was clear in front of me. There was nobody standing behind or beside her. Everyone was down and screaming.
“Put it down!”
She fired.
I pulled the trigger.
It hit her in the shoulder.
Her second shot exploded. I heard it first, then saw more than heard the glass of my windshield explode fully.
Then, almost as if she were inhuman, she started running away.
The shotgun lay on the ground where she’d once been standing.
My eyes darted around, double-checking for more threats, but there were none.
That was the day that changed my life. That was the day that I started to be proactive in protecting my children.
That was the day that would change not just my life, but many lives to come.
Chapter 26
I can now forget what I’m doing while I’m actually doing it.
-Text from Travis to Hannah
Travis
“Got it,” Evander grunted, attaching the last chain. “You want me to go ahead and deliver it straight to the bank?”
I nodded my head. “Yea. It’s getting on up there in time…”
My phone rang, and I winced when I saw the screen.
I held up my hand at Evander. “Go, I gotta take this.”
I didn’t want to take this, but I had to.
Evander gave me a lazy wave and then got into the truck and drove off all before I could say another word.
Wiping the sweat off my forehead—we pushed the fucking car all the way out of the garage from the top floor—I answered it with a terse, “Hello?”
“Travis?”
I’d heard Allegra crying all of four times in my life, so to hear her actively bawling, and sounding like she was in pain, it made me stop for a few moments.
“Yeah?” I asked warily.
“Something bad happened to me,” she sniffled. “And I need to tell you something.”
Need to tell me something?
“What?” I asked, wondering if what she had to tell me was related to how fucked up and stupid she was for having driven my child in a car with her while she was drunk off her ass.
“I’m sick,” she coughed. “And I want to give you some papers.”
“What kind of papers?”
I heard her moan.
“Papers that give up my rights as a parent,” she hesitated. “I know that what I did was wrong. I shouldn’t have pursued custody in court, and I think it’s time that I leave. Leave this town, and never come back.”
That made me angry.
“And what about Alex?” I growled.
“Alex is safer without me around. I’m not in a good place. I’ve done some…things,” she hedged.
Some things.
I didn’t want to know what ‘things’ she’d done.
Not at all.
But I sensed that if she didn’t meet with me, she’d be gone for good, and I would forever be waiting for the other shoe to drop when it came to her.
So, I agreed to meet.
“Fine,” I said. “Where do you want to meet?”
“Your house?”
I snorted. “Definitely not.”
She made a frustrated noise. “How about mine?”
That wouldn’t be happening either.
“I’ll be at the office in ten. We can meet in the parking lot there.”
It was only a few blocks away, and it was as neutral as it could get in a town this small with people that made it a living to butt into everyone else’s business.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll be there in about a minute and a half.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll get there when I get there.”
She said something else, but I’d already hit the ‘END’ call button and shoved it into my pocket.
Then I thought better of it, remembering my fight with Hannah last night, and pulled it back out to call her.
She didn’t answer, though.
So I left a voicemail and got into my truck.
It took me eight to get back to the shop, but only because it seemed like every single officer in the county was now on their way to a scene.
Making a mental note to turn my radio onto scan once Allegra was through with whatever bullshit she had to give me so I could figure out what in the hell was going on, I pulled into the parking lot of my business and parked in one of the bays.