“I’ve been thinking it over.” He spread his arms along the back of the couch. “How easy would it be to lure innocent little Nora into my car, promising her great things that her sister kept her sheltered from? The hint of an adventure. An older man to protect her.” The light flickered in his eye as if they reflected fire. “How could she resist?”
I balled up my fists and willed myself to do what needed to be done. “You can’t,” I said.
“Oh, but I can. And I will, Haley,” he stood from the couch and ambled towards me, a drunken swaggering to his gait, “It’ll be better than the alternative.”
“She’s a child,” I said, doing my best to hold back the fear in my voice. I had to be strong. I had to protect Nora.
“Tell me,” he tilted his head and took another step closer, “what will you do to save her?”
“What do you want?”
He took a seat on the couch once more, the relaxed posture taking shape. “It’s more fun if you tell me what you think I want.” He flicked his fingers, beckoning me towards him. “Come, now.”
I walked to him, clutching my purse at my side. I could do this. It was all for Nora. “I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Be more specific.”
I closed my eyes for a second, then opened them and tried to put on the same act I had performed hundreds of times before. Pretending to be happy. Acting as if I was in love with him. Faking that I was turned on, even when I despised him.
“Anything you want, Aldrich. I’ll suck your cock. I’ll let you fuck me. I’ll be your innocent little sex slave. We can do knife play. I’ll—”
“Will you give me the passwords to Lucas’s accounts?”
A hot flush ran through me. He wasn’t interested in my body anymore. What did I have to offer if he didn’t want that?
I couldn’t do that to Lucas… Could I? Would Lucas understand if it meant protecting Nora?
“Would you be willing to take his life to save your sisters?” Aldrich picked up the knife, turning it over in his hands. “What are you willing to do for your baby sister?” His smile made me sick. “My little Nora.”
I bit my tongue. She wasn’t his. She didn’t belong to anyone.
“I want to keep this civil,” I said. I swallowed a dry ball in my throat. “Let’s focus on us.”
“Us?” he scoffed. “There never was an ‘us.’ You made sure of that.” He grabbed the knife and stood to meet me. “But there was you and Lucas.”
His voice was cold.
“I don’t have money,” I stammered, trying to think of anything that would work. “But you can fuck me with a knife to my throat. I don’t care. But leave Nora out of it.”
“I plan to fuck you how I want,” he said. He moved closer, raising the blade. “I’ll do whatever the hell I want now. No bouncers to watch the door. No Lucas to protect you. You’re all alone now, Hales. You’re mine.”
He held the knife to my throat and I grabbed the gun out of my purse, raising it towards his face. I thought about the life I wanted Nora to have: a life where she didn’t have to worry about paying off a debt decades in the making. A life where she would never have to watch her back. A life where she could fall in love and never question those feelings.A life of her own. If that meant that someone had to die, if that meant that I had to kill Aldrich to keep her safe, even if it meant I would never see Nora outside of my prison cell, I would do it. Because at least Lucas would keep her safe.
I pulled the trigger right as Aldrich knocked my hand to the side. The shot hit the ceiling. A piece of material fell on top of us as the gun clattered to the ground. Aldrich’s eyes bulged from their sockets. I was drenched in sweat.
My one shot.Gone.
“I didn’t think you had it in you,” he said, his voice gruesome.
I needed that gunnow.
“Leave my sister alone.” I stepped back. “That’s all I want. Think about the years we were nice to each other.”
His hard laughter reverberated through the room. I was back against the wall now, standing underneath the painting. He pressed his body into mine and I thrashed out of the way, but he grabbed me and threw me against the floor. My back and my arms hurt like hell, the piercing pain shocking me to my core. He flipped me over and backhanded me, making my lip and mouth bleed. The hunger in his eyes was real. He wanted to watch me bleed.
Where was that gun? It wasn’t even about saving my sister now. It was about life or death.
I got on my knees but his foot hit me in the back, keeping me on the ground. I writhed, trying as hard as I could to get out of the way, but I couldn’t move. He was too heavy. Too damn strong.
