AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I take in the sight of Rowan’s bloody face, unaware of when he got up. He holds several guns in his hands, and he’s sliding them into his suit jacket. He pulls the knife away from my loose grip, and he now holds the bloody weapon in his hand. It’s casual. He looks so casual and comfortable with it. Like he’s done this a thousand times. Maybe he has.
“The police are coming. I need you to listen to me. Slip out the back. Run through the woods. It's dark, and it’s going to be hard, and I know you're hurt, but don’t stop running. Not until you hit the pavement of the highway. My car is there. Get in and drive straight to my house. Don’t get out of the car until the parking garage door has fully closed. Nod your pretty head for me if you understand.”
I’m so focused on the scar cutting through his pale eye. Intensity burns in the depths of that cruel imperfection. He’s always so intense with me. Because he only ever wants to protect me. He said it himself. I never realized how seriously he took that responsibility. Until now.
And then I nod.
And then I’m running once again.
Thirty
Five Years Earlier
Rowan
The trailer I hide behind stings hot against my arm when I lean into the metal siding. Dozens of other trailers line the lot, soaking up the hot sun like tin cans in a dumpster. Some have backyards with toys scattered across the grass while others have tattered lawn chairs positioned in the shade the houses themselves provide. I peer out at the only tree in the entire trailer park. And there, a dark woven swing hangs. It’s large, and circular, and possibly homemade by talented hands. A beautiful girl lies in the woven web, her face tilted up to the light of the sun.
I assess her. She’s the smallest target Ed’s ever sent me after. I flick open my messages again and reconfirm the address he sent me. I look from the address to the numbered sticker taped to the end of the black-and-white trailer.
“Hmm,” I whisper to myself.
The last guy Ed had me trail was a political opponent. Some rich asshole running for mayor in the glorious state of fucking Ohio. I snapped some pictures of this guy getting a blow job in the back seat of his sedan. Slid them through his mail slot, and I was done.
Now he sends me to babysit some high school girl?
I shake my head and watch the girl again. A book lies forgotten in the dry dirt beneath her swing. I lift my binoculars, expecting some bodice ripper romance, only to find it's a true crime novel about the Menéndez murders.
Fuck, maybe this girl does have some problems.
I wait for whatever will happen next. I'm only here to make sure the girl's mother leaves town peacefully. The woman's been making threats during reelection season. She says Ed owes her child support. Almost eighteen years’ worth.
Naturally, Ed didn't tell me that, but his private emails did. Bastard has his password as his own birthday. Took me all of six clicks of the keyboard to open every secret he's ever had. He’s such a dumbass and he doesn’t even fucking know it.
Sweat beads across my temple, and a quiet humming catches my attention. The girl pushes lightly with the tips of her toes, and the softest, sweetest sound of her voice calls out to me.
Fuck, I hope whatever Ed has planned for her mother isn’t harsh.
My gaze flicks to the woman tending to a small patch of red noche buena flowers at the corner of the rotting front porch. Her dark hair is pulled back from the angles of her face. She's younger than Ed. Unsurprisingly so. She's too pretty for him. Also unsurprising.
And then the gravel driveway crunches under the weight of heavy tires. Two vehicles shine beneath the summer sun. The first is a police cruiser. I pull back from my hiding spot and press my back to the hot metal of the trailer.
Two officers step out from either side of the car, gaining the attention of the girl's mother instantly.
"Mija, go inside," the mother calls out to the girl, her accent loud and commanding, her body standing taller as she faces the two men.
But just behind the little police car, is an ambulance.
"What the fuck?" I hiss out.
Both the officers hold a stance like they’re walking up to a violent animal. They speak slowly and calmly. Their words don't carry, but the mother's attention shifts toward Atlas, a flashing look of worry and alarm, and my entire body is immediately tense with adrenaline.
What the fuck is Ed planning?
The officers make quick work of backing the woman into the corner of the house. The girl, Atlas, doesn't go inside. Instead, she's stalking slowly behind the officers, even as the medics behind her start to blockade these two women into a shitty situation.
My jaw grinds, and my fingers tick restlessly at my sides.
Then they're grabbing the woman. The mother kicks and thrashes, but the cuffs slam hard around her wrists. Atlas lunges then. The small girl grips the officer’s shoulders, and her arms wrap around his throat from behind in a bizarre head hold, her hands gripping his face with sharp nails digging into soft flesh.
