Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 144435 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144435 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
I know because I do. Raven isn’t the only one losing sleep. She isn’t the only one chasing monsters. Except I made my bed. I get to lie in it.
Fuck you very much, Marnie.
In my life, I’ve only ever considered one woman a stone-cold bitch. My mother. Every other woman on this planet, I’ve found worthy of the utmost respect. They pull off miracles every day while we’re standing around with our dicks in our hands, trying to figure out how the fuck they do it. They’re brilliant, terrifying creations that should be protected at all costs. My mother, on the other hand, is a heartless, selfish, ruthless bitch.
I’m beginning to think Marnie Calloway is right up there with her. I actually felt sorry for her at first. She found out she was pregnant and found out her husband was playing mobster on the same day.
“Our baby. Oh my god, our baby!”
“You’re pregnant?”
“I just got home from the doctor when I heard him in his office,” she says through sobs, her arms wrapped around her body. “I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. I was just waiting until he was finished so I could share the news. But then I heard him…” She sobs bitterly. “He’s been laundering dirty money through the company for years.”
“Jesus Christ.” I pace away from the couch. “You’re sure?”
“He admitted it. He admitted e-everything.” She sobs again. “I don’t know what to do! If anyone finds out, they’ll destroy him, Rhys. Jack will take everything.”
She’s not wrong. Jack Hale, his business partner, will dismantle Brant’s empire brick by brick and the courts won’t lift a finger to stop him. Hell, they’ll help him do it. Brant will lose everything down to his freedom. Raven and the baby will be left with nothing. So will Marnie. Her fortune is tied up in Brant’s company too.
Jesus Christ.
What the fuck are you into, Brant?
“What am I going to do, Rhys?” she whispers.
“Don’t say anything to anyone about what you heard,” I say, making a split-second decision. “Just go home and wait for me to figure this shit out.”
I should never have sent her back there. I should have gone myself, confronted Brant, and demanded answers. If I had, maybe he’d still be alive. Instead, Marnie went home. Twenty-four hours later, Brant was dead. And she officially had me by the balls.
“What the fuck did you do, Marnie?” I yell, staring in shock at Brant’s body on the security camera. Brant’s body. Fucking Christ. He’s dead. That’s his blood spread across the floor. His blood splattered across the wall.
I spin away from the camera, my stomach heaving.
Fifteen years in law enforcement, and I’ve never puked on my shoes. Never shoved anything up my nose to mask the smell or shied away from the sights either. Figured if the victims could live those horrors, I owed them the respect of looking without throwing up on my goddamn shoes. I want to throw up now.
“I was just trying to get away from him!” Marnie cries. “He was yelling and acting crazy. I thought he was going to hurt me or the baby. I didn’t mean to hurt him.” Tears pour down her face, her mascara running in rivulets down her cheeks. “I didn’t know we were so close to the table or the fireplace. Now, what are we going to do, Rhys?”
“We? This is on you, Marnie.”
“No, it’s on us! I came to you for help. You’re a cop, and you sent me back there! How do you think the world is going to feel when they hear that?” She dashes tears from her face, her expression twisting into something cold…ugly. She’s not the same vain, self-absorbed woman I’ve known for the last four years. She’s someone else. Someone desperate, on the edge. Someone dangerous. “How do you think Raven will feel when she finds out that you’re partially responsible for this?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I’ll tell everyone,” she says, her shrill voice inching toward hysterical. “I’ll tell the world that you sent me back there. I’ll tell the world who he really was. I’ll tell them everything. Will he still be a hero to his precious little Raven then, Rhys? Will you?”
When she came to me, did she already plan to kill him, or was it an accident like she said? I don’t know. I wish to hell I did. His blood might not be on my hands, but everything that happened after, well, that certainly is. Marnie’s still walking free because of me. If she goes down, we all do.
Tick, tick, boom, motherfucker.
I don’t give a shit if I go. They can lock me up and throw away the key. At this point, it’s less than I deserve. Marnie figured out long ago what Brant never realized. She saw the way I looked at Raven the day we met. She knew why I’ve avoided her for so long. She thought using that knowledge against me would muzzle me.