He took a deep breath and looked around again.He couldn’t see anyone spying on him.But someone was.Maybe not right this second, but one of Cox’s minions was watching.Lurking.Waiting for what reason Marcus didn’t know.Maybe it was all part of a game to get to Kate.Hurt him, kill him, destroy their relationship, something to weaken her.Maybe it was jealousy.Cox wanted Kate to himself.In his perverted mind, she belonged to him.Marcus was in the way.
The phone beeped, and Marcus realized he hadn’t finished his message.He cursed and dialed the number again.This time, the call went to voicemail after one ring.Cheryl had blocked him.
He sighed.“Damn it, Cheryl, there are bad people after you.Well, not afteryou.They’re after Kate, and they’re trying to get to her by screwing with… Look, I need to make sure you’re protected.Call me back.Wherever you’re staying, I can make some calls and make sure you’re kept safe.You don’t need to ever see me again, and you don’t even need to talk to me for that long.Just call me back so I can make sure someone’s keeping an eye on you, okay?Bye.Love… shit.Goodbye.”
He hung up and had to consciously resist the urge to fling his phone into the Miami River.He’d gotten used to ending every call and text with Cheryl withlove you.In hindsight, considering how rocky their relationship had always been, it was ridiculous that he would carry that habit after they’d finally called it quits.
That was the dangerous thing about love.It became a habit, one as hard to break as any drug.And now, thanks to Elijah Cox, Marcus didn’t have the luxury of going cold turkey with this one.It lingered, hung around his neck like a chain.Like… what was that word?The Biblical one?
A millstone.That’s what it was like.A millstone hung around his neck, dragging him in a circle, grinding him to powder.
Meanwhile, Cox’s disciple was murdering people at breakneck speed.If Marcus couldn’t break the cycle he was chained to, then he couldn’t find that killer and stop them before they took even more lives.
And Cox, buried in his hole, could sleep contentedly knowing that his promise to Kate had been fulfilled.Stopping him wouldn’t stop the killing.
