AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Was the taut line of his jaw conviction or doubt?
Thirty-five minutes later, Trent snapped the cell phone shut with an emphatic curse. He didn’t need to explain Brad hadn’t answered and Halli’s stomach knotted tighter than a wet shoelace. Trent’s firm grip on her hand led her down the garden steps and back toward the boat.
“I promise you, it’s not over,” he said. “I’m going to get Ben back no matter what.”
Emotion thickened his voice, and in a startling moment of clarity, Halli realized his vow had as much to do with helping her and her family as him making up for the fact that he hadn’t been around to protect his own brother. She tightened her fingers around his when they reached the dock, drawing him to a halt.
Nerves attacked out of nowhere, and she blurted, “It’s not your fault.”
He pulled free and strode along the wooden planks. “How do you figure? You depended on me for the money and we’ve got squat.”
She jumped down into the boat after him, grasping the rail to keep her balance as it rocked beneath their feet. “I’m talking about Sean.”
He whirled on her. “You don’t know anything about Sean.”
“I know you blame yourself for his death.” He’d as much as wrote it in that leather bound notebook of his.
He sucked in a breath as if she’d struck him. Then a blank mask slipped over his expression and he gave her a small smile. “Read a couple pages and you think you got me all figured out, don’t you, sweetheart?”
She recognized the defensive, distancing tactic. “Don’t, Trent, not now.”
His gaze shifted. The mask slipped as he turned away. “Exactly. Not now.”
“Now is the only time we have,” she persisted.
His fists clenched at his sides when she laid a hand on his back. Muscles tensed and held beneath her fingertips.
“Nothing you do in the next couple hours will bring your brother back.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“I think guilt and revenge make a dangerous combination.”
One corner of his mouth lifted as he faced her again. “Bad guys and guns make a dangerous combination, Halli. My combination equals the odds.”
“Your combination is going to get you killed, trying to help me. What do you think I’ll be writing in my journal then?”
“Do you even keep one?”
She narrowed her gaze, but stuck to the subject. “You said yourself Sean was determined to finish the documentary.”
“And I knew it was dangerous.” His fists balled at his sides. “I should’ve been watching his back.”
“You can’t blame yourself for living your own life.”
“I should’ve been there,” he repeated, his expression grim once more. “Whatever happens tonight—”
A muted thump below deck halted him mid-sentence. Trent whipped around, pushed Halli behind him and reached for his gun at the same time.
Chapter 23
No more than the reassuring weight of the pistol filled his palm and he’d steadied his aim with his other hand, Trent heard a voice that put him even more on edge.
“She’s right, you know.”
/> A tall figure stepped from the shaded interior of the boat. Trent didn’t lower his guard or the gun when he recognized the khaki-clad man.
“Good way to get yourself shot, Dad. What the hell are you doing here?”
