Chapter 1
Cori
I make sure to keep about five car lengths behind the black Honda Civic. It would be easier if there were more traffic on this main road, but life in a small town doesn’t allow that. I’ve followed him before, and each time, he goes the same route down the long, winding, two-lane road that leads us out of Shadow Cove, my hometown, and into Widow’s Peak, which is the next town over.
He’s late tonight. The times I’ve followed him home, he’s always there before dark, but not today. He left his meeting an hour later than usual. Now the sun has gone down, and there’s neither light nor enough moon to guide me. The best I can do is follow his taillights down the familiar road.
It takes another ten minutes to reach the deserted part of Widow’s Peak. I made sure to let him get ahead of me. He doesn’t seem to notice. At one point, he puts his window down and sticks his arm out as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. I slow down and turn down a side street about a mile from hishouse. I pull over, wait five minutes, and continue my drive. In case he noticed me, I want to make him think that I’ve gone away. That being behind his car was nothing.
As usual, his street is empty when I get there. The times I’ve been here, I never saw another human being. There are only three houses on the dead-end road, but I never saw anyone. When I looked up the address to see who owned the houses, I found that his house belongs to Haddie Richardson, but the other two are owned by two different LLCs. I left it alone, assuming that they are rental properties. There are never any cars in the driveways, so I can’t run the license plates, but tonight, all three houses are lit up.
His car is parked in his driveway, which is odd. He typically parks in the garage. The little detail unnerves me because this man has been a creature of habit since I started this little investigation. He always does the same things and tends not to deviate.
Turn around and go home.
I should listen to the little voice in my head, but I won’t. I’ve come too far. I’m too close to finding exactly who this man is. He’s not some random guy who washes dishes in Shadow Cove’s most popular breakfast spot. He’s much more than that. If I’m right, he’s the head of a money laundering empire, and no one knows it’s him. He’s been living in plain sight for years, and no one other than me has ever suspected him. I’ve invested too much time to turn back now.
I won’t go to the end of the street. Not only am I no fool, but I’m also a professional. As a private investigator for a law firm, I follow people for a living. Of course, this man isn’t one of my assignments. This is simply for my nosy little heart.
The light on his porch goes off, and that permits me to drive further down the street. I look at my front seat and note that my pepper spray and taser are both within reach. Not only that, but I’m also above average height for a woman at five feet, nineinches tall. It doesn’t matter that this man is at least six five. All I have to do is disable him long enough for me to get away. The taser and pepper spray will help me do that. Not to mention, I can scream like a lead actress in a horror movie. That will get his neighbors out of the house if this little investigation goes left. Thankfully, they all seem to be home tonight.
I plan to get within two hundred feet of his house and park in front of one of the other houses. I slow down to a crawl, but my car jolts.
“Oh, fuck!” I yell into my Ford Explorer after hearing a loud popping sound. The wheels start to scrape, and the car comes to a stop. I also notice that my SUV is now much closer to the ground.
“Motherfucker.” I step out and slam the door with all my strength. “Shit,” I hiss when I notice that all four of my tires are flat, and that I’ve driven over a spike strip. “What in the actual fuck?” I grab my phone to call my dad for help, but it says no service. That’s odd because that’s never happened here before. The last time I sat on this street, I spent an hour talking to my best friend about it. She told me to stop my investigation and to leave this man alone, but she should have known I wouldn’t listen.
This is a deserted street in an isolated part of town. It’s dark, and there’s no way I could walk anywhere. Besides that, I’m not wearing comfortable shoes. The few streetlights suddenly go out, shrouding me in complete darkness.
“Are you shitting me? There’s a blackout now?” I sigh at my stroke of bad luck, but at least this might explain why I have no cell service. I’ll have to use the flashlight on my phone, and I was smart enough to charge that completely before starting on this little venture.
Resigned, I get back in my car so I can figure out what the hell to do. I wrap my hand around the pepper spray and pressthe button to lock my doors automatically, but it doesn’t work. My car hasn’t been able to lock for the past few days. That’s not the first time this has happened, and my dad hasn’t had time to get it fixed again.
“Shit. Damn. Motherfucker.” I suddenly regret coming here.
I slide the spray in my pocket and grab the taser at the exact moment my door is yanked open. I scream like the devil has left the depths of hell to get me. I’m pulled out of the car, and the taser slips from my hand. I’m dropped, and I stumble back a few feet. My heart throbs inside my chest while I catch my bearings, only to look into the eyes of the man I’ve been following. He stands there and watches me.
If I can disable him, I can run. The taser lies at my feet, but the pepper spray is in my pocket. All I have to do is spray him, grab the taser, use it on him, and run into the woods. I pull out the bottle from my pocket, slam my eyes shut, hold my breath, and spray. While he howls, I reach for the taser and press the button. It sputters and cackles, but it doesn’t work.
My prey stands tall and grins like a man who was just pepper-sprayed has no business grinning. That’s when I notice that I don’t smell the pungent odor of the chemicals. I press it again. He laughs, stands taller, and inches closer. I aim the taser at him. He easily takes it from me, tosses it to the ground, and it rolls underneath my useless car.
I think back to the self-defense course I took all those years ago, and my mind goes blank, but I know one thing. He’s a man, I’m a woman, and the best thing I can do is aim for his eyes and then his groin. While he’s bent over, I will hide in the woods until daylight.
His hand wraps around my wrist before I can get anywhere close to his eyes. He holds my arm above my head and arches one eyebrow in challenge.
“Let me go,” I order.
“Or what?” His voice is low, and unlike the few times we've spoken before, he sounds dangerous.
“Or, this,” I scream at the top of my lungs. I yell for help and announce that a maniac has their hands on me.
There’s no reaction from my captor. He stands there holding my arm above my head. I scream again, and he screams along with me. The sounds coming from him drown mine, and I shut up to give my stinging throat a break.
“No one is here, Bella,” he whispers the nickname he’s given me. A shiver runs down my spine at the sound of his voice. It sounds different tonight. I’ve never been afraid of him before. I am now, but I won’t show it.
With my free hand, I point at the two houses.
He drops his hold of me, but he pins me to my car with his body. He feels strong. Muscular. Almost feral. Despite my height, he towers over me. There’s no way I can overpower him in a fight, but that won’t prevent me from hitting him in the balls as hard as I can. He lowers his head and gets much too close to my ear.
