Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 60676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 303(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
My fingers tremble as I try to unlock the phone, desperate.
“Put it down.”
The cold words have my spine stiffening and my heart skipping a beat.
No.
No. This can’t be happening.
The cold steel of a gun pushes against the back of my neck and I gasp, vomit rising in my throat as fear unlike anything I’ve ever felt grips me.
“Turn it off and throw it on the ground, or I’ll blow your brains all over this road.”
“All this time,” I whisper, a tear rolling down my cheek. “It was you.”
“I don’t have time to chat, Ciara. Drop the phone.”
My body screams at me not to do it, but I don’t want to die. I know he’s capable of killing, and I know he’ll do it without hesitation. So, I drop the phone. It falls to the ground, and I turn slowly to face him. He doesn’t move the gun, so now it sits at the base of my throat, pressing into the soft piece of flesh there.
“Get into the car. If you try anything, I will shoot.”
How is this the man who helped me? Who was kind and generous? I never suspected him, not for a single second.
What a fool I am.
I climb back into the car and stare out the front windscreen as he moves around the front, not once taking the gun off me. I can’t run, I can’t escape, I’m trapped with him and there isn’t a single fucking thing I can do about it. Spike won’t even know, not for another few hours when I don’t return.
Even then, he probably won’t realize it was Gerard the whole time.
Getting in the car, Gerard puts the gun on his lap and starts the car, skidding out onto the road and driving at a far more rapid pace than he had earlier.
“Why?” I whisper, staring at him, fear clenching my chest. “Why now? Why Alyssa?”
He’s silent for a minute, his fingers are white, he’s gripping the steering wheel so tightly.
“Alyssa was a means to an end,” he says, so calmly it’s terrifying. “She wanted more, she wanted to expose me, I couldn’t let that happen. She was fun for a while, but eventually, she got boring and was too much trouble. When you came to the school, I knew I no longer needed her.”
“So you killed her?” I cry out, unable to stop the emotion flowing out.
“I told you, she was in my way.”
“Because I showed up,” I whisper, swallowing the lump in my throat. “It was never about her, it was always about me.”
He smiles. “Now you’re understanding.”
“You don’t even know me. Is this all because of Cheyenne?”
His hand lashes out, slamming against the side of my face so hard it slams into the window. I cry out as a shooting pain radiates down my jaw. I fight back the tears because I know better than anyone, they will only make him enjoy this more. I’m strong, and I have to get through this. I have no choice. I will get out of this alive. I have to.
For my babies.
“Do not say her fucking name out loud,” he roars.
“Why not?” I grind out. “You are obviously doing this because of her, yet I don’t understand why. I didn’t take her from you. She died years ago. Why me? Why now?”
“She’s dead because of you,” he bellows, slamming his hand down on the steering wheel. “She is fucking dead because you introduced her to that scumbag biker. I was going to get her back, everything was going to be okay until you brought him around.”
“She had a choice,” I say, calmly. “She chose that scumbag biker.”
“Stop!” He barks, shooting me a glare so cold it sends shivers up my spine. “I won’t hesitate when it comes time to kill you, Ciara. You will suffer for taking her from me.”
“I didn’t take her from you,” I yell, pressing my back into the door so he can’t slam my face against the window again. “She left you. She chose to leave you. She was going to put a restraining order against you. She hated you. Couldn’t stand you. She chose Spike because he was a better man.”
“Shut up,” he roars, his hand lashing out again, but this time I catch it and twist his fingers.
I’m not really thinking, I just react. I bend them back as hard as I can until one of them cracks. A bellow leaves his throat as the car swerves off the road and rolls, forcing my hand away from his. The car flips over and over as it plummets down a gully. It all goes by in slow motion, as if we’re in a movie. The windows smash, the top crumbles in, and then we’re skidding to a stop at the bottom, the car on its roof.
It takes me a moment to gather my bearings. My neck aches and there is blood trickling from a wound somewhere on my head, but I’m alive. I look over at Gerard and see he’s awake, too, sitting in some kind of shock. I don’t have long. I unclip my seatbelt and then start kicking at the door, trying to push it open. It doesn’t budge.