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No emotion filled his voice, and it was like another dagger to her heart. Trite but true. She needed to be away from here, where she could let the warm Hawaiian sun heal her heart. But no, she didn’t get that. Instead, she got to hear the man she loved tell a bastard like Frank that she didn’t mean any more to him than a chess piece.
“That’s the way you live, isn’t it? You use people and throw them aside. Just like my boy. You set him up to take the fall.”
“You can believe anything you want, but know this: Your son was a shit. He stole from those less fortunate, and he capitalized on their suffering. He was never honorable or smart, for that matter. He was a greedy little fucker who deserved what he got.”
Frank let out an inhuman scream, and he launched himself at Vic. Addy tried to turn, but she was almost immobile, but she heard shuffling and then a clatter. That must have been the gun. The sound of fists against flesh makes her stomach roll over again.
Frank stumbled back into view, his face now bloody from Vic’s fists. And Vic wasn’t done. He stalked Frank, and Addy got her first good look at him. Vic had a split lip, and his knuckles were bloody. He didn’t even glance her way. Instead, he was solely focused on Bartlett. He hit Frank with such force that they stumble back and end up on the hard concrete floor.
They rolled across the concrete floor, but Vic ended up on top. He straddled the older man, grabbed his shirt, pulled him off the floor, and struck him. Addy watched Frank’s eyes roll back in his head. Then he kept hitting him. She knew without a doubt that Vic would keep hitting him until Bartlett died.
That thought scared her more than when she thought Bartlett would kill her. As angry as she was with Vic, she wouldn’t be able to stand him in prison for killing the evil man.
“Vic, stop.”
She was helpless to get him to stop other than yelling at him, but he wasn’t listening to her pleas. She renewed her efforts to get her hands loose, but there were suddenly SWAT team members everywhere before she could. Justin was there, dressed a lot like the black-clothed SWAT team.
“Vic, come on, man, don’t kill him. You have to help Addy.”
As if Justin said magic words, Vic stopped hitting Barlett, then turned around to look at her. His eyes were wild, and he looked like he might be ready to kill anyone who got in his way. A SWAT member approached her, but Vic got there first.
“I’ll take care of her,” he growled at the police officer.
“The EMTs are coming now that the building has been secured,” the officer said, but Vic barely acknowledged him. Instead, he was staring at her.
“Can someone undo these?” she asked, wiggling my hands.
That spurred him into action as he dropped to his knees to undo the rope. When he got one hand free, he cursed under his breath. She looked down and saw the raw skin and winced. That was not going to feel good for a few days for sure.
There was scuffling, but both ignored the SWAT team arresting Bartlett, who had come to and blamed Vic. Because yeah, he would kidnap the woman he dumped to set Bartlett up.
It only took Vic a minute or two to free her of her bindings.
“I want to kill him,” he muttered as he looked at her wrists.
“Get in line, Vic.”
His gaze shot up to her. “How can you joke?”
“Because we survived. You are always so serious, Vic. You need to lighten up.”
What was she doing trying to make him feel better? She was an idiot. He had dumped her and left her to wallow, and here she was trying to make him smile.
He sighed as he moved away from her to give the EMT room to examine her.
“You’re going to have to go to the hospital.”
It was her turn to sigh. She didn’t want to go but knew she might have a concussion.
“We can’t get the wheeled stretcher in here. We’ll have to get the lighter one to carry you out.”
“Don’t worry,” Vic said, shouldering his way in.
“No, I can walk.”
There was a good chance that was a big lie. But to prove it, she stood. Immediately, the room around her spun, and all of her limbs felt strangely disconnected from her body. Then she pitched forward, the ground rushing up to meet her face.
But Vic was there, keeping her from thoroughly embarrassing herself. He caught her, quickly lifting her into his arms and cradling her against his chest.
