“No! Tell me everything!” I shout, my tongue shaking.
Please tell me I haven’t been sleeping with a serial killer.
He squints, narrowing his look at me, but still holding his gun pointed at Maya.
“Yes, I’m the anonymous buyer. Yes, I was arrested when I came back home from the Navy because everyone thought I was the Sleepy Coldwater Copycat, but I was released because I am innocent. I’m not a killer.I’m not like my father.” His tone is full of pain as I accuse him. It hurts me to say these things after everything we shared. After he opened up to me, even though I knew it was almost impossible for him to do so.
“It’s not enough!” I cry out, stepping closer to Maya’s side.
“I didn’t send you messages. I didn’t run you off the road. I don’t want to hurt you! I?—”
“Fuck you, you fucking creep! You kept Coraline here without telling her who you really are. You are lying! You’re the one who has been after her,” Maya shrieks from behind, her voice booming with fury.
Maya has been my agent and close friend for years. I trust her too. She’s always been very protective of me. I just met Gavin, and from what I discovered in the shed, things are starting to make a lot more sense, and it all points straight to the man I found myself recklessly falling for—a stranger. A stranger who has clearly been keeping a close eye on me now has me in his nest—a skilled predator with a military background.
“It’s you!” I scream, wielding the shovel higher over my head,planting my feet, getting ready to swing. “Were you the one who invited me to the art event?” I accuse him, already knowing the answer, but I want to hear him say it. “You’ve been watching me for years, haven’t you?”
Please say no. Please say no and tell me a perfectly scientific explanation for all of these weird coincidences.
He stops walking toward me, and his spine goes straight. His jaw flexes as he raises his hand, higher, evening out with his shoulders.
“Yes.” Hair falls over his forehead as he takes another step toward me.
My bottom lip twitches. Betrayal is drowning my heart until I feel it at the pit of my stomach, gutted, and ultimately feeling incredibly naïve and stupid for letting the first man who was nice to me into my pants.
He was a stranger at the end of the day, and I fell for every single lie.
“You lied to me all this time. All of it wasn’t real!” I scorn through the rock in my throat. A tear rolls down my cheek.
Gavin tried to kill me.
He ran me off the road.
That’s why he was able to get to me so fast and into his home—a perfect setup.
“It was a trap all along, wasn’t it?” Another tear escapes my lashes.
“Coraline, I would never hurt you. I’ve been in love with you for a long time.”
“You don’t love me!” I scowl. “I don’t know you, do I? You coward.”
He shakes his head, letting my angry words roll off his back. My eyes continue to well with unshed tears.
“I’m in love with you.” He's still calm and collected, his body still, and his face deadpan. I’m shattered, confused, and full ofworry, but he’s unshaken. The muscles in his arm flex as he holds the gun at Maya.
He still gazes at me like I’m the only woman in the world.
“Your talent drew me in. The art piece with the estranged mother and daughter? That’s the one that made me need to find out who you were. The artist behind the brush. The person wielding the creativity. The dreamer.” He tries to take a step toward me, but Maya clicks her tongue, warning him to keep his distance.
“Don’t be afraid of me…please, sweetheart,” he pleads, voice dripping with an earnest tone. He’s visibly trembling, his eyes latched onto me even though a gun is pointing straight at him. “Being with you is the most profound privilege I’ve ever been blessed with. Finding you that night was the first time I took a breath, and it didn’t hurt. I didn’t run you off the road. I’m telling you the naked truth.” His lips curl with hope.
“I love you, even if that scares you, hell, it scares me.” He pauses, walking closer to me as Maya threatens his life with more bewildered shouts. It all sounds like blurred noise as I focus on what he has to say. He doesn’t cower or stutter, even when Maya fires a warning shot at the ceiling.
He continues to confess. “It’s always been real. Every kiss, every conversation, every glance. I’ll die a happy man knowing that what we shared in that cabin was real. It was genuine, and I’ll apologize to you every morning, every night, every day, until you believe me.”
The rock in my throat grows as I subconsciously lower the shovel.
A warm wave runs straight through my chest. He’s being completely vulnerable.
