Time was both irrelevant and vital.
She hung on by a thread.
Her eyes were glued to the door like she could see Seb walk through it with his uplifting smile and open arms.
She was empty.
Void of living.
Hanging on with all of her hope that her husband was okay.
And she was surrounded by love from the old ladies, but Sunny had never felt so alone.
Waiting.
All she could do was wait.
And waiting was the worst feeling of all.
As the moments ticked by, it was one step closer to knowing if her soul had been torn out of her body.
And Sunny would never be ready for that.
THIRTY-ONE
Sebastian
As traffic whizzed by his vision at a death-defying speed that was so fucking illegal, Seb rested his reeling head on the cold window and thought about the only thing that always occupied his mind.
His Sunshine.
He didn’t want her frightened when she realized he wasn’t home.
The car took a sharp corner, making him jerk in the seat. His head cracked against the pane of glass when another corner was taken with abandon. But Seb was incapable of doing anything about it, so the radiating pain in his skull mingled with the already dizzying effects of the drugs swimming in his bloodstream.
His irrational thinking led to an immensemistake.
Receiving a text from an unknown number earlier had been the first domino.
UNKNOWN: I hear you’ve been looking for me. Come and talk with your old dad, son. I’ll be at the crosswalk on Trent Alexander Way.
It was a mistake to go alone.
He hadn’t been thinking, only that he wanted it finished. He wanted Dwayne out of existence so his wife could go outside safely again.
Seb tried to lift his head and found it heavier than a boulder, his brain matter fighting to stay checked in. That’s when he heard from the driver’s side.
“Relax, my boy. It’ll wear off soon; it was only so you wouldn’t do anything stupid. There’s no room for heroes here, you get me?”
The piece of shit hadn’t been where he claimed he’d be when Seb arrived, and then out of nowhere, someone approached from behind. Before he could turn, he’d felt a prick in his neck. The motherfucker had shot Seb up with a sedative.
“Not… your… fucking… boy.” He struggled to get out, and the older guy cackled.
“Such a little fighter, aren’tcha? Chip off the old block. Real fucking proud of that.”
Seb was too dazed to let panic set in. If Dwayne wanted him dead, he could have killed him already. The old bastard had an agenda; he wanted Seb’s attention. That’s what all his tricks had been about these past months. Well, here he was, an unwilling audience.
He was zoned in on Sunny.
